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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

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)...

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.

Gold and Silver Smart Investing

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For most Indian households, Dhanteras marks the beginning of Diwali - a day when buying gold or silver is considered auspicious. Beyond the emotional and cultural significance, these metals have been time-tested stores of value, preserving purchasing power through generations.


However, in today’s era of convenience and transparency, investors no longer need to buy physical jewellery or coins to participate in the precious metals story. There are far smarter, cost-efficient, and safer ways to invest - especially through mutual funds.


Option 1 – Gold Mutual Funds: Purity Without Storage Hassles

For those who wish to stick purely to gold, a Gold Mutual Fund is a clean and convenient option.


Benefits:

• No risk of theft or impurity

• No storage or safety issues, and no need for lockers

• Easy liquidity as even partial redemption is possible

• Systematic investment options such as SIP, STP, and SWP


Gold has historically provided stability during periods of high inflation or market volatility. Over the long term, it can act as a hedge - balancing the risk in a predominantly equity-driven portfolio and also helping to beat inflation.


Option 2 – Gold and Silver Mix Funds: Broader Precious-Metals Exposure

Investors seeking to diversify beyond gold can choose a Gold and Silver Fund. These products invest in both metals, and the internal mix is at the discretion of the fund manager.


By combining gold’s defensive nature with silver’s industrial growth story, investors get a well-rounded exposure to the entire precious-metals space. Silver also benefits from its increasing use in solar panels, electric vehicles, and electronics, adding an element of industrial demand to the portfolio.


Option 3 – Multi Asset Funds: A Balanced All-Weather Portfolio

For those who do not want to bet solely on precious metals, Multi Asset Allocation Funds offer an intelligent blend.


These funds typically invest 50 percent in equity, 10 percent in gold and/or silver, 10 percent in debt, and the rest dynamically as per the fund manager’s view.


This mix ensures that when one asset class underperforms, another often compensates. The result is steady compounding with lower volatility, making it ideal for long-term wealth creation.


Festive Investing, Rational Thinking

While tradition encourages buying gold on Dhanteras and Diwali, modern investing is about blending emotion with logic. Instead of locking money in jewellery that offers no returns, channel it into financial instruments backed by gold and silver - where purity, liquidity, and performance come together.


So, this Dhanteras and Diwali, invest not just for prosperity today, but for financial security tomorrow.


Because true wealth is not about what shines - it is about what grows.


(The author is a Chartered Accountant and CFA (USA). Financial Advisor. Views personal. He could be reached on 9833133605.)

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