Kasmin Fernandes

Ever since the pandemic became the big news of 2020, donations for the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) have been pouring in from responsible citizens and corporates alike. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the ex-officio Chairman of the dedicated national fund formed for the purposes of...

The powerful Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has announced a slew of amendments to CSR provisions that will ensure stricter compliance by the companies and streamlined implementation for agencies. They will also ensure that companies will have a harder time wiggling out of compliance and actual spending year on year. From the activities that...

As part of our #LetsTalkCSR series doing a deep dive into social initiatives by top corporates, let's explore the CSR of ITC. The Group headquartered in Kolkata sits proudly on our list of top companies for CSR in 2020. Another report by Goodera ranked ITC Limited as the 7th largest spender on Corporate Social Responsibility...

Did you know that having asthma does not make you more susceptible to COVID-19? Since coronavirus affects the lungs and so does asthma, it's assumed that asthmatics are at higher risk but the latest research shows that there is no such evidence. So, you can heave a sigh of relief, literally! With World Asthma...

The second wave of Covid-19 is claiming more lives, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has urged the private sector for support in this emergency. Not only are government and private hospitals running out of beds, oxygen and medical personnel, they are turning critically ill patients away. In this scenario, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs...

The killing of black civilian George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers in broad daylight sparked worldwide protests for social justice. A year later, justice is served as former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted on all counts in the killing of Floyd. This is a historic moment for the Black Lives Matter movement...

Many small businesses in India have been hit hard by the global pandemic. MSMEs are unsure if they can survive the multiple crises that keep on coming. COVID-19 has brought with it an increased risk of corruption not only in the public health sector but also in the private sector. Corporate governance failures have...

The pandemic has changed many minds about contemporary allopathic medicine. People across the world are switching to complementary medicine such as Homeopathy, Ayurveda and Unani medicines. Homeopathy has been documented to be effective in global pandemics in the past, including the deadly 1918 Spanish Flu and the Cuban epidemic. Doctors who included homeopathic treatment...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for a ‘Tika Utsav’ aka vaccine festival next week. As India struggles through the second deadly wave of COVID-19, Modi asked all the state (and union territories) chief ministers in a virtual meeting to hold a Tika Utsav from April 11-14. This implies that come Sunday, the vaccination...

Being born into poverty puts one at a disadvantage in life. Sickness makes matters worse for the patient as well as the family that is already struggling with making ends meet. Having one sick family member can burden the entire family emotionally, financially and mentally. There are hundreds of government schemes for poverty alleviation...

Think of Ayodhya and the first phrase that springs to mind is Ram Janmabhoomi. Private and public enterprises doing corporate social responsibility have also limited their scope of work to this topic as far as Ayodhya is concerned. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath invited corporates to use CSR funds for the Rs. 330 crore...

“Get the word out there.” These five words sum up what mass communication is essentially for. The media relentlessly keeps the public up-to-date on the latest news in every field imaginable. So, when it comes to advancing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the possibilities of what diligent media coverage can achieve are endless: from facilitating dialogue...