Two years on chemistry encyclopaedia in Gujarati yet to reach students

1,000 copies of the work are stocked in the Gujarat University Granth Nirman Board

Nearly two years after the Gujarat State University Granth Nirman Board completed their chemistry encyclopaedia, it is still not available to students in the state.

The two-volume encyclopaedia priced at Rs 800 is the first such work in the regional language. One thousand copies of the book have been stocked in the University Granth Nirman Board, but the students are unaware of its availability.

The project that took 10 years to complete was undertaken under the Centrally sponsored scheme of the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare, ‘Production of Books and Literature in Regional Languages at the University level’.

The encyclopaedia project was headed by Prof M N Desai, former Vice-Chancellor of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University, the Gujarat University and the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. The books have also been co-authored by professors C R Vora and N K Shah, both from the Chemistry department of the Gujarat University.

“After the completion of the 1,800-page encyclopaedia, Prof Desai had sent a letter to the Chief Minister in January 2008, requesting him to ‘launch’ the book. While the CM could not give dates then, a week later Prof Desai passed away and the book could not be released,” said Prof Shah.

The encyclopaedia mainly targets students of secondary, higher secondary, under-graduate and postgraduate courses in chemistry.

However, it is also useful for students of allied sciences like biochemistry, microbiology, pharmacology, botany, zoology, physics, environment as well as academicians and industrialists.

More encyclopaedias in the making

While Gujarat is the first state in the country to bring out a chemistry encyclopaedia in a regional language, the Commissionerate of Higher Education is in the process of bringing out encyclopaedias of various subjects in Gujarati.

“A team of 15 scholars from universities across the state are working on it under the Centrally sponsored scheme (Production of Books and Literature in Regional Languages at the University level),” said Higher Education Commissioner, Jayanti Ravi.



Nirav BHagat