Author: City Today News (City today.media)

Contributions to advance nation’s efforts to combat the impacts of COVID-19 on local communities and to provide relief

Hyderabad, 13^th April 2020: Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited (REEL), a leading provider of comprehensive environment management services backed by global investment firm KKR, today announced its combined contribution of INR 10 Crores to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister’s Relief Funds. The contributions, which is an extension of REEL’s widespread and ongoing efforts to combat the impacts of COVID-19 on communities, comprises of INR 3 crores cheque as well as a supply of INR 7 crore worth personal protective equipment (PPE) and any additional materials/support needed for the cause­.

The contributions were delivered to Telangana CM Shri K. Chandra shekhar Rao and Andhra Pradesh CM Shri Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy by Mr M. Goutham Reddy, Managing Director of REEL, at their respective camp offices.

Commenting on the initiative, Mr M. Goutham Reddy said, “The coronavirus outbreak has impacted countless lives and has created an unprecedented need to band together against an invisible enemy. Containing the spread of the virus requires the active participation and mobilization of resources from every quarter. The REEL team takes this mission to heart. REEL and its employees are proud to be part of the fight to quell the impacts of COVID-19 and provide relief to communities alongside the government – not only through our contribution of funding and PPE, but also every day by keeping India’s streets clean and ensuring infected waste is managed properly and safely.”

The contribution comes as the latest example of REEL’s ongoing efforts to support local governments as they look to combat the spread of the virus. REEL – whose operations include more than 20,000 ground staff located in 25 major cities across India – has additionally developed a comprehensive plan to ensure a number of critical services continue through the foreseeable future. These critical services include:

·         Waste collection, treatment and disposal

·         Hospital waste management

·         Hazardous waste disposal from industries

Furthermore, as a gesture of respect and recognition of workers’ hard work during these challenging times, REEL will provide additional benefits to its over 20,000 frontline employees and workers, including insurance and additional allowances worth INR 10 crores.

“REEL’s ground staff take their role as essential service providers – as declared by the Government of India – extremely seriously. Our team is proud to work round the clock to serve the country. To keep our employees and customers safe, we are providing workers with all the necessary PPE. Together, we look forward to making a difference,” added Mr Reddy.

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·         Facebook partners with UNESCO to ensure reach among learners, educational institutions & teachers and supporting with updation & curation with relevant learning resources

·         Guide to also provide authentic information on COVID-19

Bengaluru, 13 April 2020: To ensure continuity in the process of learning in the wake of COVID-19, Facebook has launched an online resource guide titled, ‘Supporting Education Communities: An Online Learning Resources Guide’. The online resource will guide education communities on how to collaborate and continue the learning process using Facebook products, tools and programs while also providing information related to COVID-19 from authentic sources. Currently, the guide is available in English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and Kannada.

In its first phase, Facebook has partnered with UNESCO who will support in ensuring the guide reaches learners, educational institutions and teachers across India besides supporting with the updation and curation of the guide with relevant learning resources.

The online resource will help and guide education communities on how to collaborate by using Facebook’s products and tools like Facebook Pages, Facebook Groups, Facebook Live, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. The guide will also provide vital information about COVID-19 from authoritative and credible sources such as Government of India’s advisory, WHO India Situation Report Page, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Coronavirus Resource Hub on Facebook, and Guidance from UNICEF on COVID-19 prevention and control in schools and help them in dealing with anxiety and bust misinformation surrounding the ongoing pandemic.

Speaking about the launch, Manish Chopra, Director, and Head of Partnerships, Facebook India said, “In these difficult times, it is even more important for people to stay connected and have access to credible information about COVID-19. Through our online learning resource guide, we want to equip teachers, parents and relevant government officials with ample resources and tools to help them stay connected and collaborate digitally to facilitate remote learning. We sincerely hope they are able to leverage these resources and continue the learning process.”

Eric Falt, Director and UNESCO Representative, UNESCO New Delhi Cluster Office for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka said, “The COVID-19 outbreak has caused not only a health crisis but also a learning crisis. More than 90% of the world’s learners are affected by the school and university closures. In line with the global efforts, UNESCO New Delhi will focus on mobilizing the national and state level actors and resources in order to develop an effective and unified response avoiding overlaps for maximum impact. Further, the on-ground needs will be matched with context-appropriate solutions to provide education remotely, leveraging hi-tech, low-tech and no-tech approaches with a special focus on ensuring access for women learners. Technology will be the key enabler for all such efforts. The partnership between UNESCO New Delhi and Facebook will therefore play an important role in providing an online platform for all stakeholders to come together and act in tandem to end the learning disruption.”

As more and more schools are advised to transition to a virtual model, Facebook remains committed to supporting communities and users to ease this process of virtual learning and enable educators with information about COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Facebook also launched the Coronavirus Information Centre, that provides the latest news and updates from MyGov Corona Hub, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) and global health organizations, as well as helpful content about social distancing and preventing the spread of COVID-19. It is featured at the top of the News Feed, for easy access to the latest news and information as well as resources and tips to stay healthy.

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• ₹10 crores will go to the PM CARES Fund and ₹3 crores to Kerala’s CMDR Fund.
• Amma says humankind must live in better harmony with Nature to prevent future calamities.
• Amrita Hospital is providing free treatment for COVID-19 patients
• An interdisciplinary team constituting 60 faculty members of Amrita University are researching ways for various scalable solutions for relief efforts
• A 24-hour mental-health hotline is being manned by trained professionals.

13 April 2020 :

The Mata Amritanandamayi Math announced today that it is donating ₹13 crores [$1.7 million U.S.] to help combat and contain COVID-19 as well as to provide relief to those physically, mentally and economically affected by the virus. Moreover, it will provide free care to COVID-19 patients at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (Amrita Hospital) in Kochi. Rs. 10 crores will go to the Central Government’s PM CARES Fund, and ₹3 crores will go to the Kerala Government’s Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund.

“Seeing the entire world hurting and crying in pain, my heart is aching deeply,” Amma said in the statement issued by the Math. “Let us all pray for the souls who have succumbed to this pandemic, for the mental peace of their families and friends, for the peace of the world, and for God’s grace.”

At Amma’s request Amrita University and Amrita Hospital have set up a mental-health hotline (0476 280 5050), where people who are feeling stressed, anxious or depressed due to the pandemic and its ramifications can call to get free support. Last week, Amma had publicly requested doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists to set aside time to provide counselling. “Counselling is a service needed at this time,” Amma said. “Please consider this as an appeal from Amma to doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists. Whether you are believers or not, set aside one or two hours every day to provide free counselling for those who need it.”

For decades Amma has stressed the necessity of mankind changing its lifestyle to be more harmonious with Nature and warning that failure to do so would result in increased natural disasters and disease. “The selfish things man has done to Nature are now coming back in the form of such epidemics,” Amma said. “We need to develop the attitude that we are nothing but Nature’s servants. We should practise humility, servitude and respect. At least now let us stop throwing our arrogance in Nature’s face. The time has come to bow down before the forces of Nature. The time has come to beg Nature to forgive all our trespasses. The time has come to abandon the lackadaisical attitude that Nature will just forbear, suffer and forgive all the indignities we keep heaping on her. Nature is commanding us to wake up and look around. To awaken humankind, Nature is sounding a loud alarm in the form of COVID-19.”

Through its deemed university, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Amrita University), the Math also has a interdisciplinary team researching ways to produce low-cost scalable medical masks, gowns and face-protection visors, as well as ventilators, rapid-setup isolation wards, units for sterilizing medical waste, and IoT means for the remote monitoring of quarantined patients. The team includes more than 60 faculty from the fields of medicine, nanoscience, AI, big data, sensor-manufacturing and material sciences.

Through online classes and interactions, Amrita students are also being engaged in Coronavirus-related curriculum and service opportunities. The Math is also in regular communication with the leaders of its 101 adopted Amrita SeRVe villages, promoting Coronavirus awareness, ensuring the villagers are aware of all the latest government-assistance programs available to them, as well as ensuring that fake news and erroneous information regarding the pandemic does not spread within their communities. Some Amrita SeRVe villagers have been trained by the Math to tailor medical masks and are fulfilling government contracts for the same.

Under Amma’s direction, the Mata Amritanandamayi Math has provided more than ₹500 crore in disaster relief since 2005. This has included the provision of financial support, household items, free healthcare and even construction of new homes, etc.

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