West Bengal is witnessing a silent crisis — that of disappearing public libraries. Across the state, public libraries, once vibrant anchors of learning, now stand derelict, often closed due to staffing vacancies, crumbling infrastructure or neglect. Some are overrun by rats, others by silence. And behind every closed library door is a broken promise: the constitutional right to education eroded by a slow death of spaces that once nurtured generations of readers, researchers and dreamers.
One cannot overstate the role of libraries in bridging educational divides and achieving the constitutional vision of substantive equality. What we are losing isn’t nostalgia, it is our constitutional commitment to education, equality and democracy. Under Article 21, the right to live with dignity includes educational opportunity. The 86th Amendment, 2002 reaffirmed this by making elementary education a constitutional mandate. Yet today, West Bengal has 2,480 libraries, including only 13 fully government-run ones for over 100 million residents. Even Calcutta, with nearly 16 million people, has two government libraries. These figures expose a stark mismatch between the constitutional rights guaranteed and the means available to achieve it. In a democracy, a reasonable degree of proportionality between means and ends in State action, whether in granting or limiting rights, is indispensable. The crisis deepens when one considers the impact of the post-pandemic withdrawal from school. The Annual Status of Education Report 2024, published in January 2025, reveals certain interesting statistics about West Bengal, which may be relevant here.
Student enrolment: In 2024, the school enrolment of students between Classes I-V has gone from 87.4% (boys) and 88.7% (girls) in 2018, 91.7% (boys) and 93.1% (girls) in 2022, to 86.4% (boys) and 89.4 (girls) in 2024.
Reading: Students of Standards III, V and VIII were asked to read materials meant for students of Standard II. The 2024 data show that 33.3% boys and 38.9% girls from the immediate Standard III, 50% boys and 57.8% girls from Standard V and 66.9% boys and 73.9% girls from Standard VIII were able to read the material. Even though the data show some progress when compared to the data in 2022, the rate is considerably lower.
Schools with library: 47% of the schools had no library in 2024, which is a decline from 53% in 2022 but an increase from 33.9% in 2018.
Digital use: Among 14-year-olds, only 40% used mobile phones for education-related activity in the reference week as compared to children who used social media in the reference week who were 73%. For age 15, it was 42% as against 76.2% and, finally, for age 16, it was 47.8 to 79.6%, respectively. Regarding ownership of mobile phones, a major gender gap was visible between boys and girls (aged 14-16 years) who can use mobile phones but also own them. While 19% of such children are boys, 9% are girls.
The above statistics signal a huge scope for improvement. Government-school enrolment has plummeted and reading proficiency is declining. Once meant to strengthen education, the digital transformation has widened the gap between urban and rural, male and female, and rich and poor. Even where devices exist, learning quality has been bulldozed by misinformation and low infrastructure support. Without supervision and credible contact, digital education often misfires. With digital education and private coaching going beyond the means of the common man, especially for marginalised families, what could fill the educational void? Libraries could. But they don’t.
The constitutional argument is simple. The Constitution guarantees equality of opportunity to us. Part III and Part IV of the Constitution that nestle the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy assert an uncompromising obligation on the State to “strive to promote the welfare of the people” and “eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities.” The responsibility to make laws on ‘libraries’ lies with the states under List II of the Seventh Schedule. In furtherance of this, the West Bengal Public Libraries Act, 1979 was enacted as a blueprint for a structured library system. The Act is complemented by several Rules addressing appointment and election procedures of functionaries. The Act of 1979 signalled intent, but the promise remains unfulfilled. The state’s own library department site hasn’t been updated in over four years — a glaring signal of neglect.
Now is the moment for action. In April 2025, the Supreme Court heard a public interest litigation seeking a direction to the Union and state governments for the setting up of libraries by gram panchayats in rural areas. The court called for a broader, inclusive version of social justice where the establishment of libraries would go hand in hand with creating adequate facilities for health, education, drinking water, and other basic amenities. The court directed the State to promote e-libraries, especially by harnessing corporate social responsibility funding to achieve it. The establishment of libraries, the court asserted, will “undoubtedly be a laudable object”, infusing “democratic values”, “constitutional culture” and “access to information for those living in inaccessible areas”.
The range of changes that we could benefit from could be the following.
(1) Public libraries across Bengal can be based on a single digital card with a unique identification number and details of registered readers which can be used in libraries across Bengal. This system will be user-friendly and hassle-free. Additionally, it would help children of intra-state migrants, trace the borrowing of books, and generate data on readers and their interests.
(2) Existing libraries should be made reader-friendly in terms of infrastructure, staffed properly, cleaned, and equipped with basic facilities like toilets, running water and electricity.
(3) An incremental approach may be adopted towards digital integration of libraries, improvement of infrastructure, integration with educational institutions (both schools and universities) and non-governmental bodies that work to promote education. This would potentially impart value and efficiency to the system.
(4) Braille versions of books may be procured to help specially-abled citizens to access knowledge and minimise inequality of opportunities.
(5) Embedding libraries in educational ecosystems, linking them with schools, NGOs, and universities and using them as community learning hubs during non-school hours.
Inspirations do exist. The ‘Oduva Belaku’ programme in Karnataka started in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic for children aged from 6 to 18 years to connect them to reading even when schools were shut; the Kalaignar Centenary Library in Madurai started in 2023 serves as a global example of inclusivity; the proposed creation of digital libraries across 400 villages across Prayagraj and so on. West Bengal must catch up. Let the new India that we endeavour to establish be an inclusive India where knowledge and rationality reign supreme.
Sayantani Bagchi is an Assistant Professor at National Law University Jodhpur, specialising in Constitutional law