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Book collection drive takes libraries to villages in Marathwada, Vidarbha

So far, he said the initiative had benefited over 25 villages, among which 10 had no access to library infrastructure.

‘One village, one library’ initiative aims at inculcating the habit of reading among people, especially children. (Express)

A NON-PROFIT organisation will conduct a book collection drive at Fergusson College on Sunday as part of its initiative to provide library infrastructure in Marathwada and Vidarbha regions.

The organisation, Eklavya, started ‘One village, one library’ in 2017 to inculcate the habit of reading among people, especially children, living in the villages of these regions.

Under this initiative, book collection drives are conducted across cities in the state where people can donate books, ranging from academic to non-academic titles.

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Eklavya was founded by Raju Kendre, a graduate of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Tuljapur campus, in 2014. At TISS, Kendre had come up with a career guidance and counselling initiative for students of classes X and XII. He had noticed a lack of informative and youth-centered resources in villages of Vidarbha and Marathwada.

“I come from a small village called Lonar in Buldhana district, part of the Vidarbha region, and received my primary education there. It is only after coming to a city like Pune that I realised that resources here are far more than what I had back in my village. There are several career guidance centres, study rooms, competitive exam centres and libraries, which are absent in villages,” said the 25-year-old.

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He added that what once started as sessions of career guidance and counselling turned into the idea of ‘One village, one library’.

The idea was also entered in the ‘Transform Maharashtra’ project organised by the state government and was selected as the popular choice among 300 entries in 2017.

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“The idea mobilised the youth and, thereafter, we started with book collection drives. We have, so far, gone to cities like Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Amravati, Latur, Osmanabad, Nashik and Aurangabad. We had collected close to 30,000 books, of which 15,000 to 20,000 books were solely from Pune,” he said.

So far, he said the initiative had benefited over 25 villages, among which 10 had no access to library infrastructure. Kendre also said the ground-level response was good as several villages approached his organisation to provide them with more books.

“The books can range from study material to storybooks, encyclopaedias, magazines, informative booklets as well as literature for senior citizens,” he added.

The initiative also provides libraries with computer systems and projectors to conduct informative sessions. Eklavya is also planning to award scholarships to meritorious students of marginalised communities in the two regions. The book collection drive will be held on Sunday at the main gate of Fergusson College till 5.30 pm.

First uploaded on: 03-11-2019 at 04:49 IST
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