Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu today released the annual year book 'India-2017' and 'Bharat-2017' at a function in New Delhi today. The book published by the Publications Division gives comprehensive information about the country and various States and Union Territories including functioning of the government and the economy.<br/><br/>The book also gives a glimpse of flagship programmes of the government, important events of the year and the story of Indian States and Union Territories with their vital statistics.<br/><br/>Speaking on the occasion, Mr Naidu stressed on the need to encourage publishing in Indian languages so that these books are more widely read and people can understand better. <br/><br/>He also released the electronic version of the Year Book and said the e-version provides latest technical features and conformed to the best international standards. He said, the e-book had a variety of reader-friendly features like searchable content, referencing, and is priced at 25 per cent less than the print books. <br/><br/>Mr Naidu also launched the Online Digital Library which has a repository of over 750 books, with a wide range of titles that available for free browsing to visitors at DPD, Book Gallery. <br/><br/>On the occasion, the Minister also highlighted the steps taken by the Ministry to retrieve space after disposal of old furniture, fixtures, electronic and electrical waste. He mentioned that the Ministry had been successful in retrieving 60,624 square feet of space after the special campaign was launched from September to November 2016. <br/><br/>A sum of over 14.2 lakh rupees was realized after auctioning of disposed goods. On the redressal of grievances, Mr Naidu said a total of 4132 grievances had been disposed off during the last one year.<br/><br/>Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore was also present on the occasion.

Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today released the annual year book 'India-2017' and 'Bharat-2017' at a function in New Delhi today. The book has been published by the Publications Division and gives comprehensive information about the country and various States and Union Territories including functioning of the government and the economy. <br/><br/>The book also gives a glimpse of flagship programmes of the government, important events of the year and the story of Indian states and union territories with their vital statistics. <br/><br/>Speaking on the occasion, Mr Naidu stressed on the need to encourage publishing in Indian languages so that these books are more widely read and people can understand better. Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore was also present on the occasion.