The non-profit organization – Humans for Humanity, founded by Dehradun-based social activist Anurag Chauhan has left no stone unturned to help people affected, due to Covid-19.
In a candid conversation with Mr. Anurag, he stated that his NGO has put their best step forward to help people from different segments of society like the daily wage workers, people who lost their jobs due to pandemic, housemaids, and many more.

After the nationwide lockdown was declared on 24th March 2020 by GOI, Mr. Anurag got a call from Katputli society (one of the biggest street artist communities in the world) for help. As per reports, people from Katputli society have been suffering huge economic losses since 2017 due to fewer people watching their programs. These days, people find various OTT platforms more intriguing and congenial.
Anurag and his team immediately got into action and decided to start a drive for distributing dry rations, cooked meals as most of the people from Katputli society did not have the resources to cook food. The drive commenced on 28th March when for the first time cooked meals and dry rations were delivered, which continued till December, and nearly 1500 families were provided aid through this drive.

Mr. Anurag talked us through his NGO’s pilot project ‘THE WASH’ which he and his team has been working on for the last 5 years. He shared with us that through this project, they have been able to reach out to 2 million women, taught them the importance of ‘Menstrual Hygiene’, and conducted workshops to help them learn the skill to make sanitary pads on their own. This skill proved to be a boon during the pandemic time, as, when the lockdown was first announced in Delhi, ‘sanitary pads’ weren’t mentioned in the list of essential items due to which urban women of Delhi had to face several issues due to shortage of sanitary pads in the market. Irrespective of all the odds, women in Delhi were provided sanitary pads by Humans for Humanity who received these kits from women of villages in Rajasthan and Maharashtra, where ‘WASH PROJECT’ was conducted years ago.

Humans for Humanity also provided essential aid to the people when Cyclone Tauktae hit Mumbai.
In Uttarakhand, Humans for Humanity conducted numerous drives in rural areas of Tehri to provide food and medical aid. Anurag and his team also conducted workshops to spread awareness about the pandemic and menstrual hygiene in Uttarakhand. He also visited NariNiketan where he conducted a drive to provide medical aid and a workshop to guide them about menstrual hygiene. Without further ado, he left for Kashipur where he along with his team conducted workshops for school-going girls living in the outskirts or rural areas and distributed medical kits and sanitary pads. He also visited Rajasthan, Punjab, and Kashmir to provide aid and all possible help to the ones in need. Humans for Humanity has been doing an impeccable job by providing aid to around 8000 families across different states ever since the pandemic has broken out in India.

On asking about his NGO’s priority and future plans, he stated that their sole priority is to somehow protect the ones in need from dying due to hunger and do their best to make them survive this pandemic. He also stated that being able to help those families just survive this pandemic is 10% of the entire task that needs to be done. He told us with a heavy heart that we have gone back in time and to get the daily wage workers and more such people back to a normal, healthy lifestyle will require a lot of time and manpower.

Shantanu Bisht

Editor