Government schools forced to buy book on Siddaramaiah

A heated debate over a book published on the achievements of the Siddaramaiah government caught public eye in Karnataka on Monday. The book titled ‘Itta Guri-Ditta Hejje’, published by Sahitya Loka Vedike, is a compilation of articles related to Siddaramaiah and his achievements during his tenure as the chief minister. 

Siddaramaiah followers such as senior journalist Mahadeva Prakash, VC of Kannada University Mallika Ghanti, social activist Ramjan Darga, journalists Gangadhar Mudaliyar, BM Haneef, Ishwar Daitota contributed the articles to the book.

The education department issued an order to all the government schools insisting that they purchase the book. 

The book comprises 294 pages and the cost price of the book is ₹300. The education department has voluntarily taken the responsibility of distributing the book and plans to send two copies of the book to every government as well as aided schools. The distribution of the book began from the current academic year. 

The schools have been asked to bear the cost of the book from its library funds. 

“Many schools are not granted money to maintain their libraries. We struggle hard to accumulate grants even to purchase daily newspapers. In such a situation, purchasing two copies of a book worth ₹300 is really a punishment,” said a teacher of an aided school.

“We have supplied 35 books to all districts. We have ordered the block education officers to distribute these books to the schools in their jurisdiction,” said Deputy Director of Public Instruction GR Basavaraju.

The book was published in November 2015 at Gandhi Bhavan. Jnanapeeth Award winner Chandra Shekhar Kambar released the book and Dinesh Gundurao and HM Revanna were the chief guests at the launch function. Tumkur Mahadevaiah and GG Nagaraja were the chief book editors.