MUMBAI: On a red-letter day for this great nation, CNN-IBN launched 'Tribute to VEER' which gave voice to the second season of its one-of-a-kind initiative, VEER. CNN-IBN in partnership with Thums Up, Being Human & American India Foundation aims to unleash the inner potential of the differently abled people and tug at the strings of the patriot in us. The anthem’s lyrics is penned by famed Gangs of Wasseypur lyricist Varun Grover; the soul-stirring composition has been done by rock behemoths Parikrama and sung by Nitin Malik, Shilpa Rao, Hari & Sukhmani, Rahul Ram, Ashish Chauhan, Salman Khan & Zaman Khan (Band Astitva) and PAPA CJ. The VEER campaign focuses at generating awareness and advocacy for inclusivity, accessibility and employability of PwDs.

The 'Tribute to VEER' combines the pulse through the lines 'Sabke Jaise Hum Hain' which brings the aggression by emphasizing on the need to treat the People with Disabilities as equal. The anthem encapsulates the philosophy of 'Equality & Empowerment for People with Disability (PwDs)'. The couplets of the song are drawn up to highlight the role of VEER and are inextricably linked to all the important aspects of life in the 21st century: Social Progress, Quality of life and Employment. The mood of the song is upbeat and youthful as it mirrors the point of view of a person with disability and focuses on how the society needs to treat them as equals instead of glorified heroes.

Responding enthusiastically to the initiative, eminent personalities came together to create a VEER anthem aimed at enthusing and inspiring the citizens of India to join hands and make PwDs discern their true potential. After receiving an overwhelming response for its first season, VEER in its second edition aims to drive an amount of INR 2 crores for training 2000 PwDs.

Speaking about the initiative, Managing Editor OF CNN-IBN, Mr. Radhakrishnan Nair, said "Creating the Tribute to VEER is an honour for us. We wanted to create an anthem that motivates the team and the members to stand out for a greater initiative. We have always had a special affinity towards the audio medium, which reflects in our work and also the accolades we have received over the past few years. We aim to create awareness and compassion about the differently-abled community and bring them into the mainstream by unleashing their true potential."

In this phase of the campaign, the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment and Hans Foundation, an NGO operating in the area of empowering marginalised sector in disability space to provide skills for training people with disabilities (PwDs) have partnered with VEE. Both the government body and NGO have been imminently working with the campaign to train and employ the PwDs.

The Anthem is being aired on BIG FM Radio Channel in Delhi through this week, and exclusively on CNN-IBN.