MUMBAI: Procter & Gamble made a contribution of Rs 22.7 million to Child Relief and You (CRY), at the close of Project Shiksha - P&G‘s national consumer program in association with CRY and Sony Entertainment Television (SET).

These funds will be deployed to the established Shiksha Projects that work with the state education departments to re-look at existing education policies; create awareness to build more schools with better infrastructure, and more basic amenities like water, electricity, health; enroll more children into formal schools and promote retention in schools; and build all-round development of children.

L-R: Sony‘s Rohit Gupta, Konkana Sen, Sushmita Sen, CRY‘s Ingrid Srinath & P&G-India‘s Shantanu Khosla.

This program allowed consumers to participate in a national effort to support the education of underprivileged children in India via simple brand choices. Every time a consumer bought a large pack of Tide, Ariel, Pantene, Head and Shoulders, Rejoice, Vicks VapoRub, Whisper, Gillette Mach 3 Turbo, Gillette Series, Oral B, Duracell or Pampers during April, May and June, she made a definitive contribution towards enabling a child‘s right to education.

Shikhsha 2007 tapped into the power of music to inspire people with the launch of the Shiksha song and music video that was sung by Shaan, Bappi Lahiri and Renuka Sahane that talked about the right of every child to access education and how education will take India forward and onto the world map. Shiksha was also supported by actors Tabu, Soha Ali Khan and Dia Mirza.

P&G MD Shantanu Khosla said, "Since inception, three years ago, Shikhsha has grown from strength to strength with consumer support growing exponentially. Today it has gone beyond a one company, one NGO initiative to a national consumer movement that enables consumers to make a difference to lives of thousands of children. This has been our most successful year till date with the biggest ever contribution of Rs 20.2 million made by P&G India to CRY, bringing our cumulative contribution to Shiksha close to Rs 50 million. This is still only the beginning and we hope to go a long way ahead in addressing the needs of children in India."

Sony Entertainment Television EVP Rohit Gupta said, "As one of the leading national television channels, we have the power to reach millions of families watching us with the message of growth of project Shiksha and its achievements. Sony Entertainment Television has been associated with this initiative since its inception in 2003 and as a responsible corporate citizen, we believe that it is our responsibility to support social issues, which are of national importance. Therefore, we will continue with our commitment to Shiksha - helping children access their right to education. Shiksha reflects our belief and we are sure our consistent approach will make a big difference someday."