India Cares, a humble initiative of IPS officer Arun Bothra is now a nationwide platform for aide in the pandemic
Ujjawala Nayudu
New Delhi, May 31
Beginning as a small initiative to aide distressed citizens during the pandemic, the humble platform of India Cares by a senior IPS officer Arun Bothra, has become a nationwide platform aiding lakhs of citizens during the second wave of the pandemic.
ADG Arun Bothra from Odisha cadre is nationally known for aiding an autistic child who required camel milk. Bothra helped the mother of an autistic child in Mumbai procure camel milk from Rajasthan in 2020 during the nationwide lockdown.
Speaking to BW Policeworld, Kamal Rathi, one of the core members of India Cares said, “The supply of camel milk to the autistic child rose hopes in several who wrote to IPS Bothra to aide hundreds of other distressed citizens. He informed on Twitter about starting an initiative ‘India Cares’ and around 300 to 400 persons offered to join. This was started to help migrants, supply of ration initially however during the second pandemic it became a life saviour for lakhs of citizens”.
Originally hailing from Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, Bothra, the 1996-batch IPS officer is presently the CEO, Odisha Central Electricity Supply Utility, and Managing Director of Capital Region Urban Transport. He also holds the additional charge as CMD, Odisha State Road Transport Corporation.
Most recently, India Cares aided a patient in Vizag who required ‘Bombay blood group’, rarest blood type, from Hyderabad which was air flown to reach the patient. Similarly, a child who was separated from his parents, both labourers, who went to Bihar leaving the child with his uncle, was abandoned. India Cares traced the parents with the help of other police officers, transported the parents to Delhi and handed over his custody after keeping him child care centre and counselling him.
India Cares has now become a well known platform that has aided over one lakh of citizens with oxygen cylinders, concentrators, hospital admission, live saving drugs, blood and plasma requirements, ration, etc.
Rathi explained, “When we had thought that our work of India Cares is almost done when the situation had bettered, there came the second wave with unprecedented challenges. The requirement of oxygen, hospital beds and medicines was so high that we doubled up our volunteers and worked across the country to arrange help. We now have core groups of volunteers divided in regions from North to South, East to West and Central India to ensure better focus and fast aide in all regions”.
India Cares has 4000 volunteers now present in all states of the country. These volunteers are connected through Telegram channels who keep looking at hundreds of requests pouring in for help.
During the first wave, India Cares observed that the citizens were not getting prescribed medicines at smaller towns and villages that is where the organization tied up with the Indian Railways to supply medicines through goods train or cargo to far flung areas. They tied up with drug suppliers and ensured medicines reached in smallest village of the country.
During the second wave, the demand for ration and migration was less, the need for oxygen, hospitals, blood and medicines was high.
Rathi said, “We have a policy that we neither accept donations nor spend money. We work as a trusted mediator that ties up for the requirements. The smaller towns in the country are setting up Covid care centres and required large numbers oxygen concentrators and cylinders are required. So we floated a request to those who wanted to aide and supply the same and after preparing the suppliers list and transported the same through Blue Dart that is transporting for free. Whether it’s it’s the oxygen cylinder, concentrator or blood, it reaches the citizen straight”.
Until the ICMR dropped plasma therapy from the list of the one of treatments for Covid 19, India Cares used to receive 200 requests for plasma donation every day.
One of their volunteers, Sabita Chand from Delhi, fondly addressed as PlasMA singlehandedly arranged 1200 plasma donors in Delhi. Similarly, Shashank Kandoi from Kolkata aided hundreds of requests for life saving drugs from Remdesivir injections to Fabiflu that experience shortage of availability.
In Pune, Tejas Shelar guided clueless citizens who were distressed with overpricing and fake lifesaving medicines floating in the market. Shelar devices ways on how to get medicines in shortest time from the government at correct price. Tech savvy volunteers Naman Shah and Pulkit Goyal streamline requests from Twitter and send it to the core groups of volunteers after filtering them into real time data.
Rathi added, “As the country witnessed that Delhi faced worst challenges of the second wave, we arranged hospital beds for Covid patients in cities 200 kilometres away. We ensured confirmed admission in hospitals at Jaipur, Alwar, Agra, Mohali, Bharatpur and Bareilly where beds were available. Maximum beds were arranged for citizens in Delhi and Pune”.
India Cares has now started a doctors group for all patients who can avail consultations for free. The group has 60 doctors available for consultation for free.
Two other IPS officers, IGP Amitabh Thakur from the Odisha Police and Dipanshu Kabra from Chattisgarh Police have been aiding India Cares volunteers relentlessly.
Amitabh Thakur recently aided a woman whose husband died and she wanted to bring his body back home. The elderly couple who boarded Yeshwantpur -Bhaglpur train to go to Bihar from Bangalore were stranded at Khurda when the passengers objected to the woman that she cannot carry her dead husband on board and she had to get down at Khurda.
IGP Thakur immediately called railway authorities and ensured the woman and her dead husband reached Bihar.
IGP Kabra is known for his Help hain initiative where thousands of students were provided books, study materials to students in villages of Odisha during the pandemic. IGP Kabra has been aiding India Cares from Chattisgarh for various initiatives specially for villages that don't have streamlined access to medicines and other medical aide.
