Chandigarh, May 26: Today, to promote the joy of reading among more and more children’s, especially those living in slum settlements & rural areas of the city, Yuvsatta-an NGO, Chandigarh’s State Legal Services Authority-SLSA, Chandigarh Commission for Protection of Child Rights-CCPCR & Earth Day Network-India, launched a ‘Read Chandigarh Campaign’ by organizing a unique ‘KITABAN DA LANGAR (Books Donation Drive)’ programme.

As part of the endeavour, three major book donations drives were organized at Bapudham Colony, village Khudda Ali Sher & Govt. Girls Model Sr. Sec. School, Sector 18C, Chandigarh, where a total of 500 young children’s participated and a total of 2500 story books, general knowledge books, inspirational books, biographies of prominent people, travel, science and quiz books etc. got collected and distributed today. Prominent amongst those who participated and encouraged the young students included Mr. Mahavir Singh, Member Secretary, SLSA, Mrs.Raj Bala, Principal, Govt. Girls Model Sr. Sec. School, Sector 18C, Monica Chawla, Principal, St. Joseph’s Sr. Sec. School, Sector 44D, Loveleen Kaur, Principal, IS Dev Samaj Sr. Sec. School, Sector 21C, Sunita Ranyal, Principal, CL Agarwal DAV Model School, Sector 7B, Dalip Sharma, Municipal Councillor, Vishal Singla-social activist & Mr. Pramod Sharma, Founder & Coordinator, Yuvsatta.

Quoting a famous quote “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go”, the Chief Guest Mahavir Singh said that instead of wasting time of social media sites, young students should make books their lifelong friends. As beloved books we read as kids can stay with us all our lives. He also added that good reading habits not only increases one’s knowledge, memory, analytical Thinking Skills & improve concentration but good books also make us a better human being. On the occasion he also emphasized on protection of child rights and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

Pramod Sharma, Coordinator of Yuvsatta added that as part of 150th anniversary celebration of Mahatma Gandhi, today there volunteers also gave a set of autobiographies of Mahatma Gandhi to legal clinics of SLSA at ten different slum settlements and villages namely Khudda Ali Sher, Sarangpur, Khudda Jassu, Dhanas, Kaimbwala, Kishangarh, Bapudham Colony, Manimajra, Daria, Colony No. 4 & Indira Colony.

Monica Chawla, Principal of St. Joseph’s shared that books exchange is a novel idea, where by young students can not only read more and more new books in their coming holidays, but as they’ll also by reusing books, so they’ll be in fact reducing Carbon footprint, saving trees and saving expenses on buying the books.

Raj Bala, Principal of Govt. Girls Model Sr. Sec. School said that we envision a world where books are available to all, without the barriers of location or cost. To read a book trees do not have to be cut and every printed book has been read by five people before it is recycled

Sharing her concerns Harjinder Kaur, Chairperson, CCPCR said that it’s heartening to see participating Schools response of this ‘Kitaban Da Langar-Books donation’ drive. As by this way students and teachers can feel the joy of giving, it clears the clutter of books at your home, it’ll let someone else also have the pleasure of reading that book. And will also help develop the culture of read and share, especially among young minds.

Prominent Schools which participate in the initiative included Govt. Girls Model Sr. Sec. School, Sector 18C, St. Joseph’s Sr. Sec. School, Sector 44D, IS Dev Samaj Sr. Sec. School, Sector 21C, CL Agarwal DAV Model School, Sector 7B, AKSIPS, Sector 41 & 45, Gurukul Global School, RIMT World School, Ashiana Public School, St. Peter’s School, Carmel Convent School, Sacred Heart Sr. Sec. School, St. John’s High School, Banyan Tree School, Dwarka Dass Library-Lajpat Bhawan, Alliance International School-Banur, Rajpura.

At a formal programme at Govt. Girls Model Sr. Sec. School, Mr. Mahavir Singh, Member Secretary, State Legal Services Authority, Chandigarh also honoured the heads and teachers of participating Schools.