Mumbai, March 24th, 2017: The first season of the ‘Jal Daan movement’, Network18 & Aquaguard’s social campaign around creating awareness and generating solutions to the drinking water crises in India reached to its culmination with a gala ceremony which was held today, 24th March 2017, at Trident, Nariman Point, Mumbai. The event celebrated and saluted the endeavors of ‘Water Heroes’ – individuals & organizations who have been working relentlessly around the issue of safe drinking water.
The Grand finale also served as a platform for stakeholders to come together and discuss, deliberate and exchange ideas to build a sustainable potable water ecosystem in India. The evening was graced by the presence of Hon’ Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister, Maharashtra as the Chief Guest who felicitated the ‘Jal Daan Water Heroes’. Noted actor & Unicef Goodwill Ambassador Madhuri Dixit, acclaimed lyricist, Prasoon Joshi, and social reformer Bindeshwar Pathak, were the Guests of Honor.
To discuss India’s drinking water problems and accessibility for all, a special panel discussion took place with eminent personalities including Priya Naik, Founder & CEO, Samhita, Anuj Sharma, CEO, Piramal Sarajal, Dr. Shriram Nene (Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgeon), Bishwadeep Ghosh, Director, Arghyam, Dr. Thuppil Venkatesh (Professor Emeritus, St. John’s Medical College) and A.V Suresh, Eureka Forbes, President- International Operations & CEO Forbes Professional at Eureka Forbes.
With amplification across the Network18 bouquet of channels and digital assets, the ‘Jal Daan’ campaign has gathered great momentum and successfully mobilized people to take note of India’s drinking water woes, encouraged them to do their bit by taking a pledge to donate 5 litres of healthy & safe drinking water every day to those who don’t have access to it. Over the last six months, the campaign has garnered more than 3 million pledges from citizens from all walks of life – a testimony to its efficacy.
The initiative has emerged as a significant crusade in galvanizing popular sentiment towards an extremely important cause and creating a better future for our generations to come.
About TV18:
TV18 Broadcast Limited [BSE: 532800, NSE: TV18BRDCST] (“TV18”) is a part of Network18 Group. Network18 Group is a media and entertainment group with interests in television, internet, films, e-commerce, magazines, mobile content and allied businesses. Through its subsidiary, TV18, the group operates news channels such as CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz, CNBC-TV18 Prime HD, CNN-NEWS18, and News18 India. TV18 also operates a joint venture with Viacom called Viacom18, which houses a portfolio of popular entertainment channels such as Colors, Colors HD, Rishtey, MTV India, MTV Indies, Comedy Central, Vh1, Nick, Sonic, Nick Jr and Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the group’s filmed entertainment business. TV18 has also forayed into the Indian factual entertainment space through a joint venture with A+E Networks and operates History TV18. In the regional space, the group operates a Gujarati business news channel – CNBC Bajar, a Marathi general news channel – IBN Lokmat and operates ten regional news channels under the ETV umbrella and five regional entertainment channels under the Colors brand. The group also operates a 24 hour an Indian news channel in English – News18, targeting global audiences. TV18 and Viacom18 have formed a strategic joint venture called IndiaCast, a multi-platform 'content asset monetization' entity that drives domestic and international channel distribution, placement services and content syndication for the bouquet of channels from the group and third parties. For more information, log on to www.network18online.com
About Aquaguard:
Aquaguard is the flagship water purification brand of Eureka Forbes and one of the largest selling in the world. Launched in 1984, Aquaguard was the first water purifier brand to be introduced in India. The brand which was being sold only through direct selling, has been made available on retail stores and e-commerce channels. With a strong sales force of 8,000 people, over 6,000 service technicians and 1500 service centres across India, Aquaguard is the most preferred choice of more than 50 million consumer homes in over 550 cities. With over 33 years of research and development, Aquaguard is the only water purifier brand in the country to develop 17 water purification technologies to combat 17 different water conditions in India. It has received more than 110 certifications by leading water laboratories all over the world and has been conferred with numerous Indian and International awards for its superior technology.
