Kozhikode: The Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK) has 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.
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.