Des Raag Support a library

हर गाँव में एक पुस्तकालय, हर बच्चे के हाथ में एक किताब

A hundred village libraries, built as knowledge centres for everyone.

Des Raag is building free libraries across rural India — places where children read every day, and where families find books, digital access, government schemes, and honest counsel. The first is open. Seventy-two children already come regularly.

Support a library See the impact
1library open in its village
2more finalised and under way
72children reading regularly today
100libraries planned across the country

पुस्तकालय से आगे

More than a room of books — a knowledge centre for the whole village.

Each Des Raag library serves children first, but its doors are open to people of every age. It is the village's window to the country and its opportunities.

📚

Open reading library

A curated collection in Gujarati, Hindi, and English — story books, textbooks, reference, and newspapers — free to read and borrow.

💻

Digital library

Tablets and connected computers open up e-books, learning apps, and the wider internet for students preparing for exams and careers.

🏛️

Government schemes desk

Help understanding and applying for scholarships, pensions, health cards, and welfare schemes that villagers are entitled to.

🧭

Counselling and guidance

Career and education counselling for young people — what to study, where to apply, and which paths exist beyond the village.

📰

Awareness of the country

Newspapers, discussions, and current-affairs sessions so the village stays aware of what is happening in India and the world.

🤝

Community space

A calm, dignified place to sit, learn, and meet — run by a local library manager who knows every reader by name.

असर, आँकड़ों में

The impact so far — measured every day, from every village.

Every visit, every reading hour, and every book issued is recorded at the library door, so these numbers are real, current, and audited — not estimates.

0children reading regularly, every week
0library visits since opening
0hours spent reading and learning
0books issued and read
0government scheme applications assisted
0students given career counselling
0of our readers are girls
0days a week the doors are open

The community and infrastructure behind it

0sq ft of library infrastructure built
0reading seats
0people employed from the villages
0library members
0friends of the library
0donors
0supporters and volunteers
0books in our collections
0villages reached by our programmes

लोग क्या कहते हैं

What visitors say

4.9
★★★★★51 Google reviews — Mata Prasad Pustakalaya
★★★★★

"An incredible effort to spread education in rural areas. A library for villagers can change lives and create opportunities for future generations. Hats off to this initiative."

Google review · Mata Prasad Pustakalaya
★★★★★

"It's inspiration for us. Proud to be there and witness it."

Google review · Mata Prasad Pustakalaya
★★★★★

"Very beautiful and good amount of books there to read."

Google review · Mata Prasad Pustakalaya
Children in a reading circle inside the library
An afternoon reading circle — the library's daily heartbeat.
Mata Prasad Pustakalaya facade by day
Mata Prasad Pustakalaya — red sandstone and jali, built to last generations.
The library at dusk with Des Raag carved at the entrance
Dusk at the library — देस राग carved beside the door.

पहला सुर लग चुका है

One library open. Two on the way. Ninety-seven to go.

Open

Mata Prasad Pustakalaya

Chamari, Jalaun district, Bundelkhand (UP)

72regular readers
Dailychildren's hours
Liveon the dashboard
Under way

Library No. 2

Site finalised

2026opening
Readybook collection
Under way

Library No. 3

Site finalised

2026opening
Readybook collection

3 of 100 libraries — each new library brings a village of children into daily reading.

देस का राग

The melody of the land begins with a child reading.

Des Raag — the raag of the country — is the belief that when a village reads, it awakens. Opportunity in India is written down: in books, in exam papers, in scheme documents, on the internet. A child who reads daily, in a place built for reading, steps into all of it.

"For the children, a thousand times over."

जिन्होंने शुरुआत की

The people behind Des Raag

Des Raag began as a promise to a village and a grandfather's memory — and grew into a mission to take a library to a hundred villages.

स

Saurabh Dwivedi

Founder & Trustee

One of India's best-known Hindi journalists and the founding editor of The Lallantop, Saurabh grew up in Chamari village of Jalaun district, Bundelkhand. The first Des Raag library — Mata Prasad Pustakalaya — stands in his village, named in loving memory of his grandfather, Mata Prasad Dwivedi. For Saurabh, the library is journalism's other half: if news tells the country what is happening, a library gives a village child the means to act on it.

गु

Gunjan Sangwan

Founder & Trustee

Co-founder of Des Raag, Gunjan shapes what happens inside the libraries — the reading programmes, the events, the counselling sessions, and the warmth that makes children come back every day. She anchors the trust's community: the members, friends of the library, volunteers, and the village families whose children fill the reading rooms.

ट

Trustee

Trustee

The trust's governance is completed by its trustee board, which oversees funds, audits the accession registers of every library, and ensures that every rupee and every donated book reaches a village shelf. The trust publishes its impact numbers openly on this website.

Why "Mata Prasad"? The first library carries the name of Mata Prasad Dwivedi of Chamari — a man of the village whose memory now welcomes every child who walks in. That is the Des Raag way: libraries built on love for a place and its people, kept alive in their name.

उद्घाटन समारोह

Watch the grand opening of Mata Prasad Pustakalaya

On 26 March, the first Des Raag library opened its doors in Chamari — with writers, poets, and well-wishers from across the country standing with one village. Watch the ceremony and all films from the libraries on our channel.

▶ Subscribe — Mata Prasad Pustakalaya on YouTube

साथ आइए

Three ways to stand with a village library.

Des Raag is a charitable trust. Every library is free for its village, forever. Give money, give books, or give your time — every form of giving reaches a child directly.

💛

Fund books

  • Put one new book on a shelf ₹150
  • A full shelf of 40 books ₹6,000
  • A child's reading year — books, ID card, events ₹1,200
  • Seed collection for a new library ₹1,00,000
Donate now
📚

Donate books in kind

Give the books on your shelf a second life in a village. We welcome children's story books, biographies, science and general knowledge titles in Gujarati, Hindi, and English — in good, readable condition. Every donated book is accessioned in your name in that library's register, and you'll see it circulating on our impact reports. Simply courier your books to the library:

Mata Prasad Pustakalaya
Gram & Post Chamari, Thana Aata
District Jalaun (Urai), Uttar Pradesh — 285202
Open in Google Maps ↗
📞 Before dispatch, message our WhatsApp assistant with BOOKS — we'll share the receiver's number for the courier and confirm your books when they arrive.
Pledge your books on WhatsApp
🏡

Donate space — Vidyasthal

Give a place of knowledge in your name. Donate a room, a building, or a plot of land in your village, and Des Raag will build and run a library there — forever bearing the name of your family or a loved one whose memory you wish to keep alive. The trust bears all operations; your Vidyasthal serves the village's children for generations. Land and premises contributions are structured with full legal documentation and 80G benefits where applicable.

Offer a Vidyasthal
🙋

Give your time

Our libraries run on people as much as books. Volunteer for a story-telling hour, a career-counselling session, a digital-literacy class, or teach any skill you know — in person at a library, or over a video call to a village a thousand kilometres away. Even two hours a month changes what a child believes is possible.

Volunteer with us
बिना कुछ दिए भी साथ दीजिए

Or simply stand with us — join the circle

No donation needed. Join as a Friend of the Library or a Supporter, and walk with us as a hundred libraries rise across the country.

  • Monthly updates on libraries being built and the work being done
  • Films, photos, and stories from the villages, straight to your WhatsApp
  • Invitations to opening ceremonies and library events
  • Friends of the Library get a named place in their chosen library's community

पुस्तकालय से समाचार

From the libraries — blog and vlog

Notes and films from the ground: what the children read, asked, built, and celebrated this month.

🎬
▶
Vlog

Reading day at Mata Prasad Pustakalaya — 61 children in one afternoon

A short film from our busiest day yet: the story circle, the atlas corner, and Meera's first finished English book.

September 2026 · 6 min watch
✍️
Blog

How a QR sticker replaced three registers

The design story of our zero-paperwork library system — and what 934 door scans in a month taught us about when village children actually read.

August 2026 · 4 min read
🎬
▶
Vlog

The schemes desk: a scholarship found in the library

A Std 10 student and her father discover a state scholarship at the government schemes desk — and file the application the same evening.

August 2026 · 5 min watch
आपका सुझाव, हमारा अगला कदम

The suggestion box

Which book should we add? Which village needs a library next? What should the knowledge centre teach? Villagers, parents, teachers, donors — this box is open to everyone, and the trust reads every note.

धन्यवाद! Your suggestion has reached the trust.