This is an archive article published on August 13, 2016

This Independence day, Robin Hood Army brings together India and Pakistan

There are 230 million people in the subcontinent who do not even get two square meals a day. RHA plans to feed half a million people across India and Pakistan on their respective Independence Days.

4 min readNew DelhiAug 13, 2016 04:04 PM IST First published on: Aug 13, 2016 at 04:04 PM IST

Independence day, Farhan Akhtar, India, Pakistan, Vishal Dadlani, restaurants in India, restaurants to go to this Independence, India Pakistan, Robin Hood Army

This organisation is doing the unthinkable — bringing India and Pakistan together for a beautiful cause. (source: Robin Hood army/Facebook)

While for a lot us the Independence Day is just another holiday to catch up on some extra sleep or meet up with friends, there are a bunch of people coming together to do something different. Robin Hood Army (RHA), a volunteer organisation, has launched #Mission500k — a project that aims to bring together people from India and Pakistan to feed five lakh needy people, on their respective Independence Days (August 14 for Pakistan and August 15 for India).

The Robin Hood Initiative was started in 2014 in Delhi with a vision to fight what they call the largest battle — that of starvation. The team now has 5,215 volunteers spread across 30 cities in India, and have served about six lakh people till date.

The RHA has associated with major startups like Uber, Zomato, Snapdeal, Oyo, Grofers, Inshorts, Roposo, InMobi and Pressplay in what they call to be their biggest project till date.

Farhan Akhtar, a well-known face from the film industry has said, “The Robin Hood Army’s desire to feed half a million people across India and Pakistan this year on their respective Independence Days is an effort I wholeheartedly support. I appeal to people everywhere to participate in this incredible initiative to help eradicate hunger and malnutrition. It’s our world. We have to make it better.”

VH1 and Seagrams have made the anthem of the mission — a music video featuring Farhan Akhtar, Vishal Dadlani and others.

Watch the video here.

“We are excited to bring everyone together and see the potential impact of this project. The idea is to get citizens across both countries to be aware and act on our common enemy – hunger.” said Neel Ghose, founder, RHA.

The RHA clearly states that no funds will be raised for this event, just like for their previous ones. The start up eco-system will leverage their core strengths and reach to do this.

It will set up and execute the operational framework to crowdsource across locations. The organisation has reached out to corporates, colleges, other startups, our neighbours – to come together and make a difference. It vouches that this will be historic – in terms of “something which has viral written all over it”. More importantly, they wish the impact that they create through the event will have a long-lasting, positive effect.

To increase people’s engagement with the project, the RHA has taken to the Internet and is urging people to use the hashtag #Mission500k and have invited people to like the #Mission500k event’s Facebook page.

While preparations seem to be in full swing in India, the RHA’s branch in Pakistan too, is gearing up. “Our teams across Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore are chalking out major plans for the 14th.”, said Sarah Afridi, who set up RHA in Pakistan. “What we need is not monetary contributions – just the time and compassion of our fellow citizens.”

According to surveys by the RHA, there are 230 million people in the subcontinent who do not get two square meals a day. The organisation hopes projects like these will inspire people to work towards changing things for the better, however small the changes.