Civil Servants launch ‘CARUNA’ initiative to fight COVID-19 pandemic, to aid government’s efforts

CARUNA Initiative Launched: Civil Servants across services including IAS, IPS, IRS have launched a unique CARUNA Initiative to support government in the right against COVID-19 pandemic. CARUNA stands for ‘Civil Services Association Reach to Support National Disasters’, which has been launched Associations representing officers of Central Civil Services, including the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS). CARUNA is a unique collaborative platforms that brings together civil servants, industry leaders, NGO professionals, and IT professionals, among others in the fight against coronavirus pandemic. The initiative intends to use their network that extends to district levels, to supplement efforts of Government’s 11 empowered groups tackling COVID-19.

Objective of CARUNA Initiative

The CARUNA Initiative was announced by IAS Association vice-president Sanjeev Chopra Friday. Through this initiative, Civil Servants can use their network to collect information and database of migration, essential supplies and medical equipment like masks, ventilators, PPE, etc. The initiative will prove to be highly efficient to map the district level progress of the government’s efforts to curb Coronavirus pandemic, as civil servants are spread across each district in the country. Furthermore, as they are directly working with people and social group, they will also be able to highlight the needs and shortages being felt at the district level.

As per media reports, Civil Service associations including- IFS, IPS, IFoS, IRS (IT), IRS (C&E), IRPS, IRTS, IPOS, IA&AS, IDES, ICAS, IIS & IAS form CARUNA - Civil services Association Reach to Support in Natural Disasters. The initiative offers a technology platform to support Govt in the fight against COVID19.

10-Day Action Plan Ready

Currently, the platform has already designed a 10-day action plan to extend support to government’s initiative to curb spread of Coronavirus infection in the country. The plan is focused on extending a helping hand to field-operatives to ensure capacity building and training and support of healthcare workers. In addition to this, the platform will also be used to compile database of health equipment and manufacturers and also facilitate delivery of essential medical supplies to remote areas. Another theme  that the group will be working upon is migration of labourers and setting up of temporary shelter for them and ensure food security in their respective districts.