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PrathamUK, the London-based arm of India's leading educational charity, has crossed the £1 million mark in fund-raising efforts dedicated to eradicating illiteracy in India by 2010.
In its latest effort, the voluntary organisation raised about 140,000 pounds at an auction of paintings by Indian artists, organised by Christies last week.
The event, supported by Merrill Lynch's Global Private Client Group, saw about 300 guests bid for works by their favourite artists.
Usha Mittal, wife of Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal was the guest of honour at the event.
Over 50 lots were auctioned in the presence of artists M F Hussain, Anjolie Ela Menon and Sakti Burman, including paintings by them and other artists like S H Raza, Ram Kumar, Manu Parekh, Arpana Caur and Yusuf Arakkal.
"Indian art has arrived in the international mainstream market and the market has become one of the best alternative investments today," said Meena Hingorani, a collector of contemporary Indian art.
Christie's had recently valued the contemporary Indian art market at $250 million, with experts predicting it would rise to $500 million in the next eighteen months, she said.
According to PrathamUK president Viral Acharya, the organisation's volunteers had worked relentlessly over the past three years and have raised "over £1 million for pre-primary and primary education of over 150,000 children under Pratham's education programme in India".
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