Books and other knowledge products presently in printed format should be made available through digital medium in view of the shift in technology paradigms. This would provide enhanced accessibility and affordability of information to a wider audience, said Information & Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley while releasing India/Bharat 2015 Reference Annual on Monday.
He specifically stressed that the country must have a formal war history for every child to read, “India is one of the few countries which does not have a formal documentation of our war history,” he said, adding that he had suggested to the Defence Ministry to work on this. Jaitley was the Defence Minister prior to Manohar Parrikar
He recalled that last year when he was invited to a function of centenary anniversary of World War I after looking at the details he realised for the first time that the largest participation in this war was by Indians.
"12 lakh Indians fought the battles, over 70 thousand lost their lives. A fact which may not be known to most of the people," he said. For the first time, India reference annual will be launched in e-version for easy accessibility and wider outreach.
Jaitley said such digitisation of books on country's development could serve as useful reference material for the youth and to the audience worldwide. "As a rich repository of relevant information, 'India/Bharat 2015 Reference Annual' would be a good addition to all the libraries," he said. It will be available free of cost to the world at large to enrich itself, he added.
The publication deals with all aspects of development from rural to urban, industry to infrastructure, science and technology, art and culture, polity, economy, health, defence, education and mass communication.The 59th year of publication of the reference annual has seen an increase in its print order to 1,15,000 copies this year up from 37,000 copies in 2007, it added.