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June 7, 2025
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Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd. joins hands with Maharashtra Govt for Social Impact Initiative in Livestock Care

By
The CSR Journal
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Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd, (BFIL) a 100% subsidiary of IndusInd Bank, has signed an MoU with The Animal Husbandry Department (AHD) of the Maharashtra Government to begin its Social Impact Initiative “Bharat Sanjeevani” at 31 districts in the state.
The collaboration titled “Mahapashudhan Sanjeevani” under “Mukhyamantri Pashu Swasthya Yojana” will enhance the doorstep delivery of livestock care, making all veterinary services available for farmers at just a phone call away. The toll-free 1962 will be operational from early next year.
The joint CSR initiative ensures that livestock is provided quality treatment in a time-bound manner, and the farmer is saved of additional expenses like traveling to the point of care and availing quality medicines. The toll-free number 1962 will be operational from January 2021.
The MoU was signed in the presence of Sunil Kedar, Minister Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development, Sports and Youth Welfare and Anoop kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary ADF & other top officials from IndusInd Bank and AHD. The signing of MoU took place by Sachindra Pratap Singh, Commissioner AHD and Shri Srinivas Reddy Vudumula, Chief People Officer- BFIL.
“The Maha Pashudhan Sanjeevani project under the Mukhyamantri Pashu Swasthya Yojana will help the farmers immensely and livestock care is an essential part of every rural household. Proper Care on time can bring a lot of benefit to the farmers and enhance their livelihood. We are happy that IndusInd Bank has come forward with their CSR initiative to support livestock farmers and I hope the services reach every household of the state,” said Shri Sunil Kedar, Minister Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development, Sports and Youth Welfare.
The doorstep veterinary services will have curative treatment, vaccination, artificial insemination, preventive care and all animal husbandry related information. In the CSR initiative, the field veterinary services of the Department will be deployed through an integrated telemedicine and service management platform developed by BFIL.
“We thank the IndusInd Bank and Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd for their CSR support in bringing a dynamic platform for providing veterinary services to small dairy farmers and people into animal rearing at their doorstep services. Their telemedicine and technology contribution will help in reducing the turnaround time of services and arrest outbreaks to an extent. The collaboration will be beneficial to ensure the farmer with veterinary services in a holistic manner,” said Anoop kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary ADF
The first phase of the CSR initiative will serve farmers at 81 Talukas located in 31 districts of Maharashtra. The centralized emergency response Centre at Commissionerate of Animal Husbandry, Maharashtra State, Pune will be synergized with 81 Mobile Veterinary Clinic vehicles. The 31 districts include Thane, Palghar, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Nashik, Dhule, Aurangabad, Parbhani, Beed, Latur, Nagpur, Bhandara.
“The Mukhymantri Pashu Swasthya Yojana is a very farmer-friendly initiative towards empowering their livelihood and we are very delighted to put a united effort with the Maharashtra Government in this direction. Our collaboration for Maha Pashudhan Sanjeevani will enhance the lives of many farmers from rural remote areas by providing them convenient and quality care for their livestock, at their doorstep. We are proud to be associated with the Maha Government and are eager to launch the services soon,” said Shalabh Saxena, MD & CEO, Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd.
The Company also runs the project in all districts of Madhya Pradesh along with the Madhya Pradesh government and at 11 districts of Jharkhand. Bharat Sanjeevani has been awarded the “National CSR award for CSR in Challenging Circumstances (East)” for 2019 by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (Govt. of India). The project which is operational since 2016 has served 14 lac farmers and treated 13.1 lac livestock, ensuring the farmers do not incur losses on account of mortality and morbidity.
The uniqueness of the initiative lies in its’ ability to connect the doctor and the farmer through a mobile app, which also tracks the efficiency of service delivery, medicines prescribed, and livestock diseases related data in one platform. The one-of-its kind telemedicine platform developed by BFIL ensures that the farmer avails quality treatment at the doorstep in a time-bound manner. Apart from veterinary services farmers are also given guidance on nutrition care for their livestock.

Hindware launches CSR sanitation campaign ‘Build A Toilet, Build Her Future’

By
The CSR Journal
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On World Toilet Day, bathware brand Hindware launched Build A Toilet, Build Her Future campaign, reiterating its commitment to promoting good health and hygiene.

Introduced under the aegis of Hindware’s year-round initiative – Hygiene that Empowers, the CSR campaign focuses on encouraging the girl child to continue schooling by providing access to adequate sanitation infrastructure at schools.

Aimed at addressing the pressing issue of nearly 20 million yearly dropouts by girl students due to lack of proper and private sanitation facilities within the school premises, the campaign is undertaken in a phased manner with a long term vision to be extended to the national level.
In the first phase, Hindware has adopted schools across 8 villages in Haryana. The company will provide infrastructure and maintenance of toilets.
In a bid to create awareness, Hindware has also launched a 360-degree integrated marketing campaign across multiple channels. With the help of a digital film and use of radio, print media and other mediums to sensitize and encourage people to spread the message and take part in this cause. The film was released on World Toilet Day – November 19th, 2020.
Sandip Somany, Chairman & Managing Director, Brilloca Ltd. said, “Sanitation is central to environmental health as well as to individual health, growth and development. In developing countries like India where lack of access to private and proper sanitization facilities is recorded as one of the top barriers to girls’ education, it is imperative that we work towards providing a conducive environment that encourages continued schooling. Integrating the need of the hour with the nature of our business, we have launched this initiative.”
Being industry thought leaders invested in the design fraternity, the company in its bid to create awareness amongst this set of stakeholders, will host a virtual programme Design Her Future. Spanning over three weeks, it will invite entries for sustainable toilet designs from young architects across India. The designs will be judged basis ease of installation and maintenance by an esteemed panel and the winning toilet models will be used across the adopted schools under this CSR initiative.
Shashvat Somany, Vice President – Strategy, HSIL said: “As the leader in the bathroom space in India, we felt that we had a responsibility to use our expertise to help spread awareness for this issue and thereby help empower girls across our nation. We have partnered with MA My Anchor, a non-profit organization committed to the welfare of the underprivileged that has been working relentlessly to create awareness and promote girl child education.”
Disclaimer: This media release is auto-generated. The CSR Journal is not responsible for the content

Global Sustainability Report: Volkswagen Group Aims to go Carbon Neutral by 2050

By
The CSR Journal
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The Volkswagen Group is one of the leading multi-brand groups in the automotive industry. It develops vehicles and components for the Group’s brands, and also produces and sells vehicles – in particular passenger cars and light commercial vehicles – under the Volkswagen Passenger Cars and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brands.
The Volkswagen Group was the first automotive manufacturer globally to commit to the Paris Agreement. It is taking responsibility and contributing to keeping global warming below two degrees Celsius with the reference year of 2050. To achieve this, it has launched the industry’s largest decarbonization offensive. The company intends for the entire Volkswagen Group to be carbon neutral by 2050.
Volkswagen Group aims to reduce its passenger car fleet’s total life-cycle carbon footprint by 30% by 2025. The target is to halve the plants’ global CO2 emissions. In addition, the company is investing in new business models in order to fuel the penetration of electric vehicles.
The Volkswagen Group is comprehensively driving the change. This is also underlined by its new rating system in procurement which commits suppliers to clean production processes and to respecting human and codetermination rights.

1. Decarbonization – On The Path To Becoming Carbon Neutral

Climate change is one of humanity’s key challenges. The speed of global warming has rapidly increased in the last three decades. Stopping it is an obligation for us all. Society accuses politicians and businesses, including the Volkswagen Group, of lacking the willingness to act on climate protection issues. The global Fridays for Future movement constantly repeat this criticism – and emphatically so. The major public response shows that the attitude and demands of the movement are supported by large sections of the population.
The Volkswagen group is actively taking action towards this because it wants to go from part of the problem to part of the solution. That is why the group has launched a comprehensive decarbonization program and seeks to use it to contribute to achieving the two-degree target in the Paris Agreement or even to come in significantly below this target – if possible. The entire Volkswagen Group wants to be a carbon-neutral organization by 2050 at the latest. That extends from the fleet through production to administration. For this, the group is going far beyond legal and political requirements and are taking on a pioneering role in the industry.
The key is the consistent electrification of the group’s vehicle fleet, opening up the way to sustainable, emission-free mobility for its customers. The group plans to invest around €33 billion by 2024. However, electric mobility only makes a contribution to climate change when the carbon footprint over the entire life cycle is optimized. That is why the group particularly has an eye on the supply chain, manufacture and supplying the vehicles with green electricity in its decarbonization program.

1.1 Making Decarbonization Measurable

The company supports its decarbonization program with concrete, verifiable targets and measures. It is based on three key principles, which at the same time represent a set of priorities: the top priority measures with which CO2 emissions can be avoided or reduced. In second place come measures with which we can shift the energy supply in the entire value chain to less CO2-intensive energy and/or renewable energy. Finally, the company offsets unavoidable CO2 emissions through climate protection projects that meet the highest international standards.
The decarbonization index (DCI) of the group is an informative measurement tool that makes our progress and intermediate results in this area public and verifiable. The DCI is calculated based on the CO2 emissions of the major brands that manufacture passenger cars and of light commercial vehicles of Europe (EU-28, Norway and Iceland), China and USA regions over the entire life cycle. By 2025, it should fall by 30% compared to the baseline of 2015. The DCI value was 43.0 t CO2e/vehicle in the reporting year. In 2019, all production locations, as well as the brands and regions, created decarbonization roadmaps, which were incorporated into a Group decarbonization roadmap.

1.2 Battery Manufacturing Challenge

The Volkswagen Group is tackling the challenge of higher CO2 emissions than initially arise in the supply chain during the transition to electric mobility. The CO2 emissions in manufacturing an electric vehicle are – from raw material extraction to handover to the customer – roughly twice as high as with a vehicle with a combustion engine. This is because of the difficulty of raw material extraction and the energy-intensive processes in manufacturing batteries. In particular, drying the raw materials, which are applied to a carrier film in liquid form, causes energy consumption to rocket. However, the company is increasing efficiency in big steps here: the first ID. model will already emit around 50% less CO2 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of battery capacity than the current e-Golf – as a result of improved battery technologies and the manufacture of the battery with green electricity. All battery suppliers are contractually obliged to use certified green electricity in their production. Suppliers must provide proof of this before the award of the contract. CO2 emissions in battery manufacturing are thus falling significantly.

1.3 Saving CO2 By Recycling

The group believes that used batteries from electric vehicles should not be treated as hazardous waste, instead they can serve as a valuable source of raw materials and contribute to the reduction of emissions. Batteries that are fundamentally still intact, but no longer provide full power for use in electric cars can be used as energy storage units in charging stations. Completely dead batteries need to be recycled. To this end, Volkswagen Group Components in Salzgitter is setting up a pilot facility for battery recycling. From 2020 onward, up to 3,000 batteries per year can be recycled in it. For example, a new raw material (black powder) can be extracted for the cathodes of new batteries. This results in CO2 saving potential of up to 25%. In the long term, we want to expand this and further improve recovery.

1.4 Offsetting Unavoidable CO2 Emissions

By reducing CO2 emissions and offsetting unavoidable emissions, the group wants to ensure that the ID.3 has a carbon-neutral footprint when handed over to the customer. The company offsets unavoidable CO2 emissions through climate protection projects with the highest certification standards, such as the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), the Climate Community and Biodiversity Standards (CCB) or the Gold Standard. For the quality assurance of offsetting projects, it has developed a comprehensive scoring model and rate the projects with regard to compliance with standards, credibility, site selection, project size and the contribution to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

2. Social Development Projects

As a good corporate citizen, the Volkswagen group strives to be a constant economic driver, contributing to local structural development and equal opportunities. The main focus of the group’s corporate social engagement activities is on supporting local development, educational and community projects at many of its sites around the world. In 2019, the brands and companies supported more than 520 projects and initiatives on a global scale. In the reporting period, Volkswagen AG made donations amounting to €33.6 million.

3. Volkswagen pro Ehrenamt program

The topic of corporate volunteering is particularly important to the group in the context of employees’ broad involvement in running the business. An important component of volunteering in Volkswagen AG is the Volkswagen pro Ehrenamt program. The aim is to raise more awareness of voluntary activities and to support and encourage them. This is why Volkswagen sees Pro Ehrenamt as a hub between people who want to get involved and those who have voluntary work to offer. The program is aimed at all Volkswagen employees and their partners at our sites and at former employees in early retirement or retirement.
The Volkswagen workforce has taken on social responsibility for people in need for decades: Volkswagen AG’s employees donated more than €760,000 in 2019. Employees and the Group support disadvantaged people at the Volkswagen AG locations through these workforce donations. Support is given to specific projects, which, for example, improve the situation of people whose quality of life has been affected by illness, disability, or other circumstances. Likewise, the Group’s employees, led by the Group Works Council, have supported the international children’s relief organization terre des hommes for 20 years. In 2019, the amount donated was more than €1.2 million.
At the Volkswagen Group’s production locations in Argentina, Brazil, India, Mexico, South Africa, Thailand and Germany, a wide variety of projects for disadvantaged boys and girls are funded from the donations. They are given protection, support, the opportunity for education and career prospects. Employees do not just get involved as part of special campaigns, such as the Audi workforce fundraising for earthquake victims in Mexico. For years, many employees have also been donating the cents shown after the decimal point in their payslips.

4. Integration Support For Refugees

The Volkswagen Group’s refugee aid program also created a large number of site-specific options for refugees in cooperation with the people responsible for sustainability of the Group brands in 2019. There were three areas of focus here: meeting, education and professional integration. Regular opportunities to meet other people, such as “Kitchen Stories” or “Kicking About and Cooking” have encouraged communication between our employees and refugees and dismantled reservations.
In the field of education, the grpup’s focus was on acquiring language skills, developing expertise and obtaining primary qualifications, because these skills form the basis for career prospects for refugees in Germany. It offered language courses lasting a number of months, supported integration and employability courses and, together with our cooperation partner for student support, Kiron, brought together refugee students and Volkswagen employees in intercultural workshops. It has implemented career guidance and skills assessment measures at various Group sites. Its entry-level vocational qualification options, which combine theoretical and practical preparation for a career and an intensive language course and thus prepare refugees for an apprenticeship in Germany, were just as successful. Apprenticeship options for refugees rounded off the offering.
In addition to the Group-wide involvement of the Audi, Porsche, MAN, Volkswagen Financial Services, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Volkswagen Passenger Cars brands, many employees of the Volkswagen Group do voluntary work for refugees. Supporting them in this is also the Volkswagen Group’s refugee aid program’s task. From 2015 until the end of 2019, the group reached more than 5,000 refugees through such projects.

5. Supporting Social Business

The Volkswagen Group supported the Global Social Business Summit again in November 2019. In Berlin, 550 representatives from business, the academic world, politics and society discussed business models that pursue social and environmental objectives and are at the same time economic. The participants came from 54 countries. The Volkswagen Group supported the annual conference with Nobel Peace Prize winner, Prof. Muhammad Yunus, for the fourth time. At the event, international social business players presented their ideas for a more sustainable and more social world in various workshops and worked on their own possible social business projects with the Volkswagen Group.

6. Connecting Digitalization And Social Engagement

The Volkswagen Group also increasingly uses the potential of digitalization in its social engagement. One example is the xStarters program, which focuses on the digital education of young people. In creative workshops with design thinking elements, young people between the ages of 14 and 19 learn digital and non-digital skills for the future around finding ideas, prototyping or robotics in and outside of schools. Slightly more than 100 workshops have been held since 2018 and approximately 2,400 school students have been reached. Volkswagen Group employees are also involved in the xStarters program, working as volunteers to contribute their know-how and support the young people.
Disclaimer: The contents of this report are excerpts of the Volkswagen 2019 Global Sustainability Report.

Top mother and child health CSR programmes

By
Kasmin Fernandes
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Improving the health of mothers, babies and young children is among the most important public health goals. Mother and child health determines the well-being of the next generation and can help predict future public health challenges for families, communities, and the health care system.

Top initiatives for mother and child health

Here are some of the most successful CSR-funded programmes for mother and child health in India.

Ultratech Cement

This Aditya Birla Group company extends mother and child healthcare facilities for antenatal and post-natal care, mass immunisation, nutrition and escort services for institutional delivery. In collaboration with the District Health Department, Ultratech Cement’s mother and child healthcare project served 13,122 women this year. Over 1,24,439 children were immunised against polio, BCG, DPT and Hepatitis-B across the Company’s Units. The intensive motivational drive towards responsible family raising led to 1,473 villagers going in for planned families across 16 locations this year.

Tata Steel MANSI

Tata Steel’s flagship health programme Maternal and Newborn Survival Initiative (MANSI) has won multiple awards – including a special honour at the National CSR Awards 2019 – for its impact in reducing neonatal and infant mortality. MANSI works on a public-private partnership mode which focuses on building capacity of existing government voluntary health workers (Accredited Social Health Activists-ASHAs, known as Sahiyas in Jharkhand).
Low literacy levels of Sahiyas was a constraint in many cases. Tata Steel MANSI overcame this through classroom sessions where Sahiyas are provided training, using largely visual or pictorial aids, on parameters which would address the root causes and underlying reasons for neonate (newborn of 0-28 days) and infant (child up to 1 year of age) mortality. The CSR project for mother and child health was scaled up—from 167 pilot villages to 1,686 villages of Jharkhand and Odisha. It now covers a massive 2.2 lakh households in 12 blocks across Jharkhand and Odisha.

Nestle India Project Jagriti

Nestle India launched Project Jagriti in partnership with MAMTA (Mamta Health Institute for Mother and Child), a nonprofit organisation. The CSR programme focuses on creating peer-mentor support groups for counselling on healthy nutrition for pregnant and lactating women, encouraging the early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, improving breastfeeding practices and encouraging the uptake of public health services.
From 2016 to 2018, the programme ran across 15 districts of Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Chandigarh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi, reaching out to 4.6 million beneficiaries; 1.5 million of whom were directly impacted.

RB

In the last decade, RB (formerly Reckitt Benckiser) has reached out to millions of children and mothers to raise awareness around hygiene and sanitation. However, in India where 53% of the population does not have access to a toilet, there is an increased need in the intensity of CSR initiatives for mother and child health.
‘Dettol Banega Swachh India’ is a 5-year CSR programme to address the rising need of hygiene and sanitation in India. Another flagship initiative that covers mother and child health is ‘Dettol Banega Swasth India’. RB has partnered with NGO Plan India amidst the raging spread of COVID-19. The partnership between the two organisations aims towards ensuring good health, proper hygiene and adequate nutrition for mother and child.
One Community Health Centre, two Nutrition Rehabilitation Centers, 42 Anganwadis were retrofitted with facilities to equip the public health system to serve the community better. Additionally, this collaboration will also distribute food and hygiene kits to the vulnerable migrant’s families of high risk pregnant women and malnourished children.

Dettol Young Mothers Programme

Another successful mother and child health initiative from the RB Group is the Dettol Young Mothers Programme. It works on a global scale with a variety of partners – from NGOs to paediatricians and governments in over 40 countries to reach new moms and to protect the health, not only their new arrival, but their whole family.
The aim of Dettol Young Mothers is to support new mums, and teach them how some small interventions can be hugely health-giving. This is incredibly important as every year almost 1 lakh children in India die under the age of five due to diarrhoea, a disease that can be prevented by the practice of good hygiene. The CSR programme has reached out to 2.4 million mothers in India since 2006 to spread the message of health and hygiene.

Vedanta Nand Ghar

Nand Ghar made its debut in 2015 with a vision to transform the lives of 8.5 crore children and 2 crore women across 13.7 lakh anganwadis. A dream project of Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal, Nand Ghar is a network of model anganwadis where the thrust is on inclusive development of children, women and local communities.
The CSR programme reached an important milestone earlier this year when it rolled out its 1500th centre in Varanasi. The project has been scaled up to seven states – Rajasthan, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh – and aims to touch the lives of 4 million community members while directly impacting around 2 lakh children and 1.8 lakh women on an annual basis.

सीएसआर से शिक्षा, स्वास्थ्य और कृषि पर करें फोकस – रांची DC 

By
Rahuldeo Sharma
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सामाजिक परोपकारी योजनाओं के लिए सरकारी फंड का रोना रोने वाली सरकार सीएसआर फंड से बड़े बदलाव की कोशिश में है। सीएसआर को लेकर एक बार फिर से झारखंड के रांची में उपायुक्त छवि रंजन ने समीक्षा बैठक की। उपायुक्त छवि रंजन की अध्यक्षता में सीएसआर अंतर्गत जिलास्तरीय बैठक आयोजित की गयी। इसमें CSR के तहत खर्च होने वाली राशि पर चर्चा हुई।

सीएसआर के जरिये जिला प्रशासन का इन चार सेक्टर्स पर फोकस ज्यादा

बैठक के दौरान DC ने कहा कि जिला प्रशासन का चार सेक्टर्स पर फोकस ज्यादा है, इनमें स्वास्थ्य, शिक्षा, कमाई और कृषि शामिल हैं। आंगनबाड़ी केंद्रों का आधुनिकीकरण, स्मार्ट क्लासेस, पीएससी/सीएचसी का अपग्रेडेशन, कृषि के क्षेत्र में सोलर क्षमता बढ़ाना, भंडार गृह का निर्माण आदि का कार्य कंपनियों के CSR फंड से किए जाने है।

सीएसआर (CSR) से रांची के विकास का खाका हुआ तैयार

बैठक में सबसे पहले चेंबर ऑफ़ काॅमर्स और संबंधित कॉर्पोरेट्स कंपनीज/इंडस्ट्री के प्रतिनिधियों को उप विकास आयुक्त रांची अनन्य मित्तल ने तैयार किये गये प्रोजेक्ट्स की जानकारी दी, जिसे विभिन्न कंपनियों के सीएसआर फंड के उपयोग से पूरा किया जा सकता है। कॉर्पोरेट्स कंपनीज के रेप्रेज़ेंटेटिव से बातचीत करते हुए उपायुक्त ने कहा कि इनमें से जो भी प्रोजेक्ट फ़ाइनेंशियल ईयर 2020-21 के लिए टेकअप कर सकते हैं, उसका ड्राफ्ट तैयार कर जिला प्रशासन को उपलब्ध करायें। ताकि जल्द ही प्रोजेक्ट्स को पूरा किया जा सके।
बैठक के दौरान उपायुक्त ने कहा कि कोरोना संक्रमण के बाद स्वास्थ्य, शिक्षा, कमाई और कृषि के क्षेत्र में आये गैप को जल्द से जल्द फुलफिल करने की जरुरत है। उन्होंने इसे लेकर कंपनी/इंडस्ट्री के प्रतिनिधियों को अपने सुझाव देने को कहा। उपायुक्त ने कहा कि दूसरे राज्यों और जिलों किये जा रहे ऐसे काम जो रांची में किये जा सकते है इससे संबंधित अपने सुझाव दें। डीसी ने कहा कि कंपनियों के सहयोग के लिए जिला प्रशासन की पूरी टीम 24 घंटे तत्पर है, हम हर तरह की मदद के लिए तैयार हैं।

सीएसआर समीक्षा बैठक में शामिल हुई ये कंपनियां

सीएसआर फंड के माध्यम से विकास कार्यों का बेहतर क्रियान्वयन को लेकर देश के तमाम कॉर्पोरेट्स इस बैठक में शामिल थे। इंडियन आयल कार्पोरेशन के डीजीएम प्रमोद रंजन के साथ साथ Central Coalfields Limited, Mecon Limited, NTPC Limited, HPCL, Power Grid, GAIL India, Sail Steel के रेप्रेज़ेंटेटिव शामिल हुए। सभी लोगों ने सीएसआर फंड का रांची में विकास कार्यों का बेहतर इस्तेमाल हो रहा है ये मानते हुए बताया कि कॉर्पोरेट्स कंपनीज भविष्य में भी जिला प्रशासन का सहयोग करती रहेगी।

Tata Steel announces Samvaad Fellowship 2020 results at finale of tribal conclave

By
The CSR Journal
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The Samvaad Fellowship provides critical gap funding and also works towards facilitating platforms at national and international levels for providing enhanced inputs to the fellows. This year, the Fellowships were awarded to:
1. Deepa Pawar from the Gadiya Lohar tribe for the project on Documentation of Traditional Art of Iron Weapons and Tool Making of the Gadiya Lohar.
2. Taukeer Alam from the Van Gujjar tribe for the project on Mari Birsa (Our Heritage), an Initiative to Conserve the Language of Van Gujjar.
3. Bibtha S from the Kadar tribe for the project on Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage of the Kadar Community.
4. Lalremruata Ngamlai from the Biate tribe for the project on Documentation of Biate Indigenous Sports and Exploring its Role in the Cultural Revival & Preservation of the Tribe.
5. Ariba Anar from the Sangtam tribe for the project on Revival of Folk Songs and Folklores of Sangtam Tribe.
6. K Bowang Kho from the Poumai Naga tribe for the project on Reclaim the Past and Empower the Present: Pouli (The Earthen Pot of Onaeme).
Samvaad, a pan-India tribal conclave organised by Tata Steel Foundation, concluded on November 20 ushering in an online format the brought together tribal communities from across the world. More than 3,000 people of 114 tribes from 23 states of India, 5 Union Territories and 17 countries including Sri Lanka, South Africa, Nepal, Kenya, Philippines, Thailand and Tanzania among others converged this year.
A musical evening by Samvaad’s musical collective, Rhythms of the Earth, took the viewers into a melodious journey. On the occasion, two compositions by ROTE created in collaboration with folk rock band Atript were also released.
During the conclave, experts and tribal leaders came together to recognize how traditional models of governance have worked during challenging times, to explore innovative ways of governance to bring communities together, and to understand sync between parallel governance systems in resolving crisis.
Screenings were held at 23 locations across eight states of India. These screening were specially facilitated in rural tribal hamlets to ensure that more and more people get an opportunity to join the conclave.
“We set out in this quest to ensure that dialogue continue despite the pressing times and also wanted that the people of Jamshedpur who look forward to the conclave does not miss out this year. We were finally able to continue the dialogue and experts and tribal leaders from very far-off places joined us. We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who have helped us in making this a success,” says Sourav Roy, Chief (Corporate Social Responsibility), Tata Steel.
The many offshoots of Samvaad such as tribal handicraft, tribal film screenings, tribal cuisine and the cultural performances from various tribes that contribute significantly to the essence of Samvaad brought the traditional practices and rich heritage to the common masses through its YouTube channel.
The Samvaad ecosystem has brought together more than 30,000 people from 117 tribes across 27 states of India and 18 countries in the last 6 years, and is also an event that the citizens of Jamshedpur keenly look forward every year. Samvaad encourages tribal communities to take the lead in initiating discourse on issues that govern their social sustenance and development.
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Ajeenkya D.Y. Patil University offers scholarship to children of Police Personnel

By
The CSR Journal
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At a time when the entire world is battling against the coronavirus pandemic, police personnel are working round the clock to keep us safe. In a bid to honour and salute the commitment of the frontline warriors, Ajeenkya D.Y. Patil University (ADYPU) has come up with a CSR initiative to offer a scholarship programme for the children of police personnel in Maharashtra.
ADYPU has signed MOU with several Police departments including Pune Rural Police, Solapur Police and Kolhapur Police and is in talks with many more.

The scholarship programme ‘Yashwant Dyanarthi Shishyavrutti’ in the name of the grandfather of Chairman of ADYPU Dr Ajeenkya DY Patil is exclusively for the ward of Police personnel. For every admission, Ajeenkya D.Y. Patil University will offer up to 50% scholarship to the ward/child of Police personnel. ADYPU is also committed to provide 100% scholarships to students who have scored more than 95% marks in their 12th.

Giving details about the scholarship programme, Hrridaysh Deshpande, Director Ajeenkya DY Patil University said that the entry to the scholarship programme is open and will be on till 30th November 2020. Students who will be enrolled as full time undergraduate or postgraduate programme students will be eligible and will have to fill an application form, provide police ID of their parents, and clear the norms of eligibility at ADYPU.
Scholarship slabs:
1. 95% and above – 100% Scholarship
2. 80% to 94% – 50% Scholarship
3. 60% to 79% – 30% Scholarship
4. 50% to 60% – 20% Scholarship
Hrridaysh Deshpande added that the total capacity for this year would be 100. The programme will benefit the students with quality education, global exposure in an environment of state of art infrastructure. Said Dr. Ajeenkya DY Patil, President & Chairman, Ajeenkya D.Y. Patil University, “The scholarship is an effort to express our gratitude and salute our brave police personnel for their valiant efforts. We are confident that this initiative coupled with best in- class learning anchored in research and innovation, driven by an outstanding faculty, supported by national and international academic partnerships. Concentration of holistic development of students will ensure a strong foundation for their bright future, Students interested in applying for scholarships may fill the form through website.”

Disclaimer: This media release is auto-generated. The CSR Journal is not responsible for the content

5 Indian organisations for youth skill development and capacity building

By
The CSR Journal
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India’s unemployment rate stands at 6.98% as per the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). Some of the reasons attributed to this are lack of access to quality tertiary education and a burgeoning gap in the acquisition of skills. Importance of skill training is considered to be one of the most valuable aspects for job creation in India; more than 60% of our population is in the under-25 age group.
As per current statistics, only 10% of fresh graduates are employable; the rest of the 90% lack skills required for being eligible to be hired by corporates. Catering to the demand-driven skill development in India, a few organizations are providing skill training sessions.

5 organisations for youth skill development

These five organizations in India are working towards youth skill development and help them become financially independent and secure a living.

1. Unnati

Unnati concentrates on youth empowerment for unemployed and economically backward students, helping them to get vocational training with a certification of 100% job guarantee. The social transformation training programme is spread over a period of 50 days, and has been specially designed for students between the age of 18-25, who belong to economically backward sections, and underprivileged backgrounds who often end up unemployed, as they are not well skilled.

2. PanIIT Alumni Foundation

PanIIT Alumni Foundation, the Nation Building arm of Pan IIT Alumni, works towards providing various skill development programmes to create opportunities for under-privileged youth of the country – the most affected group today, facing challenges to earn a living and become financially independent. PanIIT’s vocational skilling programmes aim to enhance the incomes and livelihoods of the underserved. Their short-term skill training models help these people to get placed in reputed blue-collar jobs.

3. Yuva

Yuva is an initiative by Delhi Police, which aims to connect with youth by upgrading their skills as per their competencies. Delhi Police has tied up with NSDC for providing mass jobs linked skill training for the selected youth. They work with young people in the 17-25 years age group under the category of school dropouts, juvenile offenders, victims of crimes and help them select the skillset according to their qualification and interest.

4. NABET India

Nabet is a social enterprise that loops in corporates, who in turn offer industry level training and subsequent employment to the folks falling under the differently-abled strata. Their focus is on the booming IT and telecommunication sector where they can train and employ visually impaired people.

5. bmSAY Foundation

Founded by a husband wife duo, bmSAY foundation is enabling underprivileged youth to obtain jobs through academic and skill development programmes such as carpentry, plumbing, candle making and stitching. Along with the training bmSAY is also providing them with necessary resources to set up business as well. The organization believes in empowering people to be self-sustainable in the long run.

CSR Activities Increase with Increase in Competition: Study

By
Hency Thacker
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According to a new study, if there is more competition in the market among companies, they tend to spend even more on Corporate Social Responsibility.
A research paper authored by Prof. Ross Levine from the University of California, Berkeley – Haas School of Business, Wenzhi Ding and Chen Lin from the University of Hong Kong and Wensi Xie from the Chinese University of Hong Kong analysed 90 per cent of the world stock market capitalization and concluded that in the face of intensified competition, companies increase their CSR spending as a profitable strategy to build trust and goodwill among consumers.
The paper titled ‘Competition Laws, Ownership and Corporate Social Responsibility’ is the first study ever which aims to understand the behaviour of companies pertaining to their CSR activities in different scenarios.
“When I first started reading about corporate social responsibility, it was couched in terms of business leaders acting on good intentions, ethics, and morality. I was a bit sceptical,” said Levine, an expert on how regulations shape economies. “It’s possible they could have good intentions, but I wondered about that being the driving force behind big investments in strengthening connections with workers and customers and suppliers and communities.”
For the purpose of the study, Professor Levine and his co-authors used a dataset of competition laws across countries, including rules on mergers and acquisitions, to create an index of which countries are more or less favourable to competition. They combined that with data from Thomson Reuters on CSR activities related to worker safety and benefits, treatment of customers and suppliers, and environmental protections. The sample included about 14,000 firms in 47 countries from 2002 to 2015.
The expected outcome was that of reduced CSR spending in an intensely competitive environment as for-profit companies would want to cut down on their costs to book more profits. However, through comprehensive research, they observed a pattern across the globe of a higher level of CSR activities associated with increased competition among companies.
According to the report, the reason behind such increased spending was attributed to benefit the stakeholders. It states that, as firms cannot write and enforce formal contracts for every little activity it conducts, it has to rely on several ‘implicit’ agreements. In order to secure such agreements, the companies need their stakeholders to place trust on them and their actions. Therefore they engage in CSR activities to display their trustworthiness to its stakeholders.
The study also noted that the relationship between competition and CSR is even stronger in countries where those socially responsible activities are more highly valued. To measure this, the authors constructed a country-specific measure of how much citizens value things like workers’ rights or the environment, which they call their social norms index. Through such analysis, it was found that the relationship between CSR and competition was twice as strong in countries that were in the top half of the index.

Sports as a Development Tool for People with Intellectual Disabilities

By
Special Olympics Bharat
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By Mukta Narain Thind,

National Director, Organizational Development, Special Olympics Bharat

Whether we talk about Sustainable Development Goals or the new National Education Policy 2020 merged with principles of Inclusion through Education, the importance of Sports and Health going hand-in-hand is the key. Sports for people with Intellectual and Developmental Disability (IDD) is an important component for their overall development. People with IDD face many associated issues such as limited communication skills, inability to walk, balance etc.

CSR Support for People with Intellectual Disabilities

CSR support is important to create impact on the affected population through a skilled workforce in sports, health and education. People with Intellectual Disabilities have always been a hidden population, where parents or families do not wish to bring them out due to stigma. Sports CSR programmes designed for them will bring them out of their homes; they build their fitness, confidence, dignity, and respect. Even though the number of medals won by special athletes at various international events is the highest ever in Indian history, enough interest has not been generated since we do not wish to accept the segment as they are.

Government interest

The government has been stressing on the need for Inclusive Development through Swachh Bharat, Fit India and Skilled India. The segment requires more focussed individual development plans with awareness amongst parents to participate in these programmes. It is an urgent need to work together with government and partners to create an inclusive society with dignity and respect for people with all abilities.
With an estimated 3% population been affected by some degree of IDD, each child or person requires a continuous development programme from basic skill development to sports-specific skills. Special Olympics Bharat, being the only recognized sports federation by the Government of India, has as many as 30 sports disciplines for people with intellectual disability ranging from summer to winter sports. It has been able to reach out to only 50% of the segment including children and adults with IDD over the last 20 years. Earlier the intervention better is the result.
A sports programme for children and adults with IDD is vital to improve their eye-to-hand coordination, fitness, and confidence. Mission Inclusion Bharat is one such programme, supported by Aruna Abhey Oswal Trust, which helps the segment lead a meaningful life with their families and community with respect and dignity. With a focus on providing opportunities to lead the local programmes of sports and health, people with IDD are encouraged to work in smaller groups.
Each skill is planned to improve their daily life skills such as walking, balance, cognitive and communication. The sports programmes also help in developing their fitness as well as confidence. Many sports activities are conducted as part of therapy. Even though every event is created to develop their skills, the competition is not easy. Each person is grouped according to their skill level.

Sports training and development

The nature of sports activities for people with IDD requires a strong grassroots programme, with an individual development plan for each person which ranges from skills to fitness to health needs. For this, it is important to work with special schools and institutions, and focus on building capacities of medical practitioners, coaches, special educators, teachers, parents, siblings, and caregivers. The most important component is trained human resource.
Training of health professionals is an important aspect. People with IDD have social and communication challenges; they are unable to provide adequate information to healthcare professionals. Programmes such as Special Care Dentistry enable students to work with medical and dental colleges and helps them understand the challenge better so they can provide better healthcare to the persons with disabilities. Similar interventions are required in other fields also to help children and adults with IDD live a life of dignity and acceptance.

Mukta Narain Thind - Special Olympics BharatThe author is National Director, Organizational Development, Special Olympics Bharat, the India Chapter of the Special Olympics International which is a global inclusion movement using sport, health, education and leadership programmes to end discrimination against and empower people with intellectual disabilities.

Views of the author are personal and do not necessarily represent the website’s views.

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