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Ratna Nidhi, Alibaba continue world’s largest charity book donation drive with 4th edition in Mumbai
Google.org grantee Ratna Nidhi Trust, a disability and education-centric not for profit organisation based out of Mumbai in association with Alibaba Group- a Chinese multinational commerce, retail and technology conglomerate continued their patronage to the world’s largest book donation drive “Mission Million Books” in Mumbai today.
Mumbai : Google.org grantee Ratna Nidhi Trust, a disability and education-centric not for profit organisation based out of Mumbai in association with Alibaba Group- a Chinese multinational commerce, retail and technology conglomerate continued their patronage to the world’s largest book donation drive “Mission Million Books” in Mumbai today.
22nd April 2018 marks the 4th book donation drive, under the aegis of the #MissionMillionBooks campaign. This was preceded by similar events in 2016 and 2017 in Satara, Baramati and Mumbai.
Inaugurating the exhibition, Dr. Swaroop Sampat Rawal, member Governing Council, Maharashtra International Education Board said, “ I am happy to be here, because education is a priority for Maharashtra and for India. Even in this digital age, I seriously like to read books and believe that they have an important role to play. All the children here must know that books take you into a wonderful world of imagination, enhance your creativity. Make sure you read beyond your school books.”
Dr Rawal took her time to go around the exhibition, alongside Rajiv Mehta, Trustee, Ratna Nidhi Trust, Vinay Bhartia, Senior Vice President – Strategic Partnership, alibaba.com, Asha Mehta, Founder of Ratna Nidhi Trust and Prof B Ravi of IIT-Bombay.
Vinay Bhartia, Senior Vice President – Strategic Partnership, Alibaba.com said, "They say reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. It’s a pity that many deserving and curious children and youth in our country do not even have access to good quality reading material. This very thought led us to conceptualise the Mission Million Books initiative. Our endeavour is to provide good quality reading material to as many youngsters in the country as possible. In a short span, now over 700,000 books have been collected and donated impacting close to 2.5 million students across more than 2000 institutes in India. We are grateful to everyone for supporting us on this journey.”
Rajiv Mehta, Trustee, Ratna Nidhi Trust added, “We are receiving donations now at the rate of 500-1000 books per day and hope to cross the million mark possibly in 2018. We are grateful to all our partners. In this 4th edition, we are really happy that we have been able to provide bags and transport to the books as well.”
Over 1000 principals were in attendance at the event. Prof B Ravi added, “ The looks on the faces of the principals as they’re collecting books is priceless.”
The books are in subjects such as Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Computers, Geography, History, Dictionaries, Encyclopaedias, Fictions, Biography, Business & Management, Story books, Mythology, Children books, Humanity & religion, Magazine etc. in the form of donation.
About Google.org grantee Ratna Nidhi Charitable Trust
A file picture from 2009 shows Mahendra Mehta, Founder of Ratna Nidhi Trust in intense conversation with the then Chief Minister of Gujarat who had been a great supporter of their free mobility camps for the disabled. The late Princess Diana's Trust had conferred upon Mahendra Mehta, the prestigious Humanitarian Rose Award.
Ratna Nidhi has come a long way since its inception in 1990. A few of its initiatives are as follows;
1 Ratna Nidhi runs the worlds largest book donation drive called #MissionMillionBooks in collaboration with e-commerce giant alibaba.
2 Eminent personalities like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi, Udit Raj, Ramdas Athawale and Shri Ratan Tata have supported their work.
3 Ratna Nidhi is one of the largest donors of orthotics and prosthetics in the world. In India alone, they have distributed over 2.48 lac mobility aids, like Jaipur foot, polio callipers, wheelchairs and crutches.
4 They have distributed 23 million free meals as part of their mid-day meals in Mumbai every morning- over the last 15 years.
5 They have distributed over 1.10 million garments to the poor and needy as of March 2018.
6 In March 2016, Ratna Nidhi Trust was selected by Google for its Impact Challenge for Disabilities Award to further technology in helping limb amputees.
