Kasmin Fernandes

Women have long been underrepresented in conventional energy industries such as coal, oil and gas, whether in exploration and extraction activities or in running power-generating plants. All available information suggests that men outnumber women in most of these workplaces, and especially in technical, managerial and policy-making positions. Energy is still often seen as a man’s...

This Sunday marks an important day for the Black Lives Matter movement. August 23 is annually reserved to honour the people in Saint-Domingue who revolted against slavery in 1791 and paved the way for the abolition of this humiliating practice that reduces human beings to minions. It's a major event in Haiti and the...

It looks like time is up for corporate entities that ignore a toxic work environment. In the US, at least. Popular American talk show The Ellen DeGeneres show has been in the news because of multiple shocking allegations of workplace harassment, racism and sexual harassment by former employees. Hollywood's darling host Ellen feigned cluelessness...

Humanitarians make the world more livable. Many of these heroes risk their lives to protect refugees and victims of crises all over the world. Firefighters putting out forest flames, rescue workers delivering food in floods and earthquakes, doctors delivering babies in the middle of a war, or health workers going out on a limb...

Independence Day 2020 was a celebration of freedom not only for human citizens but also for stray dogs and puppies on the streets of the Mira Road-Bhayandar area in Maharashtra. Mira-Bhayandar residents who are volunteering with the NGO People with Paws and Wings took to the streets for a citizen social responsibility (CSR) drive. Mira-Bhayandar...

The soul of India lives in its villages. Corporate social responsibility is actively engaged in giving wings to this soul by funding rural development in a structured manner. CSR in rural development Numerous long-running CSR programmes, from HDFC Bank's Holistic Rural Development Programme to ITC's Mission Sunehra Kal are making progress in sustainable rural development. These companies...

PM Modi turned his attention to an aquatic species on Independence Day 2020. He launched Project Gangetic Dolphin on 15th August, a 10-year government scheme to protect and increase the numbers of the endangered species. Needless to say, environmentalists are thrilled. It was 11 years ago that the Ganga River Dolphin was declared the...

The founding fathers of our nation laid out a structure for governance with a strong centre. However, we wonder on the eve of Independence Day 2020 whether they realised that it would concentrate all power with the Union government, particularly the PMO (Prime Minister's Office). This centralisation has always been a source of tension....

NMDC is India's largest iron ore public sector enterprise. It has been one of the biggest CSR spenders among CPSEs, with a spend of Rs. 199.99 crores in 2019-20. Being a responsible Corporate Citizen, the Company (which stands for National Mineral Development Corporation), made a large donation of Rs. 155 crores for COVID-19 relief...

Organ Donation Day 2020 is close. We will celebrate it on August 13th in gratitude of donors and by recipients like would-be engineer Shreya Siddanagowder. Back in 2016, she was a fiercely independent 18-year-old student, when her life changed course forever. She was travelling by a Volvo bus from Pune one early morning. The...

Persons with disabilities (PwDs) in India face discrimination and marginalisation every day. They lack access to essential services and are restricted in movement due to lack of infrastructure and ease of access. Their inability to contribute towards income of the family, and incurring expenses in treatment and medication, are seen as an additional burden,...

The COVID-19 pandemic has shocked the global energy sector, forcing projects to suspend work to comply with social distancing regulations, challenging the investment conditions of markets bracing for economic recession and slashing power demand by up to 10% in some regions in 2020. The size of that decline is around seven times greater than...