Empowered group 6 ties up with NGOs, private cos to fight Covid-19

The empowered group 6 (EG6), one of the 11 such groups set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs, has held discussions with non-government organisations as well as private companies to mobilise resources to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Led by Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI (national institution for transforming India) Aayog, the group has so far held talks with over 92,000 NGOs and has appealed them to assist the state governments and district administrations in picking hotspots and delivering essential services to vulnerable people, according to a statement.

Other members in EG6 include Kamal Kishore of national disaster management society (NDMA); Sandeep Mohan Bhatnagar, member, central board of indirect taxes and customs (CBIC); Anil Malik, AS, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA); Vikram Doraiswami, AS, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA); P. Harish AS, MEA; and Gopal Baglay JS, Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

MHA had formed 11 “empowered groups” in March to manage the Covid-19 related situation. The ministry later reconstituted a few of the groups following retirement or transfer of the members heading the groups.

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EG 6 also held talks with civil society organisations (CSOs), NGOs, development partners, United Nations (UN) agencies, and industry associations like Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) among others.

CII has helped with 47 lakh hygiene materials including 13 lakh masks, 7.5 lakh gloves, 20,880 PPEs and 26.8 lakh sanitizers/ soaps, which has been distributed among the vulnerable population, policemen and medical workers, while FICCI has delivered over 3.23 crores cooked meals and 1,50,000 kilos of dry ration.

Additionally, EG6 has especially asked all CSO, NGOs, and industry partners to utilise the Arogya Setu platform in their operations. 

Several startups have also developed solutions to fight Covid-19, according to EG6. Agva Healthcare, a Noida based manufacturer, for example, is making ventilators while Bengaluru based Mfine has leveraged artificial intelligence to develop an online platform for telemedicine.