Thums Up has come together with brand ambassador Salman Khan’s Being Human Foundation and CNN-IBN to launch Campaign Veer – Unleashing the Inner Potential of Persons with Disabilities. With the American India Foundation (AIF) coming on board as Implementation Partner, Veer is set to be a two-month-long media campaign showcasing case examples of Persons with Disabilities (PwD) who have succeeded in their endeavours on the strength of their self belief, despite environmental and attitudinal barriers. At a special film screening of Salman Khan’s latest film ‘Jai Ho’ in Mumbai on January 25, Salman Khan and Debabrata Mukherjee launched Campaign Veer in the presence of many such persons with disabilities (PwD).



The initiative aims to reach out to more than 1,000 PwDs with skill training and employment opportunities and will also raise advocacy on issues revolving around inclusiveness, employability of PwDs and workplace accessibility. In its first phase, the campaign aims to collect funds to train and economically empower at least 1,000 PwDs.



Speaking about the campaign, Salman Khan, Founder of Being Human and face of Campaign Veer, said, “Together with Thums Up, Being Human has launched Veer, a campaign that recognises the potential of differently abled individuals and provides them with a level playing field. We are thankful to CNN-IBN and AIF for their support”.



Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-Chief, CNN-IBN, IBN7 and IBN-Lokmat, said, “We at IBN Network firmly believe that journalism has to be truly inclusive. As part of this commitment, we are very proud to announce VEER in association with Thums Up, American India Foundation and Being Human.”



Veer will address challenges such as inclusive education and employment, skill training and development, and advocating for disabled-friendly technology. Towards this, several panel discussions are set to be held with participation from the who’s who from  government, corporate, NGOs, policy makers/think tanks and donors of the campaign to discuss on the way forward to empower the ‘specially-abled’ of the country. Key takeaways from these discussions would be compiled into a ‘Vision Document’ and presented to the government.



AIF will impart vocational training to these individuals and ascertain their requirements so that they can be made job-ready. As outlined by AIF, Rs 7,500 is all it takes to train an individual with disability to make him/her employable.



Debabrata Mukherjee, VP-Marketing & Commercial, Coca-Cola India, said, “Thums Up as a brand believes that everybody has the potential within, it’s just that one needs to nudge oneself and take the leap of faith that can change one’s reality. In continuation with this belief, through Campaign Veer, we would like to offer specially-abled persons a platform to unleash their own potential. We are very glad that partners like CNN-IBN, Being Human and American India Foundation have joined hands and we hope that together we will be able to make a positive difference.”



Hemanth Paul, Country Director, AIF, said, “Irrespective of whether you are a person with disability or not, economic independence is a critical thing for everyone. We need to mould persons with disability from being a liability to an asset. At the American India Foundation, we have been working on the whole livelihood space for the last eight years to make such people financially independent.”