For Nikita Yadav, who hails from Khetiawas in Haryana, the library at Government Senior Secondary School, Pahari, is six kilometers away. Yet, after sending her child to school daily, Yadav hops on her father-in-law’s motorcycle and goes to the library.

Government Senior Secondary School, Pahari, is the best government school where the library is at par. The IIT Delhi alumni set it up in 2019. This school library has air-conditioned rooms, separated sections for men and women, eight computers, two printers, 13,000 books, and wifi. The library has been an added boon for the Pahari village, where only 73% are literate, and 31.1 percent of women have been found literate as per the 2011 census.

For a person like Nikita Yadav, who is 28 and studying for the Haryana Teacher Eligibility Test, free-of-cost access to information that otherwise would have been too far or too pricey is the library’s advantage.

It has already impacted the library. Almost 20 residents of the village who used it would get different jobs under the Haryana government. Some students who utilized the library even made it to IIT and NIT. It inspired the rest of the aspirants from Pahari and the surrounding villages.

IIT Delhi Alumni Innovation

The library was established through the efforts of the IIT Delhi Alumni Association, led by one of the village’s own, Vinod Kumar Yadav, an alumnus of the Government Senior Secondary, Pahari. He later went on to do his MSc and PhD from IIT Delhi.

He says he always wanted to run a library, and even before joining IIT Delhi, that was one of his dreams, but it is the institution that actually brought it to life.

“When studying in the village, I saw the difficulties. The family priorities were rearing buffaloes and meeting agriculture work, not education. Parents are also only focussing on government jobs. The major idea behind the library was for students to start thinking of getting into IITs, or IIMs,” said Yadav. He believes in the “importance of an enabling environment.”

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“If you give them that, they can blossom. Rural area students have the potential, but that is being neglected. If they see their neighbor study and become successful, there will be competition,” Yadav said.

“The implementing agency was the alumni association. Funding was mainly corporate CSR. IIT Delhi is a well-known institute, so people believe in the social arm. So, the proposal was taken pretty fast,” he said.

The library was funded in two phases. First, Rs 12 lakh was raised to construct the buildings, and later, ONGC donated Rs 18 lakh to complete the construction process. The library was inaugurated in 2019 by V Ramgopal Rao, then director of IIT Delhi.

The library even employs a librarian whom the gram panchayat initially paid. He is now covered by some other private company based out of Rewari.

Inspiring a village: Pahari Free Library

The free library close to your home has supported job aspirants in several ways by giving them books at home. Most of the 13,000 books the library has were donated by private companies, and they all revolved around recruitment and NTA NEET, NTA JEE Mains, and so on.

Pharmacy student Ritik Yadav, an SSC aspirant, does not need to travel for two hours to Rewari – the nearest town – to get the same facilities. He makes it daily from his village, Khalilpur, to Pahari, which is 3.4 km away. Rajbir Singh, whose son Vivek got into IIT Dhanbad this year, said the library helped them save time and money.

Such stories also motivate regular visitors to the library. Tejashwini, 18 years old, had taken a year off from college to prepare for JEE Main 2025. “Stories like that of Vivek Singh keep me motivated and on track,” she said.

Yadav was the main person behind the library setup and even received calls from the chief minister’s office to replicate the same library system in every government school in Haryana. In 2020, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala said the state would set up libraries like this in every village so that village students do not have to go to cities to prepare for competitive exams.

Designed to monitor the freshness of seafood in real-time by responding to pH changes, the film offers a practical solution for improving food safety and reducing waste.

This film detects the release of volatile amines, compounds typically associated with spoilage, and indicates food quality through visible color changes, say sources from NIT Rourkela.

These natural components make the film biodegradable, safe, and responsive, aligning with sustainability goals and offering a non-invasive way to assess seafood freshness.

Findings

The findings of this research have been published in the journal Food Packaging and Shelf Life in a paper co-authored by Prof. Preetam Sarkar (as the lead corresponding author), along with his research scholars, Mr. Rahul Thakur, Miss Harshi Singhi, Mr. Vedsagar Rajesh Suryavanshi, and Dr. Ravichandran Santhosh.

Other co-authors in this work include Dr. Khalid Gul from NIT Rourkela, Dr. Swarup Roy from Lovely Professional University, Dr. Srinivas Janaswamy from South Dakota State University, Brookings, USA and Dr. Kirtiraj K. Gaikwad from IIT Roorkee.

Fishing

India is the world’s second-largest fish-producing nation, contributing approximately 8% of global fish production, say NIT Rourkela researchers.

It also holds the distinction of being the top five producer of shrimp globally, with frozen shrimp being the top export commodity.

Given the scale and importance of seafood production, innovations that ensure freshness and reduce spoilage are of immense value, say NIT Rourkela researchers.

In this context, intelligent packaging systems, which preserve food while monitoring its quality, are rapidly gaining global interest.

Unlike conventional packaging that serves merely as a protective barrier, the intelligent packaging film developed by NIT Rourkela team offers visual cues about the product’s condition, making it a promising solution for enhancing food safety and reducing waste.

The beetroot peel extract was prepared separately, and then combined with the starch, gum tragacanth, and a small amount of glycerol to cast the films.

These were dried and tested for their pH-sensitivity and effectiveness in monitoring seafood freshness, said Prof Preetam of NIT Rourkela.

Pigments

Beetroot peels contain betalains, a group of pigments known for their bright colours and pH sensitivity, say NIT Rourkela researchers.

These pigments also offer antioxidant and antimicrobial benefits, making them suitable for food-related applications.

Incorporating these natural compounds into the starch-based film creates a biodegradable, safe, and responsive packaging material.

When the seafood begins to spoil and pH levels rise, the film changes colour, providing a clear visual indicator of freshness.

Starch

The choice of Kodo millet starch and gum tragacanth contributes to the film’s biodegradable and eco-friendly profile.

Kodo millet is an underutilised grain with excellent film-forming properties, while gum tragacanth enhances the mechanical strength and flexibility of the material.

The researchers believe that using such agricultural by-products not only supports sustainability but also adds value to food processing waste, such as beetroot peels.

At the laboratory scale, the cost of producing the film was estimated approximately Rs. 900 per kilogram.

When scaled up for industrial production, the cost is projected to range between Rs. 400 and Rs. 600 per kilogram, making it a potentially viable option for commercial use.

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