MUMBAI: Olympian gymnast and Padma Shri awardee, Dipa Karmakar, and Arjuna awardee sprinter, Hima Das, along with Rani Rampal (captain of the Indian Women’s Hockey Team), Sukant Kadam (ace Para-Badminton Shuttler and Shiv Chhatrapati Awardee), and Manika Batra (Table Tennis champion) are among the celebrities who are supporting and have taken a pledge under the HelpYourHelp initiative from Edelweiss, a financial services conglomerate.
HelpYourHelp is a digital platform comprising a digital repository collating over 20+ government welfare schemes across finance, health (including life & health insurance), women development, child education and identification documents (Aadhar, Ration Card). All one needs to do is identify the sector and the specific scheme one feels best meets their need, to enrol their domestic help.
Additionally, the platform also facilitates ground support through a social enterprise working with communities, providing them with access to welfare schemes and help in their well-being and long-term stability.
The aim of the initiative is to go beyond mere talk and actually empower this unorganized community, over the long-haul. According to a media release from Edelweiss, over 10 lakh domestic helpers have lost their jobs in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Given the extended lockdown, they have exhausted a large part of their savings.
The release added that as per a recent survey conducted, 86% highlighted that a loss in income had disrupted the functioning of their households. Further, 69% considered salary as the most important attribute of a good household. As many as 85% of the respondents reported a household income of less than Rs 20,000, with half of the respondents reporting a household income of less than Rs 12,500.
