Around 40 million migrant daily-waged workers have been hit hard by the lockdown imposed in the wake of COVID-19. Rebuilding Lives is an action-oriented campaign by American India Foundation (AIF) in partnership with NDTV to rebuild the lives of migrant communities. The need of the hour is for immediate relief to serve urgent needs, equal attention is required towards a sustainable and resilient rebuilding of lives through a multi-pronged response, addressing health, education and livelihoods.
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This Article is From Jun 15, 2020
Highlights Of Rebuilding Lives Telethon: A Campaign To Rehabilitate Migrant Workers Affected By Coronavirus Lockdown
Rebuilding Lives by American India Foundation (AIF) in partnership with NDTV is to rehabilitate migrant workers affected by the COVID-19 lockdown
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Updated : June 15, 2020 12:40 am IST
Jun 15, 2020 00:40 (IST)
We leave you with some of the highlights from the #RebuildingLives telethon:
To help rehabilitate migrants, donate now: https://special.ndtv.com/rebuilding-lives-72/donate-now
To help rehabilitate migrants, donate now: https://special.ndtv.com/rebuilding-lives-72/donate-now
Jun 15, 2020 00:35 (IST)
Thank you donors: Over Rs 15 crore collected during the 2-hour telethon for rehabilitating migrants
Keep your contributions coming for to help the migrants. Donate now: https://special.ndtv.com/rebuilding-lives-72/donate-now
Keep your contributions coming for to help the migrants. Donate now: https://special.ndtv.com/rebuilding-lives-72/donate-now
Jun 15, 2020 00:27 (IST)
Nishant Pandey: For the first time, the scale and the challenge of migrant population has become visible
Jun 15, 2020 00:23 (IST)
Sidharth Nath Singh, Minister for Khadi & Textiles Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), UP Government on steps the government is taking for helping migrants:
The government has made a committee to make a plan to create jobs. We have already done the mapping of about 35 lakh migrants who have come back. We have an MoU with organizations like FICCI. We are bridging the gap for skilled workers. Similarly, we are also creating opportunities in MGNREGA.
We realised that the magnitude is larger, we felt the need of a migrant commission who is now in place. This has been scaled up further, we have brought in the agriculture ministry, animal husbandry ministry, silk sector has been brought in. We have been working at the micro level.
Jun 15, 2020 00:11 (IST)
Ashwath Narayana, Deputy Chief Minister Karnataka on #RebuildingLives telethon:
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Jun 15, 2020 00:01 (IST)
Arbind Singh National Co-ordinator National Association of Street Vendors of India:
The biggest challenge for the migrants is economic security and access to livelihood. There is a need to build awareness and capacities like promoting digital payments so that they are not in direct contact with notes. These efforts will ensure their safety during the pandemic.
Around 40 per cent of migrants have gone back and 60 per cent are still there. It is now up to the cities and how they gain the trust of those people. There should vending zones and vendors should have certificates. Vendors can sell their things and maintain social distancing hygiene.
Jun 14, 2020 23:56 (IST)
Manoj Balachandran Head - CSR, IBM India & South Asia on the Telethon
Jun 14, 2020 23:47 (IST)
Ashish Dhawan, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Ashoka University on the digital divide and its impact on children's education
Clearly, for not just the migrants, but for the low-income families in general, the digital divide is high which is impacting the learning further. The state government are now responding to it, not just by app but also with TV, radio and also sending them physical material.
Jun 14, 2020 22:50 (IST)
Pravin Goel Managing Director and Country Head, BlackRock contributes Rs 3.8 crore during the telethon
Jun 14, 2020 22:15 (IST)
KK Shailaja, Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Kerala on the #RebuildingLives Telethon:
Jun 14, 2020 22:09 (IST)
Anil Swarup, Former School Education & Literacy Secretary to Government of India
It's a very tricky situation, unprecedented but it can be tackled, it is being tackled in some of the states. We had to segment these set of children into two parts; the first is of children that have access to internet and smartphones, the strategy for them will be different from the children who do not have access to smartphone or internet.
The difficult part with such children as do not have access to internet and smartphones. It is there that we had organised a workshop about 15 days ago to evolve methods through which we reach out to them. The penetration of internet is not so good but I think the penetration of radio, through television is pretty good. And it is through radio and television that a number of states are attempting to reach out to these children. There are other ways also that are being worked out to reach out to children. Of course as I said they can't replace the teacher but this is the alternative that is available.
Jun 14, 2020 21:56 (IST)
Dr Amitabh Kundu, Distinguished Fellow, Research & Information System for Developing Countries on the Telethon:
Jun 14, 2020 21:53 (IST)
Shantha Sinha, Anti-child labour activist , Ramon Magsaysay Awardee and Former Chairperson, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR):
Jun 14, 2020 21:17 (IST)
Jyoti who cycled 1200km with her father on the telethon:
Jun 14, 2020 21:16 (IST)
Harit Talwar, Co-Chair, American India Foundation and his wife Reena express their solidarity to the cause of the migrants
Jun 14, 2020 21:02 (IST)
Junaid Ahmad, Country Director, India, World Bank:
Role of urban migrants in India is extremely important. India is very close to rewriting the urban social protection system. Social protection system which is portable is essential for the future of urban India.
Jun 14, 2020 20:59 (IST)
Eric Falt, Director and UNESCO Representative for the UNESCO New Delhi Cluster Office covering Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives and Sri Lanka:
During this period of sudden and unprecedented interruption of education, there are many challenges now. In order to develop unified responses, we are assuring the on-ground needs are matched.With special focus on the female learners. Migrant workers need to be provided with access to credit, access to new market, local government can play an important role by providing training to migrants and WASH facilities.
Jun 14, 2020 20:42 (IST)
Dr Abhay Bang, Activist and researcher in community health and Padma Shri Awardee:
In the district that I work in, about 40,000 migrants from various parts of India have come back. Should we really call them migrants? They are twice displaced person - first they left their village and then they left their place of work. These displaced persons are also twice untouchables.
They have two kinds of health needs: First- shelter, food, hygiene and second they are in deep psychological trauma. They need security, they are not being welcomed in their own village. So the need of acceptance is their important need.
They also need economic sustainability.
Jun 14, 2020 20:39 (IST)
Mathew Joseph, India Country Director, American India Foundation:
We responded to government's requests from 16 states. We have provided medical equipment in hospitals in these states. We have responded to health and protective need of migrants workers. We have provided them with hygiene kits. Our volunteers are going door to door to raise awareness.
We have been working in some state on a programme for maternal health. We have been able to reduce newborn mortality in those areas. We have trained ASHA workers on technology and dos and don'ts when they go on the field. We have also provided them masks.
Jun 14, 2020 20:35 (IST)
Anand Ramamoorthy Managing Director, Micron India pledges a sum of Rs. 93,75,000 should be focused on challenges specific to the migrant, migration issues
Micron has had a long and a rich tradition working with the communities in the countries where we operate. Being a global company, we've had significant footprint in Asia, China. So, we had early access to pandemic in terms of early signs of the pandemic. This gave us a chance to plan and prepare better and as a result, very early on almost three months back, Micron globally announced a fund of Rs. 2,625 million that was focused on addressing almost all aspects of this pandemic.
India was a significant beneficiary in the strategic site of Micron. Significant beneficiaries have been working tirelessly for the last couple of months, especially in the areas of food, in the areas of healthcare, areas of education and skilling. We have been largely operating in the state of Telangana where we are headquartered. We've also done some good work in the states of Andhra and Karnataka. And, we feel very obligated to help the migrant challenges that have come up more recently. A lot of IT infrastructures that we are all so proud of, has been built by these faceless, nameless migrant laborers. Now, it's the time for us as a community as responsible multinationals to walk the talk and do whatever we can.
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