Bangalore: Sachin Tendulkar, Azim Premji, K. V. Kamath, Sachin Pilot, Nandita Das and Rahul Bose all have pledged their support to the Joy of Giving Week, to be celebrated all over India from 27 September to 3 October.
They, along with several others from different walks of life, have not only promised to endorse the Week but also agreed to make specific contributions of time, skills, money and resources.
Conceptualised by GiveIndia, the initiative aims to get people from all walks of life together to engage in acts of giving—money, time, skills or simple acts of kindness—its Director Venkat Krishnan told a press conference, which was also attended by cricketer Rahul Dravid and former badminton ace Prakash Padukone.
Dravid would deliver a talk (for which tickets would be sold) to business leaders offering his thoughts on the pursuit of excellence, during the Week. “All proceeds from this talk will be donated to Dream A Dream, the NGO that I am supporting”, the former India captain said.
Padukone, the former All England Badminton Champion, said Tata Academy, which he runs, would provide free orientation to badminton to 200-300 underprivileged children during the week.
“India needs a movement like this,” Padukone said. “I call upon companies, government, schools, colleges, celebrities and the general public to join in the Joy of Giving Week in whatever way they would like to”.
Krishnan said GiveIndia is a ‘philanthropy exchange´ that connects individual donors to more than 200 NGOs that have undergone rigorous due deligence.
He said volunteer groups in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore, besides Ahmedabad, have planned various initiatives in these cities. The week would include various events nationally.
Personalities such as Surya, Madhavan and Shriya Saran in Tamil Nadu, Venkatesh, Nagarjuna and P. Gopichand in Hyderabad, Geet Sethi and Mallika Sarabhai in Ahmedabad will endorse the week.
The Joy of Giving Week aims to have two crore Indians engage in “acts of giving”, Krishnan said.
The Week would be held annually in the week of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary.
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