Book Release on National Youth Readership Survey

Book Release on National Youth Readership SurveyIndian Youth Demographics and Readership – results from the National youth readership survey as formally released and discussed  at an impressive function on  November 11, 2010 at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in New Delhi. The function was jointly organized by National Book Trust with National Council for Applied Economic Research on the occasion of National Education Day to commemorate the birthday of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad as part of National Action Plan for Readership Development among Youth (NAPRDY). The book was to be released by Kapil Sibbal, who because of his pre occupation could not come and the book was formally released by Harsh Mander. Present on the dais were Prof Bipan Chandra, chairman; Dr Nuzhat Hassan, former director and Satish Kumar, the present director of NBT; along with MK Venu, Gauhar Raza, Kumar Vikram and Rajesh Shukla (the author of the report).

The survey claims that youth population in India (13-35 years) was 459 million, constituting about 38 percent of the total population of the country and is expected to reach 574 million by 2020. The produce by the survey is national representative data and can be used for fixing the direction for the future. Harsh Mander in his address said that the survey tries to understand the access of young people to the world of ideas. MK Venu said the data shows that that there are  333 million literates and 65 percent depend on newspapers for information and knowledge. Gauhar Raza complemented the survey team saying that conducting a survey in a non homogenous society with so many divisions of languages, religion, regions, and casts is a tremendous job.

Rajesh Shukla acknowledged the team effort of 3,000 field force and involvement and guidance of three high powered committees contributed a lot in the completion of the survey. He claimed the report to be of great importance as it deals with the most vibrant force of India-the youth.

Dr Nuzhat Hassan, former director of NBT spoke about the enormity of the problems assessing the mood of the youth. She claimed that the findings are very comprehensive and a landmark survey. Kumar Vikram said that with the Right to Information (RTI), the enrolment of youth is going to swell. This action plan will provide background information to this.

In India, no systematic study or investigation to assess the general readership status, reading habits and preferences among youth, and their dependence on various developmental indicators at national level was conducted. It was against this backdrop that the National Book Trust approached National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) to undertake the National Youth Readership Survey (NYRS-2009) to generate data.