Road Running Culture Reinforces Awareness Of Social Causes

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January 15, 2018

Running, and especially marathon running, is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. Companies too are willing to sponsor and participate in them. The participants are a mixed bag. These are people who around work, school, fun, social media, and all the other hobbies that they’re interested in, have adopted running. To imbibe the culture of health and living an active lifestyle and the benefits that comes from running. At par with that reason, are people coming out to support various social causes through this popular but relatively nascent sport in India.

Wockhardt Hospitals, a center for liver transplant, is conducting one of the most innovative campaigns, where more than 35 Liver transplant recipient and living donor are participating in the Tata Mumbai Marathon. All the participants will take part in Dream run category (6.6KM).

All these participants are yet to complete one year after their operation. Running a dream run is the best way to show the benefits of organ transplant to the society and the donor family. With developments in the science and medical technology, Liver Transplant has now become a very safe treatment option for patients with advanced liver diseases. Now after liver transplant or after donating a part of liver, both the patients and donors can lead a very healthy and active life. A lot of myths still dissuade majority of patients and healthy family members from liver transplant and liver donation.

As per the data released by Government in August 2017, 12,000 people are on the wait list for organs in Maharashtra itself.

‘Urban Feet – A Run for Women’s Safety’ was organised for the second consecutive year. With the theme #SheRiseWeRise, Urban Feet urged every female participant to bring a male partner to run along with them. Giving out the message that it is the duty of every man, to keep women safe, empower them and treat them equally by participating in a night run.

More than 500 zealous participants from various walks of life ran in the 7kms run. Over 100 girls from Akshara Center, Mumbai Police official, along with celebrity fitness trainers’ and influencers participated in ‘Urban Feet’, Mumbai’s night marathon.

Currently 41 lakh Indians have been diagnosed with Dementia. 90% of dementia cases remain undiagnosed and doctors say cases of dementia & Alzheimer’s is on a rapid rise in the urban areas.

To spread awareness, Alzheimer’s & Related Disorders Society of India (ARDSI), Mumbai Chapter organised the “Awarathon Mumbai”, which included citizens from all strata of society, medical practitioners, caregiver, corporate people, NGO, volunteers.

Super model, actor, Ultraman and Pinkathon founder Milind Soman recently held the Sixth Edition of COLORS Pinkathon Mumbai. Pinkathon aims at empowering Indian women to encourage and promote fitness & health among women and create awareness for Breast Cancer, Bone health, Thyroid disorder and other issues relating to women’s health.

Quite clearly, the appetite for road running is growing at such pace that recorded races alone are touching 900 annually in India. It is important to create awareness about a variety of causes, which require a long overdue attention. As individuals, by participating in marathons, it is a great social responsibility we, as individuals, are utilising to spread the right message to the masses.

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Sharmaji Ka Beta Keeps It Clean

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Hency Thacker

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January 15, 2018

Sharmaji ka beta does everything right. From getting into a top B-school, to securing a well paying job, he is an ideal son. He got married last week to a girl of his choice, named Susan. He had met Susan several months ago, when he went to Germany for a conference.

The junior Sharma brought his wife to his beautiful apartment in the best suburbs of Bombay. The home was beautiful, spacious and spotlessly clean. However, there was a foul odour Susan could smell at some distance from her kitchen window. It was an open dump, right ahead of their oh so perfect home. This was her first introduction to India. A country where houses are clean but the streets are unbelievably sullied.

The smart chap that he was, Sharma read his wife’s expressions. He was a responsible citizen, and would never litter the road himself. However, he considered that as an end of his responsibility. It was when he saw the same view with foreign eyes, did he realize how wrong he was.

Sharma has now joined the cleanliness drive. He has taken up the responsibility of educating the people in his locality, the importance of cleanliness and being active to maintain that.

Sharmaji’s chest is swollen with pride for his quintessential son. “You all should follow my son”, he said. Don’t wait for your father to ask: Why can’t you be more like Sharmaji ka beta?

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Women Entrepreneurs Supported at Mann Deshi Mahotsav

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The CSR Journal

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January 13, 2018

The Mann Deshi Mahotsav is an annual community festival that is a platform for more than 90 women entrepreneurs to showcase arts and crafts, culture and cuisine from rural Maharashtra.

Encouraging and empowering women entrepreneurs from rural areas of Maharashtra, Dow India partnered with the Mann Deshi Foundation to conduct the Mann Deshi Mahotsav. Speaking at the inaugural event, Mr. Sudhir Shenoy, CEO, Dow India said, “This festival enables us to see first-hand the entrepreneurial spirit of the women associated. Their passion to create market-centric innovation, with limited resources and often under challenging circumstances, deserves support and recognition. It is great to see the spirit of innovation running deep in our society – be it chemistry, community building or supporting regional arts.”

The festival aims to generate awareness among consumers and entrepreneurs about the use and disposal of plastics. The company advocated the use of recyclable flexible packaging to promote the circular economy of reduce, reuse and recycle with minimum impact on the natural ecosystem.

“By 2022, we aim to provide one million women entrepreneurs with access to knowledge and capital, enabling them to have personal and professional agency in their lives. Synergies are critical for creating sustained value for merit of families of beneficiaries, as well as communities in which programs are run,” said Chetna Gala Sinha, Founder of Mann Deshi Foundation.

Set up in 1996 in Mann taluka, Maharashtra, Mann Deshi Foundation runs a Women’s Bank and an NGO that works closely with women micro-entrepreneurs, as well as small and marginal farmers. It runs a dozen Business Schools for Rural Women, the first Chambers of Commerce for Rural Micro Entrepreneurs, a Community Radio, a Water Conservation programme and a Sports programme. To date, its programmes have supported over 400,000 women and it has built 10 check dams that have impacted over 50,000 people.

The festival was also attended by Amruta Fadnavis, wife of Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Ashutosh Gowariker, Director and Sonali Kulkarni, Actress.

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8% Increase In Corporate Spending On CSR

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The CSR Journal

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January 12, 2018

Corporates have spent Rs.70.5 bn, an increase of 8% compared to the previous year on CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiatives. This puts the CSR spend at 98% of the prescribed spend – based on the Act, The S&P BSE 100 companies were required to spend Rs.72.0 bn on CSR, according to a recent report released by IiAS, a proxy advisory firm.

The report says companies spent 1.9% of their three-year average profits, PSUs met the 2% target spend. However, the actual spend at Rs.20.6 bn this year was lower by 13.8% following a 26% decline in their three-year average profits. The private sector spent Rs.47.3 bn, at an average of 1.8%.

Over 30% of the aggregate FY17 spend was made towards education projects while another 30% was spent on rural development and healthcare projects. Addressing hunger, poverty and malnutrition, and environment sustainability related projects are gaining new grounds as there seems to be substantial increase in CSR spend in these areas, said the report.

Ticking the CSR box’ has come down. This is reflected in the contributions to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, and technology incubators have declined by 89% this year.

A lacuna till now has been disclosures on impact assessment. This is changing. During the current year, 81 of the 100 companies disclosed they have undertaken an impact assessment, up from 59 companies in FY16

The Companies Act 2013 expects businesses to spend 2% of their three-year average profits on social initiatives. Even before the Act was put in place companies recognised they need to think about more than just profits – and did so. But since CSR has become mandatory, companies have embraced social causes with a fervour. They now apply the same rigour to causes as diverse – as hunger, poverty, healthcare, education, environmental sustainability, and rural development, as they bring to their business.

(Economic Times)

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The Conversation On Menstrual Hygiene Is Never Over

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Neha Bilandani

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January 11, 2018

In a country where a majority of female population is devoid of basic facilities to maintain menstrual hygiene and it’s still considered a taboo, disease, sin, curse or a secret by larger portion of the society.

A group of students from Gwalior have launched a campaign by writing messages on sanitary napkins to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to eliminate 12% Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the product and make it free of cost.

The students launched the campaign to create awareness towards harassment faced by women and to put efforts on their empowerment. They said that when 1000 such napkins with messages are collected then they will be sent to the Prime Minister. The campaign was started on January 4.

The students believe that it is not only the need of women belonging to Gwalior, but the entire nation is in need of this move and Prime Minister Modi is the only leader who can reduce the cost by removing the GST from it or make it available for free.

In the remote areas of the country, women use traditional means only but because of that, they suffer from various communicable diseases. Sanitary napkins have been placed under 12% GST.

Pune based Spherule Foundation in a first of its initiative has started an awareness program on menstrual hygiene in schools, colleges, orphanages, slums, villages and communities across the length and breadth of this country.

Girls in the society mostly hear negative and outdated information riddled with myths about menstruation from their taboo, disease, sin, curse or a secret family, friends and relatives. They aren’t aware that menstruation is a biological and natural process. Resulting in them believing myths and practice restricting customs imposed upon them.

“We came up with the idea of writing a kids and teenager friendly book called ‘Moon Time’ which will create awareness amongst young girls who are just keeping their steps in puberty or already reached to that age about all the facts they should know about periods & menstrual hygiene”, said Dr.Geeta Bora, Spherule Foundation.

According to a recent survey conducted by AC Nielsen and Plan India revealed that nearly 70% of women cannot afford sanitary napkins and over 88% of women choose shocking alternatives such as cloth, ashes and husk sand during menstruation, thereby causing severe reproductive health problems. . It is high time we speak openly about menstruation in India. We truly need to quash its taboos one at a time.

(With inputs from Business Standard)

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Building Sustainable Value Chains

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Neha Bilandani

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January 10, 2018

According to a Bain & Company study, companies employing sophisticated supply chain methods enjoy 12x greater profit than companies with unstructured methods. Some of the largest companies in the world understand that having an attitude of sustainability extend beyond the enterprise to the supply chain makes business sense. From a sustainability perspective, it is imperative that companies implement processes to assess the risk and opportunities in the entire supply chain. Companies need to formulate structures to evaluate and audit their suppliers, engage their supplier eco system in training and awareness programmes to build sustainable practices, and use technology to continuously assess their supplier’s sustainability and performance.

These issues, as well as other pertaining to building sustainable value chains, were tabled and discussed at Treeni Sustainability Solutions’ Fifth Edition of ‘Sustainability for Breakfast (S4B)’. This S4B was done in association with Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC).

Speaking on this occasion, Ankush Patel, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Treeni Sustainability Solutions, said, “Extending the attitude of sustainability beyond the enterprise into the supply chain is an important part of building strong value chains. Some of the most well know practitioners of sustainability around the world have put in processes and practices that include the supply chain in their evaluation of sustainability performance, they share best practices and ensure that their suppliers and vendors are also recognised for sustainability performance. In high growth, rapidly developing markets like India, it is critical for large organisation to set an example by focusing on building sustainable value chains. Technology to help monitor, measure and manage a sustainable value chain becomes critical in getting this right. ”

Suresh Kotla, Director (Sustainable Manufacturing), Institute for Sustainable Communities added, “We have been working with various global organizations to help them implement sustainable processes for building great supply chains. Large business houses will have to play a major role going ahead to mitigate the risk and to achieve sustainability in the supply chain.”

We need to discuss, understand and defining the impact of supply chain, learning from the experiences of enterprises that have been focusing on supply chain sustainability, and understanding the role of technology to achieve the same.

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Clean Toilets To Be Seen At PSBs

By

Neha Bilandani

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January 9, 2018

According to the reports by WaterAid, India, the world’s second-largest country by population, is once again at the top with the highest number of people without basic sanitation. In India, 56% of the population including a staggering 355 million women and girls are still waiting for a toilet making them the most vulnerable. According to a study by the researchers of University of Michigan, “Lack of sanitation facilities is linked to higher rape incidents in India.”

The Narendra Modi government had initiated a campaign towards cleanliness. Under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan campaign which was initiated in accordance with the 145th birth anniversary of Mahathma Gandhi, there has been progress made in improving access to sanitation. 52 million household toilets have been built between October 2014 and November 2017 which has allowed India to be among the 10 nations in reducing open defecation and improving access to basic sanitation. But there is still a long way to go.

It is said that Bollywood celebrities play significant influencers today. The government of India hence partnered with several celebrities for this mission with an aim to achieve an Open-Defecation Free (ODF) India by 2 October 2019. The celebrities who have supported the cause include Amitabh Bachchan, Anushka Sharma, Shilpa Shetty, Virat Kohli, Priyanka Chopra, Sachin Tendulkar and Salman Khan. While some of these celebrities featured in the ad campaigns for the cause, others were seen supporting the cause by picking a broom.

The UNICEF also through its Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan campaigns, features Bollywood actor Vidya Balan.

The finance ministry recently directed all public sector banks (PSBs) to provide customers access to clean toilets at branches and also dedicate CSR funds to give a boost to the Swachh Bharat Mission. The 21 PSBs have about 1.25 lakh branches across the country.

Besides, the ministry also asked six state-owned insurance companies to provide clean toilet facility to its customers at their branches. The central government has allocated over Rs 33,700 crore under the Swachh Bharat scheme since its launch in 2014.

India does not top the charts when it comes to cleanliness. As a matter of fact, we as a country have many times on global stage faced criticism for the lack of availability of proper sanitation facilities. Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, which went on to win the Oscars further highlighted the plight of our slums and brought the subject to the forefront. With the idea to create and promote awareness regarding the need for better sanitation facilities and clean India, each one of us need to make an increasing effort towards maintaining and monitoring cleanliness in our daily lives.

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Manodhairya Scheme: Maharashtra Government To Use CSR Funds To Compensate Victims

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The CSR Journal

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January 8, 2018

The Maharashtra government has decided to use funds collected as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to provide monetary relief to victims of rape, child sexual assault and acid attack under the Manodhairya scheme. The Women and Child Development (WCD) Department has issued a government resolution notifying the revised scheme, following changes suggested by a high court-appointed committee.

Officials from the WCD said that the State Legal Services Authority will open a designated Manodhairya Assistance Account, in which the government would deposit funds every year. The funds received as part of CSR contributions will be deposited in the designated bank account, an official said.

“There are several organisations that are ready to contribute for the rehabilitation of these victims. Some of them do not even want to disclose their identities. All these funds received through such CSR initiatives will be deposited in the designated account and will be used for its intended purpose,” said Vinita Singhal, secretary of the WCD department.

The department has also increased compensation to Rs 10 lakh in case a woman dies due to rape. Earlier, the compensation was Rs 2 lakh in case the rape of a working woman leads to her death. The sum was Rs 1 lakh for women who were not working.

Officials said that the scheme would have retrospective effect in terms of financial relief. The state or district legal services authority has been given powers to receive applications and disburse the amounts to the victims.

The authority will grant the benefits on receiving necessary documents from the victim, such as FIR report, preliminary medical report, and so on, an official said.

The official further said that an amount of Rs 30,000 would be disbursed to victims within seven days of receiving documents regarding their medical treatment. The authority would grant the rest of the amount withing 120 days after an in-depth inquiry.

“The victim is expected to support the statement recorded under CrPC Section 164 in court. The amount will be recovered from the victims if they have deliberately not supported the prosecution’s case, if the case led to acquittal or if the case turned out to be false,” added the official.

(Indian Express)

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Indian Ultimate Frisbee Team To Participate In The World U-24 Championships

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Neha Bilandani

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January 6, 2018

Move over cricket and hockey. India is now participating in the World Under 24 Ultimate Frisbee Championships to be held in Perth, Australia from 7th to 13th January, 2018. 41 countries will be participating in this prestigious event.

The Team India U24 Mixed squad, supported by BookASmile, the charity initiative of BookMyShow, comprises of 23 athletes (11 women and 12 men) of varied socio-economic backgrounds hailing from 6 different cities across India. These athletes were selected based on merit from a pool of 270 players from across the country by the Ultimate Players Association of India (UPAI) in two rigorous rounds of tryouts.

Preparing for these World Championships in the last five months, Team India has undergone four training camps and competed in a national tournament. This team will also be the first Indian Ultimate team to feature in the opening game of a World Championship: They will play against the hosts Australia on Sunday 7th January 2018 at 12:30 IST.

Farzana Cama Balpande, Head of BookASmile, says, “India is a land of abundant talent and we are happy to be partnering with organisations such as UPAI that are relentlessly working in unconventional spaces towards unearthing and nurturing such talent and their dreams and aspirations.”

Ultimate Frisbee is a team sport played by over 5 million players worldwide. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has granted its global governing body, the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) full recognition in 2015, and since, paved the way for introduction of the sport in the summer Olympics.

The sport has been played in India since 2008, attracting more than 9500 participants from over 15 states across the country. National tournaments are hosted almost every other moths through cities like Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Surat and Ahmedabad. Indian players have also competed in international competitions, and most recently performed spectacularly at the World Championships of Beach Ultimate (WCBU) in France, in July 2017 by finishing 5th, the highest our country has ever finished in this sport.

Played with a flying disc, Ultimate is a sport where men and women play on the same team. Additionally, it is self-refereed even at the highest level. This requires players to know and adhere to the rules of the game and to be accountable for their actions and decisions on the field. At tournaments the team with best sportsmanship is awarded the “Spirit of the Game” award, a respected accolade on par with winning the tournament.\

Team India has won this award numerous times at World Championships. The values of integrity, respect, equality and inclusion emphasised by the Spirit of the Game have made Ultimate an excellent sport to use as a tool for community building and character development. Over 20 organisations have channelled Ultimate to uplift marginalised youth in India.

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Taking The Place By A Silent Storm

By

Neha Bilandani

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January 5, 2018

Hearing loss affects a high percentage of society. It may be due to diseases effecting middle ear or inner ear, may be congenital, age related or due to noise exposure. Various social and economic losses incurred by such individuals, laws and programs to help such persons are made from time to time. They have rights and duties.

In India, 63 million people (6.3%) suffer from significant hearing loss. The National Sample Survey (NSS) 58th round (2002) surveyed disability in Indian households and found that hearing disability was 2nd most common cause of disability and top most cause of sensory deficit. In urban areas, loss was 9% of all disability and in rural areas, it was 10%. Depending upon the extent of a person inability to properly, the degree of hearing disability was ascertained it was estimated that the number of person with hearing disability per 100000 persons was 291; it was higher in rural (310) compared with urban regions (236).

As part of corporate social responsibility, one of the aims is to create a balance with profit, planet and people. Corporates provide a platform for the social upliftment of the society. Although not entirely CSR, a restaurant in Mumbai, Mirchi & Mime has employed 27 speech and hearing impaired individuals as waiters and waitresses. They have been supported by Dr.Reddy’s Foundation for the training program with the recruits. The restaurant is the brainchild of its owners, Prashant Issar and Anuj Shah, who took inspiration from Signs Restaurant in Toronto that has a similar service concept. “There were two values which we applied, wealth for society along with wealth for self. Integrity and communication is greater than capability and skill. This is important when we see the large gap between the server and customer; due to apprehensions of subservience.” says Prashant Issar while talking to The CSR Journal.

Initially people believed them to be too aspirational when they approached hearing schools. Most parents too had a problem. To create a level playing field, a tutor was hired and an intensive eight weeks training programme was designed. This allowed a common lexicon for the team and a base for future employees.

The first step began at a job fair exhibition where about 100 applications were received the next day. In turn, Mirchi & Mime has managed to open one restaurant in the first year, 5 in the second year and 15 in the third year. In order to provide financial independence, ESOPS have been offered along with appraisals and promotions for the employees. The sense of working at a place you own automatically increases the involvement and is just the right motivational boost. This personalisatioin has kept the attrition rate at 7% compared to an industry average at 60%-70%.

45% of India’s disabled population is illiterate, according to Census 2011, compared to 26% of all Indians. Of persons with disability who are educated, 59% complete Class X, compared to 67% of the general population. It has been 22 years after the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act was passed.

Inclusivity is a big talking point. Along with all the laws and provisions laid out for them, sensitizing the community is very crucial. Each one is gifted in their own way. Reducing the gap of discrimination and being patient will witness the unexplained beauty of the differently abled.

Among children with special needs, as many as 44% of children with more than one disability are out of school, and children with mental (36%) and speech (35%) disabilities are more likely to be out of school than those with other kinds of disability.

Pampered a little more by parents, they are overtly sensitive and emotional behind the scenes. They love junk food, cakes, pizzas just like you and me. But in order to maintain decorum during services, a regular Friday meeting is held, to resolve any internal behaviour issues, groupism, etc. Prashant Issar, Co-owner says, “We were taking a new product into an exisiting market. But Mirchi & Mime became a growing venture and is running on its own. Social enterprises can be a business if the integrity of purpose is sustained through the life of the business. It is important to bring to the forefront how the other half live.”

A higher percentage of children with hearing disability, orthopaedic/locomotive disability and visual disability go to school, with only 20%-30% failing to do so, according to a 2014 United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation report.

Conserving water in the rest rooms to be social responsible

A visit to the place made me realise that emotional passion in the differently- abled employees, is truly visible in their passionate way of serving and patience with the customers while interacting. An intrinsic feeling of satisfaction is contagious and in all honestly is welcomed during the course of the meal. The feeling dwells on you and it evolves, hoping that more restaurants and business corporations will open up and provide these specially-abled individuals an opportunity to work the same way as any other ordinary person in this world.

Thank you for reading the story until the very end. We appreciate the time you have given us. In addition, your thoughts and inputs will genuinely make a difference to us. Please do drop in a line and help us do better.
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