Mi India and Sonu Sood partner to ensure every deserving student has access to a smartphone

A new initiative to make sure all underprivileged kids can access online education.

“I always believe that if help has to reach someone, likeminded people come together, get connected, think alike, and are able to reach the souls and bring smiles to those faces,” said Bollywood actor Sonu Sood. He was answering our question on the challenges one faces while doing something good.

Mi India, a leading smartphone and smart TV player and Sood have come together for an initiative called #ShikshaHarHaath - The movement will look at helping underprivileged kids across the country who are unable to access online education due to the unavailability of smartphones.

This initiative is an extension of Mi’s efforts to help underprivileged kids as we saw last year (2020) when Mi India, started its mission of providing accessible education in 2020 with its Mi Scholarship program. The brand pledged 2 crores towards students’ education in partnership with Teach for India as well as Buddy4study to help build a brighter future.

Manu Kumar Jain, MD at Mi India said, “The biggest commodity during this Work from Home (WFH), Study from Home (SFH) is a smartphone and reports state that many people and kids don’t have smartphones…”

He went on to tell us that the initiative has two parts. One, we will give a few thousand smartphones to deserving kids. Second, we are asking people to come forward and donate a spare working smartphone of any brand and we will refurbish them and give it to the deserving kids.

It is a countrywide initiative and Mi has launched a microsite allowing consumers to pledge their old smartphones, In addition to this, consumers can also contribute by dropping their working condition smartphones at nearby Mi Home, Mi Studio, Mi Service Centre.

Prateik Das, CSR Lead, Mi India added, “We have always believed in doing something unique which matches with our mission, creates a better world and serves the nation. #ShikshaHarHaath is an extension to our mission of educating and empowering the future heroes of India. We are very excited to have Sonu Sood help us reach the most needy across the country. With a two-pronged approach, this initiative is about donating smartphones and also encouraging people to donate their old smartphones towards the needy.”