Godrej & Boyce (G&B), the RPG Foundation and FromU2Them have a new partnership with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), to support an online platform – Milkar for Mumbai – bringing together local government, NGOs, citizens and corporate partners to ensure that the ongoing city-wide food relief distribution efforts are data-led, aligned and focused.
‘Milkar for Mumbai’ will enable concerned Mumbaikars to support food relief efforts. Individual donations will be matched 5X by Milkar’s corporate partners like G&B, RPG Foundation and ATE Chandra Foundation. Donations can be made on Milkar.org. which has been built in association with the crowd funding platform Ketto.
Speaking at the launch of this important initiative on Thursday, June 27, 2020 the Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said, ‘In these uncertain times, food security is very important for those left most vulnerable by the Covid-19 pandemic. I would like to congratulate all the stakeholders – large corporates, NGOs, BMC and Mumbaikars – on the occasion of launching Milkar for Mumbai – an online platform that will help provide food safety to those vulnerable over the long-term in Mumbai and I hope every Mumbaikar will donate to this noble cause where every rupee raised will be matched five times by corporates.”
Anant Goenka, MD & CEO CEAT Tyres said, “We, at RPG Foundation are grateful to the BMC and to the Government of Maharashtra for giving us the opportunity to support this unique initiative. With Milkar, we aim to feed the many people that are going hungry due to the Covid 19 crisis. We urge everybody to come forward, contribute generously to ensure that every person in Mumbai city is free from hunger and can live with dignity.”
Nyrika Holkar, Executive Director, Godrej & Boyce said, “We believe Milkar is a great example of Mumbai’s stakeholders collectively making an impact during a time of great adversity. We would like to thank the Hon’ble Chief Minister and members of the BMC for supporting the innovative Milkar model to enhance the efficiency of ration distribution in Mumbai. With Milkar, we aim to empower all Mumbaikars to play their part to ensure the food safety of those at-risk in a transparent and sustainable manner. We hope that this platform can evolve into a sustainable crowd-funded initiative, with engaged Mumbaikars, to tackle urgent civic issues like access to healthcare, sanitation, education, upskilling and re-skilling in a focused manner.”
Kunal Kapoor, Founder, Ketto said, “We at Ketto are proud to be part of a unique initiative like Milkar. It’s the first of its kind in various aspects. Never before have I seen the BMC, corporates and so many NGOs coming together to help those in need especially when the world is battling with the COVID-19 crisis. The corporates matching five times the funds that have been donated by the general public is another example of what makes Milkar so unique. We are looking forward to helping and touching more lives through this initiative.”
The platform, Milkar for Mumbai (Together for Mumbai) will aim to:
- Unite and focus food and grain distribution relief efforts in Mumbai through a transparent online platform which provides real time and authentic information of families who require food assistance.
- The Milkar platform is supported by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, to give real time data on the city’s urgent Food & Grain needs, while the NGOs will use the individuals’ donations, multiplied 5X by corporate partners to source, package and distribute food and grain to a list of pre-determined beneficiaries.
- Pratham, FromU2Them, Magic Bus, Yuva, Akshaypatra, International Association for Human values, Cry, and Salaam Mumbai are some of the NGOs who will be responsible for implementing and for fundraising to support the relief work on the platform.
- The Milkar platform maps the ration requirement across all 24 wards of Mumbai. The need is represented on a map of Mumbai, empowering individual citizens to donate by selecting a ward in the city and the NGOs working in those wards. By enabling all stakeholders to work with a common data set of beneficiaries. Milkar will enhance the efficiency and efficacy of ration distribution.
- Corporate partners like Godrej & Boyce, the RPG Foundation and others will boost all Individual donations five times on the platform. The 5x multiplier has never been done before and is a first of its kind in India.
- The objective of the platform is to engage with Mumbaikars and civic society to crowd-fund and encourage online donations to help vulnerable communities across the city.
