PATNA: Some young IAS officers in Bihar have, of late, created a buzz in the society by performing their yeoman service. The latest to add to the list of such officers is Dr Nawal Kishore Choudhary, a 2013-batch IAS officer serving as the district magistrate of Gopalganj.
Taking a cue perhaps from his counterpart in Purnea, this young bureaucrat launched ‘Pustak Daan Mahaaviyan’ (book donation campaign) to inculcate reading habits among people, including students. Choudhary had several rewards, including the ‘best IAS officer’ adjudged by the election commission for holding free, fair and peaceful elections, to his credit.
Choudhary flagged off a vehicle on Thursday that will collect books, magazines and note books of successful candidates to help the students preparing for competitive examinations and also the old ones, who can be often seen engrossed either playing cards or wasting their time in gossips in villages.
“Book are the source of knowledge. They can be helpful in shaping career of the youths. But many of them can’t afford to buy books of their choice. These books and other reading materials gathering dust in book shelves in houses can be useful for others,” Choudhary, who is an MBBS, said.
A native of Sitamarhi, Choudhary said that initially the collected books will be stored and subsequently put on display at the district library. Similar libraries will be opened at block and panchayat levels, he added.
Libraries will stop the exodus of students from rural areas to cities for preparation of competitive examinations. “If the facilities are available at door step, what the need of staying hundreds of kilometres from home to do the same,” the bureaucrat argued.