For the love of reading!

Now this is a beautiful donation and hopefully, a long and enduring one. We all are aware of much charity Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda do for India. Their organization, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has worked hard in India and provided probably the maximum amount of money, coming in from abroad.

The latest is so good – the couple probably has seen how we Indians have lost the habit of reading; we do read but only messages on whatsapp and other social networks. Kindle for many is just a possession. In a bid to once again bring back the joy of reading into India, their Foundation, along with Nasscom Foundation has conceptualised an Indian Public Library Movement (IPLM).

Bill Gates has given a grant of Rs.32 crore and the Nasscom Foundation will do all the work – get in place an independent team of professionals and IPLM secretariat to manage all activities. The secretariat will work to strengthen libraries in India through increased collaborative work and support from the government (national, state and local level) as well as non-government stakeholders (NGOs and corporations through their CSR initiatives), among other like-minded organisations.

The movement will start by reaching out to a million library users at 300 district-level libraries and providing community driven services such as computer training classes to build digital skills, access to online information about agriculture and health, a safe place for students to study and learning opportunities for people of all ages.

Now this is what we call sustainable charity, money which will truly help build an entire new generation.