Belagavi: Students from weaker sections in the city who cannot afford the fees of coaching and buying books for competitive examinations like UPSC and KPSC can now heave a sigh of relief.The Academy of Comparative Philosophy and Religion ( ACPR ) in association with Rotary Club of Belgaum launched ‘Rotary Study Centre’ an exclusive library on the premises of Shri Gurudev Ranade Mandir at Hindwadi here on Wednesday.The knowledge hub for competitive exams was inaugurated by businesman and former MP Vijay Sankeshwar in the presence of Belagavi (North) MLA Anil Benake. The free library has a large range of books required for preparing civil service exams. Sankeshwar said reading habit among youths was gradually diminishing, adding that it was not a good sign. “Parents are equally responsible for this unhealthy development, who confine children to school texts just to make them score more marks. “I have realized that the newspaper is a dying industry with reading habit is going down. Already many monthly and weekly magazines have stopped. However, I have seen that the reading culture is still alive among Marathi linguistics,” he said.ACPR secretary Maruti Zirali said, “We have approached 25-30 current and retired IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS and KAS officers to share their knowledge with students and most of them have agreed.” Over 155 students have been registered with the centre so far, he added.Rotary Club of Belagavi president Mukund Udchankar and ACPR president Ashok Potdar also spoke at the programme.

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