New Delhi, Sep 20 (IANS) Ten eminent personalities came together here Thursday to give their support and start the next big step in volunteerism in India by signing a petition to President Pranab Mukherjee to establish Oct 2 as "National Volunteering Day".
Adi Godrej, chairman, India@75 Foundation; Arun Maira, member, Planning Commission; Anu Aga, Rajya Sabha MP; Bimal Jalan, former governor RBI; Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-chairman Infosys; R. Mashelkar, former president, Indian National Science Academy; Tarun Das, former chief mentor, CII; Chandrajit Banerjee, director general CII; Rajan Navani, chairman National Committee India@75 and Bhairavi Jani, executive director, India@75, gathered together to sign the petition, believing that volunteerism purposefully creates opportunities for engaging people in tackling development challenges, and it can transform the pace and nature of development.
The initiative "Count Me In" is a voluntering programme being driven by India@75 - a path breaking initiative for realizing the dream of an inclusive, sustainable and developed India by the year 2022, when India completes 75 years of Independence.
'Count Me In' is a call to action to the citizens of India to come together and volunteer across the nation in small and large measure and give their support to celebrate Oct 2 as "National Volunteering Day" in India and the world.
"It is an appeal and invitation to all Indians to practice, share, advocate, support and celebrate the spirit of volunteerism," a statement said.
Citizens may pledge their support for the petition by doing the following: Giving a missed call on 04844074600 from their mobile phones or visiting www.countmein.in and registering their support.
"India@75 is hopeful that the people of India will rally behind this cause of reenergising the spirit of volunteerism in our nation," the statement said.