Planet earth has made 55 revolutions around the sun since the Rajasthan Youth Association (RYA) was founded, and college textbooks have been revised again and again and once again, but the Association’s enthusiasm for its book-distribution project has not reduced one jot.
Last Sunday, RYA celebrated its 55th annual book distribution function.
Soon after it was established in 1963, RYA started a book-lending project for college students who could not afford to buy textbooks.
The scheme, which started with lending textbooks to just 25 students in city colleges, has now grown to cater to 9,000 students every year due to the efforts of committed volunteers.
Over one lakh students have benefited from the scheme in the last five decades.
Dharmendra Pratap Yadav, secretary, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises distributed textbooks to students this year.
Nitesh Bagmar, chairman of the book bank, said the project now covered 250 colleges in Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, and Thiruvallur. At the function, one of the founding members took the audience down memory lane. “In 1962, India was facing aggression from China and we wanted to do something to help the nation,” said S. Mohanchand Dadha, now an octogenarian. He was then part of a group of earnest young men, barely out of college but with a social conscience.
“We went to our seniors [in the Rajasthani community] to talk about what could be done but after a long meeting, there was no clear outcome. The youngsters decided to pool Rs.25,000 and send it to the Defence Fund. Our quick action impressed the elders in the community,” recalled Dadha, a businessman and philanthropist.
Rajasthan Youth Association is located at #4, Atkinson Street, Atkinson Palace, Ground Floor, Vepery, Chennai — 600 007.
For information about its initiatives, call 044-2561 0369/ 2561 0978.
