The India Literacy Project, (ILP), founded in 1990 in the USA by a
group of Non-Resident Indians inspired by Dr. Parameshwar Rao, a
scientist trained in the U.S. He returned to India in 1967 to dedicate
his life to improving the lives of the rural poor in India.

Dr. Rao’s original goal was to improve the life of the villagers in and
around the Vishakapatnam district. He soon realized that literacy
was a necessary prerequisite if the villagers were to absorb the
knowledge he wished to impart to them. This, together with the
knowledge of India’s then abysmal literacy rate of 36%(1981 census
approx.), propelled him to campaign in the U.S. for Indians to
actively participate in improving the literacy rate. He campaigned
across several cities in the US which led to a group of NRIs coming
together and committing to create an organization dedicated to
literacy and education (Document signed by founding members).
Thus ILP was born.