NDTV - Philanthropy and Social Initiatives

Philanthropy and Social Initiatives

NDTV organises campaigns through its channels to support education, rural electrification, and awareness on climate change. Some of its campaigns are as follows:

• Greenathon: An event to generate money to spread awareness on climate change and rural electrification. It was supported by many actors such as Priyanka Chopra, Shah Rukh Khan, Karan Johar. There have been two successful seasons of Greenathon campaign in 2010 and 2011 resulting in donations of more than 13 crore Rupees. It is also sponsored by automaker Toyota.
• Save Our Tiger Campaign: This campaign was launched on 30 January 2010 by Indian telecom company Aircel in partnership with NDTV and WWF-India. The goal was to create awareness among Indians about the rapidly decreasing tiger population in India. The first year of the NDTV campaign culminated in a 12-hour telethon. During the telethon, people appealed to political leaders and the masses to do whatever they could to help safeguard the Indian tiger. As a result of the campaign, several prominent political leaders came on air and pledged to protect the forests of their respective states. During the telethon 19.9 million rupees were raised through donations. The funds collected were donated to "Rapid Response Units (RRU)" to equip and train forest departments to respond during emergency situations like man-animal conflict, anti-poaching patrolling, fire-fighting among others.
• Support My School Campaign: On 24 January 2011 NDTV in partnership with Coca-Cola India, CAF and UN-Habitat launched the "Support My School" campaign. The motive of this telethon was to create awareness on water and sanitation, environment and healthy active living. Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar was the brand ambassador of this campaign. On 18 September 2011 an event was organized to support education in rural India. It was supported by Sachin Tendulkar and Bollywood Actor Sanjay Dutt. The event generated more than 7.2 crore Rupees to fund the needs of more than 140 schools.
• Fit India Movement: On 16 March 2011 NDTV and Nirmal Lifestyle launched a long-term campaign: Fit India Movement. The purpose of this movement is to change the way Indians think about their fitness and make India a healthy nation. The "Mission-1" of this movement was "Marks for Sports".
• Marks for Sports: This initiative was launched on 16 March 2011 under the "Fit India Movement" of NDTV and Nirmal Lifestyle. The goal of is to push for inclusion of sports in the school curriculum, hoping that this will make parents encourage their children to take up sports. Actor Ranbir Kapoor, Dr. Prannoy Roy, chairman, NDTV and Dharmesh Jain, chairman and managing director of Nirmal Lifestyle launched this initiative in New Delhi.
• Save India's Coasts: This campaign was an initiative of NDTV and Toyota Etios. NDTV's crew traveled the entire coast of India, starting in western Gujarat and ending in West Bengal in six weeks, reporting on the issues facing the coast along the way.