Narendra Modi donates Rs 21 lakh from personal savings for educating Gujarat government staffs' daughters

NEW DELHI: As a parting gift to the cause of girl education in his home state, Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi has donated Rs 21 lakh from his personal savings to create a corpus fund for educating daughters of drivers and peons working with the Gujarat government.

A foundation would be set up for the administration of the corpus fund under Chief Minister Anandiben Patel and the Chief Secretary.

"Before leaving Gujarat, I gave Rs 21 lakh from my personal savings to educate daughters of drivers & peons working with Guj Govt," Modi tweeted.

In another tweet, he said, "An issue very close to me is educating the girl child. As CM, I always looked forward to Kanya Kelavani Abhiyan across Gujarat."

He said the corpus fund will "hopefully grow in future and empower our daughters".

Modi had initiated the Kanya Kelavani campaign in Gujarat for ensuring girl child education. He had raised Rs 89.96 crore by auctioning all gifts he received as chief minister and donated this to the Kanya Kelavani Fund.