THEY CALL it “shiksha ka inquilab”, or the education revolution. On the faded walls, with bits of plaster peeling off, are posters of Bhagat Singh and Maxim Gorky. There’s a board outside that reads: “Behtar zindagi ka raasta behtar kitaabon se hokar jaata hai (The road to a good life passes through good books).”
This is Shaheed Bhagat Singh Pustakalaya, a one-room library established nine months ago by workers and daily-wage labourers employed at factories in the industrial heart of Ludhiana, the hub of cycle-makers, auto-parts manufacturers and textile units.
Set up by the Karkhana Mazdoor Union, which took the lead in collecting nearly Rs 3 lakh last year to purchase LIG flat No 498 in December 2017, with two fans and a worn rug on the floor, the library was built on individual contributions ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 5,000.
Read more of this in a report by Divya Goyal published in The Indian Express....
(Such simple and low cost models for bringing up the poor children, in an environment which will enhance their education, can easily be replicated elsewhere too. Apart from the workers, others can also chip in - be it voluntary organisations or some philanthropist. - Editor)
