New Delhi: In the wake of a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, concerns have been raised about daily-wage earners getting robbed of their incomes due to a sudden lack of work.
While shops providing essential items like groceries have been allowed to remain open, the daily incomes of street hawkers, rickshaw pullers and laborers are likely to dry up.
ThePrint brings you a list of organisations that are raising funds to donate food and relief material for daily-wage earners.
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Zomato’s ‘feed the daily wager’ campaign
Restaurant aggregator and food delivery start-up Zomato has launched a ‘feed the daily wager’ campaign which includes donating ration kits worth Rs 500, containing wheat flour or rice, two types of pulses and a bar of soap required for a family of five for one whole week.
The start-up is aiming to raise Rs 25 crore to deliver these kits across 26 cities of the country.
Zomato has partnered with Grofers, an online grocery service provider, to organise these kits. It has also collaborated with local NGOs to help with the donation.
Read more about the campaign here.
SAFA Society’s relief packages across four Indian cities
SAFA Society, an NGO which primarily works towards education of the poor and the girl child, was one of the first to launch a campaign to collect funds for the daily-wage earners amid the coronavirus lockdown.
The NGO is collecting funds to prepare relief packages that will be distributed across four cities — Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
“We have already completed phase 1 of our crowdfunding, in which we raised Rs 28 lakh, and have started the distribution among 4,000 families across the four cities,” Rubina Nafees, the founder of SAFA Society, told ThePrint.
Many celebrities have also joined SAFA’s campaign — including tennis player Sania Mirza and actors Athiya Shetty and Huma Qureshi.
With the continuing lockdown, the NGO will now be launching phase 2 of its campaign.
COVID-19 Relief Kits. Please join us in contributing and helping feed those who are in need. Please guys ?? here is the payment link …. help these ppl with basic necessities.. BE KIND!https://t.co/Z5y7atETiS pic.twitter.com/GABGK8eosX
— Sania Mirza (@MirzaSania) March 24, 2020
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‘Care kits’ by Uday Foundation
The NGO Uday Foundation has been raising funds to provide “care kits” to the homeless in Delhi. These kits include hand washes, sanitisers and food items necessary to battle the deadly virus.
Uday Foundation has been using the Ketto crowdfunding platform to raise funds.
Ketto is also platforming numerous other donation drives for the poor and the daily-wagers. More about it here.
Crowdfunding platforms
Crowdfunding platform Our Democracy has similarly been helping two donation drives — one by the Delhi Youth Welfare Association to raise Rs 20 lakh for daily-wagers in the national capital, and another by a set of volunteers to raise funds for labourers in Chandigarh.
Online donation platform GiveIndia has also been raising funds for labourers and those who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic.
Police forces helping vegetable vendors, daily-wagers
With reports about vegetable vendors and laborers struggling to earn money, police personnel in several cities have also stepped-up efforts to alleviate their pain.
The Bangalore Police has tweeted pictures of the force distributing food, while Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has shared a video of the state police buying vegetables and food items to distribute among people.
Crackdown on criminals, or be compassionate? We can do both. While the city is on a lockdown owing to recent events, we are doing our bit. #Janasnehipolice #ArrestCorona pic.twitter.com/rcDXZedWZC
— BengaluruCityPolice (@BlrCityPolice) March 24, 2020
Well done! @PunjabPoliceInd pic.twitter.com/PYWvzovByQ
— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) March 24, 2020
Also read: Give India’s district officers power to take financial decisions to save lives from Covid-19