The Foundation of His Sacred Majesty (FHSM), a non-profit organization headquartered in the Indian city of Chennai (formerly Madras), Tamil Nadu, has issued an urgent appeal for support for an emergency relief and rehabilitation initiative to aid underprivileged communities in India during the COVID-19 outbreak.

In a recently released statement, the foundation observed that the nationwide 21-day lockdown put in place by the government on 24 March “has crippled and brought the lives and livelihoods of 1.3 billion people to a complete standstill. India’s helpless poor are starving for food and struggling to get essential items for their survival. The harsh brunt of the coronavirus pandemic has been at its worst on children, women, and the elderly.

“Millions of daily-wage laborers cook or buy food with their earnings each day and sustain their families. Thousands of sanitation workers who are engaged around the clock in waste disposal, cleaning sewers, garbage and trash sorting, etc., without proper masks, gloves, boots, or other necessary protective gear are particularly at critical risk,” the FHSM said. “These vulnerable people don’t have any kind of social protection and are desperately seeking for assistance from people like you. Please kindly empathize, help, and support!

“We also appeal to psychological counselors and psychiatrists to volunteer and freelance with us at FHSM in counseling needy persons, particularly in the context of arising stress and anxiety issues. Please extend your solidarity and generosity in this very difficult moment of life where the language of humanism alone stands in saving thousands of lives largely dependent on you.”

Despite a relatively low number of confirmed infections and deaths due to the coronavirus pandemic reported to date in India, the foundation noted that testing rates in the country are among the lowest in the world. According to forecasts by Johns Hopkins University, which has one of the most reliable online data dashboards on the global pandemic, India could see 400 million infections by July.

The foundation’s emergency relief fund will be used to supply and distribute basic necessities for India’s most vulnerable and ignored communities, including food staples such as rice, flour, and cooking oil, and basic personal hygiene items, such as masks, gloves, sanitary pads, and soap.

Named in commemoration of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka (r. c. 268–c. 232 BCE), a key figure in the propagation of Buddhism across Asia, the Foundation of His Sacred Majesty was founded in 2007 with a stated mission to: “preserve, promote, and disseminate the principles of liberty, equality, fraternity, and social justice through non-formal education, sustainable livelihood, and conservation of ecology, alternative/preventive medicines, social empowerment, social advocacy, and social development in order for the restoration of the human dignity of the poor and marginalized.” (Facebook) 

At the time of writing on 31 March, global novel coronavirus infections were reported to total 787,631, with 37,840 deaths so far confirmed and 166,276 recovered. The World Health Organization has previously estimated the mortality rate from the virus at 3.4 per cent, based on preliminary data, with the elderly and people with underlying health conditions considered most at risk. India has reported 1,417 confirmed infections and 47 deaths, with 102 recovered.*

* Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU)

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