The Times of India

Karnataka's Anke Gowda to be awarded Padma Shri for creating India's largest free-access library

Gowda, a former bus conductor from Karnataka, founded Pustakamane with the aim of making books accessible to people from remote and marginalised communities. Over the years, the initiative has grown into a vast repository of more than two million books in over 20 languages, including rare manuscripts and historical texts.