Young readers reflect a country’s future, says Home Minister Amit Shah
Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the Jayaprakash Narayan Public Library in New Delhi, emphasizing the importance of libraries in nation-building. He encouraged local schools to utilize the facility to foster a reading culture among the youth.
Why it matters
Highlights government focus on educational infrastructure and the promotion of literacy as a metric for national development.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday (July 11, 2026) inaugurated the Jayaprakash Narayan Public Library in the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area and said the presence of young readers in libraries was a better measure of a country's future than its economic indicators.
Addressing the inaugural function, the Home Minister said, "If you want to assess the future of a country, it cannot be done by looking at how prosperous its agriculture is, how crowded its markets are, or how many industries it has. It can be assessed by seeing how crowded its libraries are and whether young people are there."
He said knowledge and wisdom formed the foundation of nation-building, and libraries played a central role in nurturing both. "The activities that take a nation forward and bring it prosperity are rooted in knowledge and wisdom. And that knowledge comes only through libraries," Mr. Shah said.
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