COVID-19 has created a sense of havoc in the world. As India is about to enter the fourth stage of the lockdown, migrant workers and people living in vulnerable conditions face challenges to their sustenance. Standard Chartered Bank, India, has partnered with NGO Habitat for Humanity India to provide hygiene items and food essential kits to migrant workers, and families living in vulnerable conditions for ensuring their safety and well-being in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This partnership will enable Habitat India support 5000 migrant workers and their families with hygiene and food essential kits in Kalahandi district in Odisha, Darbhanga district in Bihar, Godda district in Jharkhand, Taldi block in South 24 Parganas district in West Bengal and Lucknow district in Uttar Pradesh.
Till date, Habitat India has served more than 2,50,000 individuals affected by the lockdown across the country.
“The countrywide COVID-19 induced extended lockdown has created an unprecedented crisis situation for vulnerable sections of the population like the migrant worker community. Through collaborative efforts with like-minded partners like Standard Chartered Bank, we have rolled out key relief measures to restore the lives of migrant workers and their families to normalcy. Habitat’s Pathways to Permanence approach looks at phase-wise strategic response focusing on prevention, protection, recovery and reconstruction to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. We stand firmly committed to creating sustainable pathways to ensuring their social rehabilitation and economic empowerment,” said Rajan Samuel, Managing Director, Habitat for Humanity India.
“With over 160 years of presence in India, we are highly invested in the country’s economic and social growth. In these unprecedented times, we have joined forces with grass root civil society organizations like Habitat for Humanity India to collaboratively fight COVID-19. One of the ways in which we are ensuring our Here for Good brand promise to life is by enhancing safety in communities and improving lives by making need based and meaningful contribution,” Karuna Bhatia, Head of Sustainability, India, Standard Chartered Bank, said.