Upendra Kushwaha, Minister of State, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India has launched a NCERT’s Web portal for supply of textbooks to schools and individuals in New Delhi today. The portal will ensure better distribution of textbooks across the country and will also address the apprehensions, on the part of schools and parents, regarding unavailability of NCERT textbooks. The schools will be able to log on to the portal, by entering their respective Boards’ affiliation numbers and other details, till 8th September 2017 for placing their orders for the session 2018-19. The Web Portal can be accessed at www.ncertbooks.ncert.gov.in.At the time of placing the orders, the schools are not required to make the payment; the payment can be made just before the supply. The schools will also have the option of directly procuring textbooks either from their nearest NCERT vendors or from the Regional Production-cum-Distribution Centres (RPDCs) of the NCERT’s located at Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Guwahati, and Bengaluru.
Very soon the portal will also be opened to the individual buyers. They can place their orders by login in onto the portal, and books will be delivered at their doorsteps with nominal postal charges. The portal will also enable the buyers to track the status of their respective orders placed with NCERT. The textbooks will also continue to be sold at the Retail Sales Counters located at the NCERT’s headquarters in Delhi; at its Regional Institutes of Education (RIEs) Ajmer, Bhopal Bhubaneswar, Shillong, and Mysuru; and at its Regional Production-cum-Distribution Centres (RPDCs) based in Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Guwahati and Bengaluru.The NCERT textbooks can also be downloaded, free of cost, from the NCERT’s website www.ncert.nic.in; one can access the digital versions of NCERT’s textbook by logging onto ‘epathshala’ or through mobile applications. NCERT also gives copyrights to different States/Union Territories for printing of its textbooks. Fifteen States and UTs have been given copyright for the session 2017-18.Shri Anil Swarup, Secretary, School Education & Literacy, Smt. Rina Ray, Special Secretary School Education & Literacy, Shri R.K. Chaturvedi, Chairman CBSE, Dr. Hrushikesh Senapaty, Director, CBSE were also present on the occasion.