Tamil Nadu is the fourth largest state in India. Known for its distinctive culture, cuisine and art forms, it has contributed significantly to increasing India’s glory. With its unique developmental challenges, the state has been a destination for various CSR projects.
In FY 2020-21, the state received Rs. 1082.33 Crores of CSR funds from 1767 companies. The top three spenders in the state include Zoho Corporation Private Limited, Nlc India Limited, and Vama Sundari Investments Private Limited who spent Rs. 54.07 crores, Rs. 44.09 crores, and Rs. 37.94 crores respectively. The top three areas of focus for the CSR programs comprised education, healthcare and environment where the companies spent a total of Rs. 453.53 crores, Rs. 372.71 crores, and Rs. 110 crores respectively.
Let us look at some of the top CSR initiatives in Tamil Nadu.
Srinivasan Services Trust Promoting Models of Self Reliance
In order to create equal opportunities for all and ensure better livelihood for communities, Srinivasan Services Trust (SST), a social arm of TVS Motor Company, has facilitated in forming hundreds of SHGs in Tamil Nadu. These Self-Help Groups have been consistently improving & helped many women and their families along the way to have a better living fighting stereotypes.
SST formed 927 women self-help groups and enrolled 12365 women in and around Padavedu area. It then offered various kinds of training programmes such as, Tailoring, Banana Fibre products making, Banana Rope making, Bag making, pickle making, Terracotta jewellery making, etc. to the members to make them employable and self-independent. Additionally, the trust supports Women Self Help Groups for loan linkage with low interest. Considering the potential of SHGs, the trust aims to closely monitor the progress regularly at various levels. In total Rs. 9 crores was saved by SHG members as their savings and SST supported them to lend 66 crores of money as loan through Indian Bank, HDFC Banks, Cooperative banks, etc.
Titan Kanya Project
Titan’s CSR Project ‘Titan Kanya’ was launched in 2012 with an aim to support the underprivileged girl child through quality education. Project Nanhi Kali, which translates to ‘a little bud’ in Hindi, is an initiative that supports the education of underprivileged girls in India. Designed to empower girls from low-income families to complete ten years of formal schooling, the project has impacted the lives of over 450,000 girls (called Nanhi Kalis) from underserved communities across the country.
The Titan-Nanhi Kali partnership which commenced in the state of Tamil Nadu in 2012, has provided 360-degree support to 7,000+ disadvantaged girls in Krishnagiri. Recently we have expanded the intervention to the two blocks of Chengam and Jawadhu Hills in Tiruvannamalai and have launched tab based education for 5000 Kanya girls.
Recently, Titan launched an adaptive learning platform ‘Mindspark’ under the project. In partnership with leading EduTech organization Educational Initiatives, every Kanyas/Nanhi Kali will receive access to the personalized learning platform. With its Artificial Intelligence-powered engine and 20 years of research on children’s learning, Mindspark offers truly personalized learning to every student. It helps children improve their reading and listening comprehension, logical thinking, analytical and quantitative skills. Mindspark is available for grades 1– 10 and is aligned to all State Board Curriculum. Titan Kanyas/Nanhi Kalis will learn Mathematics, their local language and English from Class 1-10 and Science from Class 6-10. The software will be pre-loaded onto digital tablets, allowing access to quality education even in remote locations.
Ashok Leyland’s Road to School Initiative
Ashok Leyland, the flagship Company of the Hinduja Group launched its CSR initiative ‘Road to School’ (RTS) in 2015 with 36 Schools in Shoolagiri and Anchetty in Krishnagiri District, Tamil Nadu. The success of the program encouraged the company to spread further in the districts of Tamil Nadu in Tiruvallur (Minjur, Puzhal), Namakkal (Mohanur, Paramathy, Erumapatti and Kolli Hills), Krishnagiri (Shoolagiri, Anchetty, Thally, Kelamangalam) covering about 714 Schools impacting around 55000 plus Students today in Government Primary and Upper Primary schools. The ‘Road to School’ program, helps nurture both Scholastic and Co-Scholastic development of children at Government schools in remote locations covering Education, Health, Personal Hygiene, Wellness, Nutrition Supplement, Emotional Development including Sports and Music.
The program faced a challenge when people movement was restricted owing to the pandemic. The team at Ashok Leyland saw this as an opportunity and moved quickly towards digital platforms by launching the ‘iCare’ initiative.
Hyundai Academy for Technical Skills
The CSR arm of Hyundai Motor India Ltd is investing INR150 crore in the project – ‘Hyundai Academy for Technical Skill’ to build a state-of-the-art infrastructure spread across 6.45 acres of land to develop talent and make them ready for global opportunities in world-class companies who are setting up base in the country. The upcoming training centre will be a technology marvel and will serve as an incubation centre for upskilling people and will focus on human-centric innovations and mobility solutions.
