GUWAHATI: Many in Assam are using the lockdown period to read books, a study based on crowd-sourced data revealed.
It was carried out online by the North-East Centre for Training, Advocacy & Research (NECTAR), a Guwahati-based organisation that conducts training and studies on various developmental issues and media-related research.
According to the surveyors, 166 people from 23 districts had responded to the survey and 63 or 38% of them said they had read four or more books during the first seven weeks of lockdown.
Similarly, 29 people or 17% read three books each, 34 persons or 20% read two books each and 40 persons or 24% read only one book each during the period.
"Of the 166 people who took part in the survey, 91 were males (55%), while 75 (45%) were females. The survey covered age-groups ranging from 16-60 years and above. The respondents belonged to a wide range of professions from high school students to retirees as well as government and private sector employees, lawyers, media persons, teachers, writers, bankers, entrepreneurs, development sector professionals, doctors, home-makers and a few unemployed persons,” the NECTAR said.
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Of the 166 respondents, as many as 88 (53%) were post-graduates, which was followed by 36 (21.6%) graduates, 23 persons (13.8 %) doctorate degree holders while the remaining 19 (11.4%) people were students between Class X and undergraduate class.
Thirty-three respondents (20%) said they had been spending four hours or more per day reading books. Thirty-eight persons (23%) said they had been spending on, an average, three hours a day in reading, while the highest number of 52 persons (31%) said they were spending two hours, on an average, every day in reading books. Forty-three respondents (26%) said they could spend only up to one hour a day for reading books.
The books read ranged from Assamese, Bengali and English fiction, to non-fiction (books on economics, science, nature, health, literary criticism, gardening), books on religion, mythology and epics, motivational books as well as collections of poetry, biographies and autobiographies.
While 69% of the respondents read printed hardcopy books, 7% exclusively read e-books and the remaining 24% read a combination of printed as well as e-books, the survey revealed.
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