Javadekar launches National Digital Library of India on National Reading Day

New Delhi: Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar has launched a new digital initiative National Digital Library of India (NDLI) on the occasion of National Reading Day.

NDLI is a project of the Ministry of Human Resource Development under the aegis of National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) with the objective making digital educational resources available to all citizens of the country to empower, inspire and encourage learning.

NDLI developed by IIT Khadagpur is the Single Window Platform that collects and collates meta data from premier learning institutions in India and abroad, as well as other relevant sources.

It is a digital repository containing textbooks, articles, videos, audio books, lectures, simulations, fiction and all other kinds of learning media.

Speaking on the occasion, Javadekar said, "A new era of Digital India has begun. We dedicate this Digital Library to the Nation." He said that the National Digital Library is a 24x7 ubiquitous knowledge resource that is accessible to anyone with internet access and it is built to enable the rise of Digital India.

The Minister said that anybody can access the digital library anytime and anywhere absolutely free of cost and will contribute greatly to the Government's commitment towards "Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat".

The minister explained that NDLI is a digital library that makes quality learning resources available to all learners and has 1.7 crore content from more than 160 sources, in over 200 languages, everywhere and 30 lakh users are registered on NDLI as on date and our target is to increase the users 10 times in a year.

He said that NDLI platform is collaborative in nature and extended his regards to contributing institutions which have made available their digital repositories for integration with NDLI.

Javadekar added that apart from website, NDL is also available on the Mobile app. NDLI Mobile app is enabling access to rich digital content of libraries across the country and even foreign repositories to users even in the remotest of areas.

He further said that the App, which has been downloaded over 6.70 lakh times, is currently available for both iPhone and Android users. Users can search for content using various parameters like subject matter, source, content type and more. Right Now the app is available in three languages - English, Hindi and Bengali.