New Delhi:
The pictures have stunned us, their stories have broken our hearts but was it stirring enough for us to pull out our wallets and credit cards?
More than a fortnight after Uttarakhand was devastated by what has been described as a 'Himalayan Tsunami', the figures are coming in of just how much India feels for the victims of those affected by the flash floods. NDTV has learnt that in the last nine days, the Prime Minister's Relief Fund has received a total of nearly Rs 18 crore from across the country - a figure that PMO officials are describing as 'unprecedented'. They are comparing it to the Leh floods of 2010 where Rs 156 crore were collected over three months. This time, officials are expecting the amount to be much, much higher.
(How you can help)"A major reason is that we've introduced online payments which many are availing this time to make a contribution," said an official. And that's 10,264 who've logged on to pmindia.gov.in to contribute Rs 3.57 crore . And many others have also logged on to their online bank accounts to give an additional Rs 7.2 crore but their numbers or identities are unknown. "We have no way of knowing the profile of the people who are giving," said the official.
They aren't willing to comment on whether Rs 18 crore is a sizeable amount for a country of 1.2 billion people and many of them with sizeable disposable incomes, but they do say that social media has helped. "This time the government has promoted the idea of giving on social media and it has certainly made a difference," they said.
Till now many government departments like the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Public Sector Undertakings like Coal India have pledged their day's salaries while MPs and MLAs have also pledged from their Member of Parliament Local Area Development Sceheme or MPLADS. Corporate groups like ASSOCHAM have pledged Rs 2 crore and officials say, this should all help to make the total amount of Rs 18 crore surge by next month.
That's not all, the government's also encouraging those who want to donate smaller amounts. So they'll be introducing an SMS system where you can pledge Rs 10 per SMS. As they say, every rupee counts.