#IndiaForKerala: Over 10.4 Crore Raised By NDTV's 6-Hour Telethon To Help Rehabilitate, Rebuild Villages

Kerala has been hit by the worst floods in a 100 years.

The Kerala Government estimates Rs 21,000 crore will be needed to rebuild the state and funds are required to rebuild hundreds of flooded villages, thousands of damaged and destroyed homes and 10,000 kilometres of ravaged roads.

This Onam as Kerala struggles to rebuild after the most devastating floods in a century, The NDTV - TATA SKY initiative, in partnership with Dabur, organised a special telethon to raise funds for Kerala. We have specific goals - to enable the rebuilding of villages in the three worst-affected districts and provide immediate assistance in terms of rehabilitation and food kits to people in the worst affected areas. All donations will go directly to our partner NGO Plan India.

The telethon was held on Sunday 26 August at the Trident Hotel, BKC, Mumbai with guests and donations coming in from across the country. Joining NDTV hosts Vikram Chandra and Nidhi Kulpati and lending their support to this cause were Union Ministers, Nitin Gadkari and KJ Alphons; Dr Rajiv Kumar and Amitabh Kant from Niti Aayog; Chief Ministers Pinarayi Vijayan, Conrad Sangma, N Biren Singh, Raman Singh, Naveen Patnaik and Devendra Fadnavis; State Ministers and politicians Thomas Isaac, Khushbu Sundar, Priya Dutt, Aditya Thackeray and Shashi Tharoor.

Also lending their support were Bollywood film and music celebrities Raveena Tandon, Rana Daggubati, Javed Akhtar, Manisha Koirala, Resul Pookutty, Jimmy Sheirgill, Abhishek Bachchan, Anand Rai, Sonakshi Sinha, Nandita Das, Mudassar Aziz, Shruti Haasan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash. Singers Sonam Kalra, Ankur Tewari, Shaan, Tochi Raina, Kanika Kapoor, Hariharan, Shilpa Rao, Purbayan Chatterjee, Jasbir Jassi, Indian Idol participants Nitin Kumar and Renu Nagar sang and played during the six hour telethon.

Col Aman Anand, Wing Cdr Anupam Banerjee and Captain DK Sharma, spokespersons from the Army, Air Force and Navy; Environmentalists Chandra Bhushan from CSE, Rishi Aggarwal and Vimlendu Jha; animal rescue activist Anand Siva; Dr Sandeep Gore, Fortis Hospital; Columnist Anil Dharkar; Cricketer VVS Laxman; former Indigo Airlines President Aditya Ghosh and Mohammed Asif from Plan India also lent their support to this cause.

Child artist Aarav Verma made a painting on the set to raise funds, which was bought by Arti Agarwal of Faber Castell; children from Uday Foundation donated their pocket money and R Abhilash and his techies group described their contribution to rebuilding Kerala.

Generous donations were received from many individuals and companies including Stockbroker Pradeep Bhavnani; Parvez Ahmad, Chairman J&K Bank; eminent artists Paresh Maity, Jayshree Burman and Seema Kohli donated their paintings for sale, some of which were bought by the Taj Group; Bharat Kaushal, MD Hitachi India; Ajit Singh, Chairman SpiceJet; Sandeep Bhargava from Seher; Suryadeep Verma, Comviva Technologies; eminent lawyer Dushyant Dave; YK Koo, CEO, Hyundai Motors India; Singer Akriti Kakkar and Music Composer Sachin Sanghvi; Comedian and Sports Presenter Vikram Sathaye and Kersi Dubash, Chairman Shri Sai Dhun Charitable Trust.

Partnering with Tata Sky our focus will be on coverage that makes a difference, stories with a heart, standing by people and making their experience a shared one to effect change.

NDTV chose to report on this massive crisis with unwavering focus and commitment. Having done that, now we look, as NDTV always does, to go beyond the news and make a difference to people’s lives.

The funds donated will be disbursed by Plan India starting with food kits worth Rs 2,000 that contain essential, locally produced food items to ensure families do not go hungry when they return to their homes.

Our aim is to rebuild villages, rebuild lives.