IIM Kozhikode Donates 15,000 Books worth Rs 75 Lakhs to 30 Colleges in Kerala as part of its CSR Initiative
Kozhikode, 20 May: The 5th Edition of Book Donation programme, organised by The Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK) here today, donated over 15,000 books worth Rs 75 Lakhs (approx.) to 30 colleges belonging to Kannur, Wayanad, Malappuram and Kozhikode Districts of Kerala. The event was attended by over 300 students and faculty members of the beneficiary colleges.
This Book Donation programme was organized by the Institute, as a part of IIMK’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative and was the fifth such instance since its inception. The event witnessed every beneficiary college being handed over close to 500 books each, worth Rs 2.5 Lakh (approximately) and covered a vast spectrum of academic subjects like Economics, Management, Accounting, Commerce, Marketing, Operations Research, Quantitative Methods, Organisational Behaviour, Human Resource Management, Business Ethics, Information Technology and Literature. These books have been handpicked and recommended by the Faculty, for IIM Kozhikode students, and were later contributed for the book donation drive spearheaded by the Library & Information Centre (LIC), IIMK.
The function was presided over by IIMK Director Prof. Debashis Chatterjee, himself an accomplished author and the brain behind the Donation Drive conceptualised as part of IIMK’s CSR and grass root outreach initiatives. In his address to the invited guests, Professor Chatterjee said “IIMK’s Book Donation programme is part of our ‘social reputation’ creation by being socially relevant and sensitive to the communities to whom we are accountable to. Professionals succeeding from this initiative should pay it forward and keenly contribute to the creation of knowledge.” He encouraged the gathering to come together and explore the idea of Kozhikode city conceptualising a first-of-its-kind ‘Book Bank’; to be run by book-loving volunteers and driven by the power of volunteerism to make books accessible to the underprivileged and the less fortunate.
As a symbolic gesture of book donation, Prof. Debashis Chatterjee handed over one copy each of the book entitled “Vision 2047: Globalizing Indian Thought ” to all the beneficiary colleges as a souvenir from IIMK to mark this ceremony. The book is an aspirational work of India of the future by Prof. Chatterjee and two other IIMK faculty members.
Earlier, Shri Appasahed Naikal, Librarian, IIMK, welcomed the dignitaries, representatives from the beneficiary colleges and their students. Further, in his address to a packed auditorium Prof. Nycil George (Member, Library Advisory Commitee) invoked the young minds to embrace knowledge with open arms and imbibe the values gained for the benefit of the society. Speaking on behalf of the beneficiary colleges, Dr. Sabu K Thomas, Principal, St. Joseph’s College, Devagiri, Medical College, and Prof. Rajalakshmi, Principal, Bhavans N.A Palkhivala Academy for Advanced Legal Studies and Research (PALSAR), Ramanattukara, Kozhikode; expressed their gratitude to Director for this noble gesture.
Acknowledging that knowledge is true power, they invoked the participating students to pledge themselves to the message by Prof. Chatterjee of sharing the knowledge gained through books and passing them on to their peers as a true torchbearer.
The Vote of Thanks for the function was proposed by Lt. Col (Retd.) Julius George, Chief Administrative Officer, who expressed his gratitude to the Director and Staff of IIMK for their efforts to organise this event and also to the beneficiary colleges and students, for enthusiastically participating in this programme.