Question : Digital Libraries

(a) whether the Government has taken any appropriate steps to strengthen the digital libraries to
preserve traditional knowledge;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) the appropriate steps taken by the Government to empower the digital libraries;
(d) whether the Government proposes to include "intellectual property" as a subject in the
curriculum of schools and colleges; and
(e) if so, whether any action plan to connect intellectual property to scholarship and promotion in
carrer has been formulated and if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
(DR. MAHENDRA NATH PANDEY)
(a) to (c) The Ministry of Human Resource Development under National Mission on Education
through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) initiated the National Digital
Library (NDL) Pilot Project (NDL Phase-I) in April, 2015 with project cost of Rs. 39.8 Crores.
The National Digital Library Project is coordinated by the Indian Institute of Technology,
Kharagpur.
NDL Phase-I covers setting up 24X7 infrastructure, providing single-window search
and browse facility for e-Learning resources to users, including e-Contents that are available
in various institutions of the country by integrating Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) of
respective institutions and registering users from Participating Institutions. The alpha version
of the NDL Phase-I Portal has been made operational on February, 2016, which is available
at https://ndl.iitkgp.ac.in.
(d) & (e) NCERT has included components of intellectual property rights in its textbooks of
Business Studies and Biology for class XII at relevant places.
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