The incredible journey of Maharashtra entrepreneur Pradeep Lokhande
...the incredible journey of Maharashtra entrepreneur Pradeep Lokhande who is committed to spreading the written word
A decade
ago, Pradeep Lokhande, an entrepreneur from Pune was given the sobriquet of
‘Postcard Man’ by a friend in the media. Lokhande, who helps develop villages
across Maharashtra and several other states, kept in touch with his people
through the simple communication tool — the postcard. Yes, believe it or faint,
the postcard still exists.
And,
postcards addressed to Lokhande only read Pradeep Lokhande, Pune 411013 —
that’s it, nothing more. And they reached because of the sheer volume of
traffic!
Anyway, even
as that aspect of his life continues, Lokhande has now been nicknamed, India’s
Library Man. In 2010, he took on the onerous task of setting up libraries in
secondary schools in rural Maharashtra. This is the world’s largest rural
reading initiative. His objective was simple — “A person who reads is an
enlightened mind.’’ He says, “Reading is a habit everyone of us should
encourage. Be it, your own child, all school children, your domestic help or
even the rickshaw driver, if all of us pick up a book to read, our lives will
change.”
With this objective, Lokhande encouraged various patrons to donate books and
before he knew it, his Gyan Key initiative had spread across 3,910 libraries in
Maharashtra. However, the buck never stopped. He has replicated the same in
seven other states including Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand,
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Rajasthan. “The project has benefited 10 lakh
students in the eight states and I’m hoping this number is constantly on the
rise,’’ says Lokhande. “Till date, we have received 8,50,000 postcards from
students who have read the books and written to the donors. Almost 2,65,000
responses have been laminated,’’ says the book-man pointing to neat piles of
the communication that has been preserved in his Rural Relations office in
Pune.
The Gyan Key
initiative has succeeded in donating 9,40,000 books, worth Rs 3,91,00,000 (30
million+) till date.
Source | https://www.dnaindia.com
Regards
Mr.
Pralhad Jadhav
Research Scholar (IGNOU)
Senior Manager @ Knowledge
Repository
Khaitan & Co
Mobile @ 9665911593
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