Ms. Sudha Murty - Founder, Infosys Foundation

Ms.Sudha Murty is an engineer who has taught computer science in colleges, is a published author of several books in Kannada and English including the recently published "The day I taught grandmother’ and other stories".

What is the idea behind 'A Library for Every School' ?

We want to inculcate the reading habit among young people.

Normally, every school should be able to provide enough reading material to children. But there are so many schools that cannot afford this luxury.

Hence, we have set up 10, 000 libraries in villages in Karnataka. Libraries are stacked with 195 to 2000 books of different categories.

Now we have taken a break to find out how these libraries are doing, and how they have impacted the children.

Why School Libraries and why not CDs ?

Schools generally have, or should have, a readymade space for libraries.

Also the children will have easy access to books in the school rather than in other places in a village.

With power problems and lack of adequate skills to operate computers in most places, surely we find books more acceptable than CDs.

We have introduced computer education in village training centres through teacher training camps but we feel it is important to reach out through books at this stage.

What is your target for Number of School Libraries in Karnataka ?

Our target of 10,000 schools has already been reached.

It is now time to find out how much learning has taken place through this programme.

It is also a time for reviewing all the aspects of ‘shale ondu granthalaya’.

We have not set fresh targets yet, though it would definitely be a good thing to have such libraries in schools all over the country.

Is the Library concept open to other states ?

Currently, we are not planning any moves like this.

Do you believe that Corporates and Foundations should work with Governments ?

We work independently. Infosys provides the funds and we run the programmes. Working with other corporates and governments may only slow down our work. We are quite happy with this arrangement and do not feel the need to change it now.

To simplify the standard of computer education to the students in rural areas, you have written a separate book.
What is the response to this book ? Is this book given to the students or teachers ?

The book is doing very well. Most books on computers are written by a Western writer for urban people.

There was a need to convert this facility to help children in villages too. Teachers are also given this book and the good thing is that teachers are using it a lot.

This helps them to teach effectively too. This book is available in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. What about other languages like Marathi, English....The book is available in also available in Oriya and Malayalam. We haven’t yet translated it into English or Marathi.

Can we place the book on our site ?

Yes. In any of the languages.

Infosys Foundation has developed a Science Center in Kolar Dist in Karnataka and a science lab in Miraj, Maharashtra.
What are the various activities in these centers and what is the success of these two institutions ?

Infosysy Foundation has only gifted this building to the National Education Society. We are not involved with any of the programmes that run there.

You are known to visit NGOs yourself. What is the criteria for selection of your partner NGOs ?

We visit NGOs on our own. Over the years, we have developed contacts in the field who help us to identify good people.

Normally, we do not have partnerships with any NGO. But we do work with a few like the Vidya Poshak Sangha in Dharwad, the Nehru Seva Sangh in Orissa, Sathi in Raichur. We observe, we view the work and only then select partnering NGOs in specific areas of work.

Are Infosys Volunteers supporting your activities ? How ?

Most Infosys employees are always on the move. They have to go where their projects take them.

Therefore, they cannot commit time to work at the Foundation.But they do help us whenever needed. For instance, when we build libraries, hospitals and camps, they help us with designing and setting up the place.

A lot of potential donors (Corporates and Individuals in Corporates) do not give funds to the social sector since they are not sure of the Credibility of the NGOs

Is there any way in which they can channelise their funds through Infosys Foundation. e.g. They can pay Rs 2500/- for a basic library at a school either in Karnataka or any other state

Frankly, our work keeps us too busy to think of such work. Sometimes I advice people on a personal level about NGOs they could make donations to.

But many times, the NGOs keep changing hands and people at the helm move on. It is very difficult to take the responsibility of judging which are the credible NGOs and which are not.

If donors make specific requests for how they want their donation to be used, we do not accept the donation at all.Needs of the children keep changing, and we spend on things we need to. We would prefer to use donations that come with no stipulations on how they are to be used.

Infosys Foundation has supported a girls hostel for the blind in Banapur, Orissa, Jagruthi Blind School in Pune, Sri Ramana Maharshi Academy for the Blind in Bangalore and Sri Sharada Andhara Vikasa Kendra in Shimoga, Karnataka.
What kind of support do you give to the blind - Jobs, vocational
training ?

No we have not started work in this sector. Our focus has been to provide the infrastructure, that’s all. We have our own architects, contractors and workers, and we build the hospitals and other centres on our own.

In your health project, are you offering partnerships to Pharma Companies who can donate products to communities through you. Again, this is to see if there are partnership opportunities for other corporates.

No, we do not have any partnerships of that kind now. We have built seven hospitals.

Though there are many well-wishers on an individual status, we have not so far looked into corporate participation othe than through Infosys.

How do you support Art as an issue ? Is it direct funding to artists or buying products from them or advocating this buying to other
corporates ?

We promote artists by providing a platform for them to perform in various cities and towns. The village artists get a tremendous response from art lovers.

Have you seen any Artists Villages in India or abroad ?

Yes, but unfortunately I cannot remember their names or where specifically I saw them. The one in Chennai and in some Scandinavian countries were very good.