Maulana’s 'gullak' initiative touches 60K students

Read & Lead Foundation President Maulana Abdul Qayyum Mirza with daughter Mariyam Mirza. Mumbai/Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: In the new age controlled by smart-gadgets and social media, an academic from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar has sparked a small, head-turning and successful - ‘savings and reading’ revolution among middle-school children. Launched in 2006, by Maulana Abdul Qayyum Mirza, the humble initiative turns 20 this year and witnessed over 60,000 free savings boxes (gullaks)...

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Maulana’s 'gullak' initiative touches 60K students

Read & Lead Foundation President Maulana Abdul Qayyum Mirza with daughter Mariyam Mirza. Mumbai/Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: In the new age controlled by smart-gadgets and social media, an academic from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar has sparked a small, head-turning and successful - ‘savings and reading’ revolution among middle-school children. Launched in 2006, by Maulana Abdul Qayyum Mirza, the humble initiative turns 20 this year and witnessed over 60,000 free savings boxes (gullaks) distributed to Class V-VIII students in 52 government and private schools. “The aim was to inculcate a love for ‘saving and reading’ among young children. We started by presenting small plastic ‘gullaks’ (savings boxes) at the Iqra Boys & Girls High School, and later to many other schools,” Mirza said with a tinge of satisfaction. Scoffed by sceptics, it soon caught the eyes of the schools and parents who loved the idea that kept the kids off mischief, but gave them the joy of quietly slipping Re. 1 or even Rs. 5 save from their daily pocket money into the ‘gullak’. “That tiny ‘gullak’ costing barely Rs 3-Rs 5, becomes almost like their personal tiny bank which they guard fiercely and nobody dares touch it. At the right time they spend the accumulated savings to buy books of their choice – with no questions asked. Isn’t it better than wasting it on toys or sweets or amusement,” chuckled Mirza. A childhood bookworm himself, Mirza, now 50, remembers how he dipped into his school’s ‘Book Box’ to avail books of his choice and read them along with the regular syllabus. “Reading became my passion, not shared by many then or even now… Sadly, in the current era, reading and saving are dying habits. I am trying to revive them for the good of the people and country,” Maulana Mirza told The Perfect Voice. After graduation, Mirza was jobless for sometime, and decided to make his passion as a profession – he took books in a barter deal from the renowned Nagpur philanthropist, Padma Bhushan Maulana Abdul Karim Parekh, lugged them on a bicycle to hawk outside mosques and dargahs. He not only sold the entire stock worth Rs 3000 quickly, but asked astonished Parekh for more – and that set the ball rolling in a big way, ultimately emboldening him to launch the NGO, ‘Read & Lead Foundation’ (2018). “However, despite severe resources and manpower crunch, we try to cater to the maximum number of students, even outside the district,” smiled Mirza. The RLF is also supported by his daughter Mariyam Mirza’s Covid-19 pandemic scheme, ‘Mohalla Library Movement’ that catapulted to global fame, and yesterday (Oct. 20), the BBC telecast a program featuring her. The father-daughter duo urged children to shun mobiles, video-games, television or social media and make ‘books as their best friends’, which would always help in life, as they aim to gift 1-lakh students with ‘gullaks’ in the next couple of years. At varied intervals Mirza organizes small school book fairs where the excited kids troop in, their pockets bulging with their own savings, and they proudly purchase books of their choice in Marathi, English, Hindi or Urdu to satiate their intellectual hunger. Fortunately, the teachers and parents support the kids’ ‘responsible spending’, for they no longer waste hours before screens but attentively flip pages of their favourite books, as Mirza and others solicit support for the cause from UNICEF, UNESCO, and global NGOs/Foundations. RLF’s real-life savers: Readers UNICEF’s Jharkhand District Coordinator and ex-TISS alumnus Abul Hasan Ali is full of gratitude for the ‘gullak’ habit he inculcated years ago, while Naregaon Municipal High School students Lakhan Devdas (Class 6) and Sania Youssef (Class 8) say they happily saved most of their pocket or festival money to splurge on their favourite books...! Zilla Parishad Girls Primary School (Aurangpura) teacher Jyoti Pawar said the RLF has proved to be a “simple, heartwarming yet effective way” to habituate kids to both reading and savings at a tender age, while a parent Krishna Shinde said it has “changed the whole attitude of children”. “We encourage books of general interest only, including inspiring stories of youth icons like Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai (28) and environmentalist Greta Thunberg (23) which fascinates our students, and other popular children’s literature,” smiled Mirza. The Maulana’s RLF, which has opened three dozen libraries in 7 years, acknowledges that every coin dropped into the small savings boxes begins a new chapter – and turns into an investment in knowledge that keeps growing.

ED rattled as President directs probe

Quaid Najmi
Jul 6
3 min read

Mumbai/Pune: In what is said to be unprecedented, President of India has transferred to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) a whistle-blower’s complaint to probe alleged massive scams in a posh Pune cooperative housing society (CHS) involving some Managing Committee Members, in tandem with CHS Department’s officials and outsiders.

The move that has shaken the ED brass, came after five years’ efforts by anti-corruption crusader, Kashyap M. Vyas, 69, who exposed a series of glaring irregularities allegedly perpetrated at the Ganga Platino PQR at Kharadi in Pune, in connivance with government officials, willy-nilly designed to help the builder.

Vyas has claimed the misdoings include: an alleged money-laundering scam, encroachments, illegal constructions, corruption of officials, flouting sanctioned building plans, discarding the National Building Code, and other shortcomings that may have cheated the government of potential revenue worth scores of crores rupees, though the exact figures could emerge after a forensic audit of the Society.

“Instead of taking corrective measures, the CHS Managing Committee is hounding me with fake allegations, threats, pressurizing me to shut up, protect the scamsters and department officials who have defrauded the government,” an irate Vyas told 'The Perfect Voice'.

The 17-storied CHS building has 6 shops, 208 flats of around 1200-1300 sq-feet, currently estimated to be worth around Rs. 2.25-2.75 crore.

When contacted, the Ganga Platino PQR CHS Chairman Sagar Mane told 'The Perfect Voice' he was unaware of any such developments, but revealed the Deputy Registrar of Societies conducted three audits of the society and reportedly issued “a clean chit”.

In the early days of his crusade, Vyas apprised the corruption matter to ex-union minister of housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri (in April 2019) and the builder’s purported ‘dark deeds’, seeking immediate action.

He said that at least 60 other Society members raised similar grievances that concerned the Pune Municipal Corporation, Cooperative Department headed by Union Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah, plus statutory environmental and urban planning laws.

At Puri’s behest, the PMC top officials called Vyas and 25 society members and heard them out, promised action within 3-4 weeks, slapped a show-cause notice to the builder, Subhash Goel and other steps -- but nothing moved forward thereafter.

Undeterred, Vyas moved various state and central authorities and investigation agencies, including the President, providing hard evidence like documents, official records, sting-audios, etc. demanding that all the culprits should be booked under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Prevention of Money Laundering Act and Prevention of Corruption Act.

“An independent probe team should be appointed from outside Maharashtra to avoid local collusion or influence. There are a host of violations/irregularities/frauds, which need proper investigation,” demanded Vyas.

He listed a few of them, including illegal formation of the Ganga Platino PWR CHS; 12 illegal penthouses built using free FSI of the society terraces of around 6,500-700 sqft; violations of fire safety, building code and MRTP Act; double/multiple parking allotted to certain members; fire-fighting systems concealed by illegal grills endangering lives; ground-floor public open spaces grabbed by shop-owners, and more.

Apprehending threats to life, Vyas has urged the government to provide full security to his family, even as the ED has initiated the process to launch a preliminary probe.

Govt officials red-flagged Pune CHS’ affairs

In June 2025, a Maharashtra government’s Senior Nodal Grievance Redressal Officer Dilip Deshpande opined that Kashyap Vyas’ matter is related to the Centre.

“He acknowledged that this massive corruption scam is beyond the state’s purview, plus either his inability or unwillingness to resolve the issue, but unwittingly justifying the jurisdiction of the central agencies like the ED, CBI, IT or CAG,” said Vyas.

Similarly, in May, a top Central official said that Vyas’ grievances are “multi-jurisdictional’, involving serious criminal, financial, human rights and governance issues”, as he sought judicial intervention after submitting overwhelming evidence in public interest.

Maharashtra has more than 1.25 lakh CHSs, with big and small scams perpetrated in thousands of societies that house more than five crore members.

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Jul 07

An Examination of Fraudulent Practices in MahaRERA’s Issuance of Registration to Mohan Nano Estates: A Closer Look at Hari Bhatia’s Admission*

In a recent statement, Mr. Hari Bhatia, a prominent figure in the real estate sector, admitted to the incorrect issuance of a commencement certificate, which raised serious concerns regarding the credibility of the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA). His response, while acknowledging the mistake, sheds light on an issue that many industry stakeholders are now questioning — the validity of MahaRERA’s registration process, especially when it is based on fraudulent commencement certificates.

The Admission by Hari Bhatia

Mr. Bhatia’s admission came in the wake of an ongoing investigation into the authenticity of certain documents associated with real estate…