Reading is the main requisite of education; in short, it is the first step towards education. Even our constitution defines literacy on the basis of reading. There have been many instances in life when we see avid readers but very few have an hysteria to follow this passion. Surprisingly, one such example is of an Indian parliamentarian, Pradeep Rawat, who has been running his own library for last three years.
Who is Pradeep Rawat?
- He was a BJP MP in Pune
- After his tenure ended in A B Vajpayee government, he decided to start his own library
Why the library?
- Rawat was jailed during his college days, for he was actively involved in JP movement and had to leave his studies at Abasaheb Garware College
- Rawat was a student of science but couldn't graduate from this stream; however, he loved reading about the subject
- While working as a parliamentarian, he used to spend most of his time in the Parliament library
- His library has a fine collection of books on science and evolutionary biology
- Dr L S Shashidhara, head of Biology at IISER, said it is one of the best public libraries he has visited. "There is a vast collection on all aspects of science and not many are found at even our institute or Pune University. What is important is that despite not being a science stream graduate, he has read these scholarly books that are usually read by researchers," said Shahsidhara
- Today, more than 30,000 students have prepared for various competitive exams from the rare collection of 3000 books
"The collection is helpful for civil services aspirants. The encyclopaedia, magazines and books ranging from spirituality and science were terrific," said Atul Kanade, who used to be a frequent visitor and went on to top the Maharashtra PSC exam last year.