By Samay Jain
From business tycoons, Bollywood industry to politicians and the cricket board of India many have declared help to the country in this time of crisis.
From the manufacturing of facemasks to making essential goods available, buying protective gear for medical workers, to building hospitals, let’s see what the who’s who from India have done so far.
Congress-turned-BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia on March 28 announced a Rs 30 lakh donation to the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to fight the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Hema Malini, who is also the BJP MP from Mathura, released an amount of Rs 1 crore from the MPLADS (Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme) Sunny Deol too releases fund from MPLADS of 50 lakhs for buying necessary medical equipment. Quite a few other politicians have also donated from their MPLADS funds. The fund, however, is the public money meant for public welfare, so many say it is the donation of the taxpayer's money for the taxpayers.
Actor Kartik Aryan said it’s the absolute need of the hour for the people to come together as a nation. “Whatever I am, whatever money I’ve earned, is only because of the people of India; and for us I am contributing Rs 1 crore to the PM-CARES Fund. I urge all my fellow Indians also to help as much as possible,” the “Love Aaj Kal” actor wrote on twitter.
B-town celebrity, Akshay Kumar has pledged to donate Rs 25 crore in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. This is so far the biggest amount by any Bollywood celebrate
“I pledge to contribute Rs 30 lakhs to the PM care Fund.” tweeted Varun Dhawan on March 28th. While Rajnikanth donated the amount of Rs 50 lakhs to the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) the film industry workers who have been hit because of the outbreak. The Bahubali fame actor Prabhas, on the other hand, pledged to donate Rs 3 crore to the Prime Minister’s relief fund and Rs 50 lakh each to Chief Minister’s relief fund of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Read more
After fashion designer, Anita Dongre’s contribution of Rs 1.5 crore, celebrity-designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee also pledged to donate 10 million INR (Rs 1 crore) of personal funds to the PM’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) and 5 million INR (Rs 50 lakh) to the Chief Minister of West Bengal’s Relief Fund
India’s richest sports body Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vowed to join the fight against corona by pledging a donation of Rs 51 crore.
“Anushka and I are pledging our support towards PM-CARES Fund & the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (Maharashtra). Our hearts are breaking looking at the suffering of so many & we hope our contribution, in some way, helps to ease the pain of our fellow citizens.” tweeted Virat Kohli.
Suresh Raina pledged Rs 52 lakh (Rs 31 lakh to the PM-CARES Fund and Rs 21 lakh to the UP CM’s Disaster Relief Fund. Cricketer cum politician Gautam Gambhir released Rs 50 lakh from MPLADS according to the news agency ANI.
Managing director of T-series Bhushan Kumar announced that the company will donate Rs 11 crore to the PM-CARES Fund. Banking magnate Uday Kotak announced that he will be donating Rs 25 crore out of his own savings and another Rs 25 crore on behalf of Kotak Mahindra Bank. “It’s time to protect lives and livelihood,” he said.
Organisations like PhonePe and Paytm have initiated a donation chain to let the public donate in small amounts and make a bigger contribution. They are aiming to raise donations worth Rs 100 crore and Rs 500 crore each. To donate on Paytm: click here. To donate on PhonePe: click here
(Samay Jain is a journalism student and a news junkie)
