PlanetRead is a NGO that uses Same Language Subtitling (SLS) to improve reading skills of people. Recently PlanetRead became one of the first NGOs to be funded by Google philanthropy. Brij Kothari is the founder of PlanetRead. 

Brij first implemented his SLS project in Gujarat, India. The target audience were people with low reading skills and help them improve their reading skills. The goal to bring them up to speed to read newspaper headlines. They used Indian film and folk songs for their SLS project. This simple and innovative technique proved to be a success.

PlanetRead has offices in the USA and India and Brij points out that this innovative method of spreading literacy can be used in other countries in Africa, Latin America and even the USA. The project was born out a personal project of Brij while he was studying at Cornell. In order to improve his Spanish language skills he devised this innovative and effective teaching tool. It turned out that the innovative tool had a huge potential.

Brij is an Ashoka fellow and also teaches at IIM, Ahmedabad. He is currently based in the San Francisco bay area and heads PlanetRead.

Brij Kothari planetread Google Philanthropy podcast Indian Podcast