On humanitarian grounds
Shah Rukh Khan’s Meer Foundation is a philanthropic foundation named after Shah Rukh Khan’s father Meer Taj Mohammed Khan which aims at empowering women. One of the key focus areas under women empowerment has been to support the cause of acid attack survivors by providing them medical treatment, legal aid, vocational training as well as rehabilitation and livelihood support. In 2019, before the pandemic, SRK had met acid attack survivors as a part of the ‘ToGETher Transformed’ initiative by Meer Foundation, which sponsored corrective surgeries.
Mika Singh’s Divine Touch provides education, healthcare, and livelihood for the underprivileged women and children. “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give”- A famous quote by Winston Churchill also happens to be the first thing you notice on Divine Touch’s official website. The singer amid the lockdown had encouraged everyone to donate. Mika even went on to say that one should focus on the positives and shouldn’t be criticising people for doing it for publicity. He said, “If it helps the needy, why does it matter if someone did for publicity? And it also inspires people to donate. And the end result is helping the world become a better place.”
Priyanka Chopra’s organisation is called The Priyanka Foundation. Based in Minnesota, USA, its purpose is to serve sick children and families by operating Child Life service programmes for chronically ill children in India. The special services include conducting pre-surgery tours and preparation for children scheduled for surgery, teaching relaxation and mental imagery techniques to help children control pain, deal with anxiety, or cope with medical procedures, leading crafts and other daily activities (such as picnics, outings, and family nights), providing support for a patient’s siblings and facilitating support groups for children facing a chronic or life-threatening illness. In 2016, through her Foundation, Chopra covered educational and medical expenses for 70 children in India — 50 of them girls.
Deepika Padukone’s The Live Love Laugh Foundation (TLLF) has its presence on Instagram with some 98.7K followers. Founded in 2015, it aims at bringing mental health awareness in India and deals with mental health issues. Deepika, who has publically acknowledged that she suffered from depression, had launched a programme called ‘You Are Not Alone’ under Live Love Laugh. The foundation also collaborated with Facebook to stop suicides being live streamed on the social media app. During Covid, the official page of TLLLF on Instagram also shared step guide, Mental Health in the Times of Covid.
Sonu Sood’s Sood Charity Foundation is determined to help the country’s young generation in education in every possible way. After helping people in the time of Covid, and initiating an IAS scholarship, the Foundation is back with a new initiative, Free CA Education.
Salman Khan’s Being Human was one of the many first celebrity foundations in India and also the most celebrated one. Founded in 2007, this Mumbai-based foundation has supported the education of 200 children at the Akshara High School in Mumbai. The Foundation supports the VEER Initiative, a programme to train disabled people. Being Human store has a provision to employ at least one differently-abled person. The organisation is primarily funded by sales of Being Human-branded merchandise, which amounts to the profit of Rs 120 crores till 2018 August out of which the charity’s share was Rs 12-15 crores.
—Sheetal
