Friends of Tribals Society (FTS), a premier non-profit, non-governmental and voluntary organization, headquartered in Kolkata, organized the second edition of Ekal Run marathon (Kolkata chapter) in Kolkata. The event was flagged off from Godrej Waterside, Sec-V, Salt Lake in the presence of noted celebrities like Agnimitra Paul and city corporates like Mr. Dipak Jalan, Mr. Vivek Gupta and Mr. Debashis Sen. The event saw an overwhelming participation from more than 2700 people from the city in the category of 3 km, 5km, 10 km and 21 km run.

Established in 1989, FTS has been working relentlessly towards the upliftment of rural and tribal mass of India through the Ekal Abhiyan movement and ensuring functional literacy for the children of this community. Ekal Run is also aimed at fulfilling this larger goal. Over the past 30 years, there have been 34 chapters of Ekal Run across India, which contributed to the formation of around one lakh one thousand four hundred seventeen ‘EkalVidyalayas’ or One-Teacher schools. These schools provide basic literacy to approximately 25 lakh children in tribal and rural clusters of India.

All the monetary receiving of the initiative will be contributed towards the education of tribal and rural children under the Ekal Abhiyan movement of FTS. Thus, FTS is providing an opportunity for people to be a part of a noble cause. In this noble initiative, past and current students of different Ekal schools also participated.

The event was graced by Mr. Debashis Sen, Chairman, HIDCO, Mr. S. Raveendran, IG, CRPF, Mr. Arun Lal (Former Cricketer), who officially flagged off the run. In addition to this, city based corporates, CenturyPly, Pentonic, Skipper, Deco, GreenPly and Infinity supported the event.