While the youth of Jammu and Kashmir are show-casing their talent in different fields like art, sports and others, some are also striving for a better future for other youth like them.
A good example of this is Irfan Ali from Budgam district in central Kashmir, who has estab-lished a library-cum-reading room in the district at an individual level.
The establishment of such a library at an indi-vidual level is a first of its kind initiative, where all the necessary books and other resources are provided to the youth to shape their future, and to prepare for the competitive exams.
Irfan, who himself is a civil service aspirant, does not want to let other aspiring youngsters face the difficulties he faced in preparing for competitive exams.
“I don’t want other aspirants to miss out on the guidance and proper counselling which were not available to me. Due to lack of resources, I could not prepare properly. so I took this initiative so that the other youth can prepare better for the competitive exams,” he said.
Irfan got the inspiration for this initiative during his stay in Delhi where he went for coaching in 2019 after receiving a scholarship from the Zakat Founda-tion of India.
“During the few months I spent in Delhi, I saw beautiful libraries where all the necessary materials were available to prepare for competitive exams. So I was inspired to start a similar library in my own hometown where the youth could study. The idea was to help those who cannot afford books or other study materials,” Irfan said.
The year after he returned from Delhi, Irfan started his library from a small rented room in his hometown, where he got good response from the students. As the number of visitors grew, Irfan shifted to a bigger complex.
At present, the library consists of individual sin-gle cabins for reading purposes and has more than 300 books of UPSC alone. According to Irfan, he had to take a loan to fulfil his dream.
“I have named the set up ‘Iqra Library-cum-Study Hall’, and its salient features include IAS, KAS, JKSSB, SSC, NEET, JEE, and GATE materi-als. The library provides students with free books, study materials, notes, and daily newspapers, among others,” Irfan said.—KMS
