Tata Motors has released its Corporate Social Responsibility report 2019-20 which states that the automobile manufacturer’s total social investment in FY 2019-20 was ₹ 25.19 crore of which ₹ 22.91 crore were toward CSR Programmes & Projects, drinking water projects that are mainstreamed in CSR agenda and one-time investment towards disaster response. Over 8.3 lakh people benefitted from the company’s community programmes in the last financial year.
A sum of ₹ 22.91 crore was spent on the CSR programmes which are deployed in the project mode and are part of our Common Minimum Programmes (CMP) and Location Specific Programmes (LSP). In addition, a sum of ₹ 1.62 crore was dedicated towards Maharashtra Flood Response Programme. This sum was mobilised through voluntary contribution from the employees.
In line with the Tata Group’s vision of promoting community well-being, Tata Motors has actively implemented initiatives under its key thrust areas of Health (Aarogya), Education (Vidyadhanam), Employability (Kaushalya) and Environment (Vasundhara) and the Rural Development. The scope and the depth of the CSR programmes of the company have consistently increased and has positively touched 8.3 lakh lives in FY19-20, out of which nearly 41% belong to the SC and ST communities.
Guenter Butschek, CEO & MD, Tata Motors said, “As we enter the 75th year of Tata Motors, I share with immense pride that our collective CSR efforts over the last decade have made a positive difference to the lives of 5 million people across India. Our role has progressively grown from being just a resource provider to a facilitator and now an enabler for driving positive change.”
Snapshot of the company’s CSR initiatives across key pillars:
Building and Strengthening Healthcare Facilities ‘AROGYA’
In FY20, 3.9 lakh people benefitted from the health initiative ‘Aarogya’, which aims to curb malnutrition through facilitation of clean drinking water to remote communities and by provision of preventive/ curative health services. Over 74% of the acute undernourished children treated by Tata Motors are now in a healthy status. Water security ensured for around 21,666 individuals through company’s National Drinking Water Programme titled ‘Amrutdhara’.
The company has also laid down a strategy to contain the spread of COVID-19 and to assist those who have been impacted most by the lockdown. The company is achieving this by provision of essentials, equipping the heroes on frontline with protective gear and education masses on ways to prevent transmission. This direct assistance benefitted 1.5 lakh people including migrants, daily wage earners who lost livelihood, and those who were left stranded or forced to seek shelter in transit camps.
Augmenting Education System ‘VIDYADHANAM’
Over 1.5 lakh students were engaged through the education initiative ‘Vidyadhanam’, which focuses on improving the academic performance of secondary/college going students through targeted approach by instituting need-based financial support, special coaching classes, etc. These initiatives have led to an improvement in pass percentage from 55% in 2015 to 80% in FY20. More than 44% students scored above 60% in their 10th standard pre-board exams in FY20.
During the year, the company also collaborated with Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNVs), to coach over 400 students for JEE and NEET entrance exams. Tata Motors is the first corporate in India to support IIT Bombay under Affirmative Action (AA) for Financial Aid Programme (FAP).
Enhancing programmes on Employability ‘KAUSHALYA’
Over 1 lakh people were trained through under employability initiative ‘Kaushalya’, which focuses on training unemployed youth in three segments viz. auto trades, non-auto trades and agriculture & allied activities. 63% of the people have found employment (or are self-employed) resulting in an annual increase in family income by ₹1 lakh.
The company also engages with community-based groups of women and farmers and helps them earn supplementary income through agriculture and allied programmes.
Environmental programmes ‘VASUNDHARA’
Close to 1.2 lakh new saplings were planted across Tata Motors plant locations through and ensured their survival rate remained significantly high (i.e. 71%) despite prolonged rains last Monsoon. Through the environmental awareness programmes, over 91,000 people (mostly young children) were sensitised about this cause. The company also encourage communities to adopt alternate sources of energy.
Integrated Village Development
With a focus on the holistic development of a tribal village/hamlet, Tata Motor collaborated with Sahabhag (the CSR Cell of Government of Maharashtra) to run a pilot project that improved the quality of 3000 tribal lives of Pathardi gram panchayat in Jawhar block of Palghar district. 70% of the resources for village development came from the government.
Volunteering Programme
The Tata Motors Employee Volunteering Programme also saw a surge in volunteering hours with more employee participation and deeper engagement in various community welfare initiatives. More than 50% of the 28000 employees participated and invested over 1.1 lakh volunteering hours for social causes, a 67% increase over the previous year.
Two exceptional natural occurrences during the year necessitated extraordinary interventions. Ferocious floods in Maharashtra caused extensive damage to life and livelihoods, demanding a substantial relief effort to support the ones impacted. Tata Motors complimented Maharashtra State Government Flood Response Programme and provided aid to over 45,000 people.
During the year, the company received several prestigious accolades from a diverse set of stakeholders –
The Rajasthan government has approached the Supreme Court, challenging the validity of a circular by the Centre, excluding a special fund, created under the CM Relief Fund from receiving donations as corporate social responsibility, for the purpose of mitigating effects of COVID-19 pandemic.
It has reported that the State claimed the April 10 circular, allowing ‘PM Cares Fund’ and disallowing ‘CM’s Relief Fund’ to receive such contribution, was unconstitutional and went against the principle of cooperative federalism.
A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices M R Shah and A S Bopanna issued notice to the Union government, seeking its response on the original suit filed under Article 131 of the Constitution, related to a dispute among the states and between the State and the Centre.
In its plea, the Ashok Gehlot government submitted that it has created a special ‘Rajasthan CMRF COVID-19 Mitigation Fund’ on March 29 for countering the effects of the pandemic. However, on April 10, a circular issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs caused an apprehension that the said CMRF won’t qualify as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expenditure.
“In order to allay such apprehension and to declare and hold that CMRF shall fall within the CSR Funds, the present suit under Article 131 of the Constitution, is being preferred,” it said.
The ‘Rajasthan CMRF COVID-19 Mitigation Fund’ was created with the aim and objective to make available funds at grassroots levels for meeting the emergency situation to provide for laboratory testing, ventilators, protective equipment, masks, sanitisers, medical and non-medical essential equipment and medicines. Besides, it was to provide for rations, food packets, transportations, medicines and maintenance of person affected by the pandemic in Rajasthan.
However, the April 10 circular by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs stated that contribution made to ‘PM CARES Fund’ would qualify as the CSR expenditure while the donations received to ‘Chief Minister’s Relief Fund’ or ‘State Relief Fund for COVID-19’ would not qualify as such, it said.
“This is manifestly irrational and frustrates the main objective i.e. alleviation of COVID-19. It would not only be violative of equal protection of laws enshrined under Article 14 of the Constitution but also unjust and palpably arbitrary,” the petition filed by advocate Sandeep Kumar Jha said.
Gillette India has been a long-standing partner of the barber community. Gillette and barbers have a special bond as partners, and together they are a part of the essential fabric that grooms everyone, every day. In a world gripped by the pandemic, the impact on barbers has been profound as shutters stayed closed and the incomes are affected. The brand has launched the ‘Barber Suraksha Programme’ aimed at educating, protecting and providing resources to the barber community as they return to business.
To help #GroomTheirFuture, as part of the Barber Suraksha Programme, Gillette will provide an insurance cover of up to INR 1 lakh to barbers, educate them on safe operations via videos co-created with renowned hairstylist Aalim Hakim and provide them back-to-business support via specially curated product kits covering requirements for 2 months. To start with, Gillette will support 50,000 barbers across the country.
At a time when people are concerned about revisiting barber shops, Gillette will co-create education videos with Aalim Hakim on safety and hygiene measures, that will help barbers create a safe salon experience. These videos will cover concerns regarding maintaining social distancing while attending to clients, effective hand cleansing and tool disinfecting techniques among others. This will enable barbers to protect themselves and their customers.
Gillette will co-create education videos with renowned stylist Aalim Hakim on safety and hygiene measures, that will help barbers create a safe salon experience
Gillette has also curated a special product kit comprising a face shield, sanitizer and Gillette products covering their two-month supply of essential products. Given the nature of their work, the barber community is at a high risk of COVID-19. Keeping this in mind, Gillette India will provide 50,000 barbers with a special Health insurance cover of up to INR 1 lakh under its Gillette Barber Suraksha programme.
Karthik Srivatsan, Country Category Leader – Grooming Indian Sub-Continent at P&G said, “Gillette has been a proud partner of barbers across the country. The barber community is among those whose income have been severely impacted due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The nature of their work also puts them at a higher risk of infection. During these tough times, Gillette wants to stand in solidarity with the barber community as they reopen their business. Through Gillette’s ‘Barber Suraksha programme’ we want to provide the much-needed back-to-business support to barbers across the country through education, protection and health assistance resources. We hope we can help them in a small but meaningful way as they get back to business.”
As a part of the campaign, Gillette India has also launched a film supported by Brand Advocate Sachin Tendulkar that takes consumers through a nostalgic journey reminiscing the various instances they must have experienced at barbershops. Through the film, Gillette showcases the holistic support that is being given to barbers to enable them to get back to business.
Brand Advocate Sachin Tendulkar said, “While many have been affected by the lockdown, our barber friends are among those who have taken the maximum impact. Gillette Barber Suraksha is timely and needed right now. It’s heart-warming to be a part of it to make a positive difference to their lives and truly #GroomTheirFuture.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBun2MLgVPr/
As the community gears up to open shop once again, Gillette Barber Suraksha Programme comes as a relief to the community. Gillette is committed to be a partner and support the barbers in creating a safe in-salon experience that will help protect themselves and the consumer.
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Reckitt Benckiser (RB) recently announced a donation of 1 million litres of Lizol and Harpic to aid Indian states in fighting the COVID-19 crisis, especially in public health institutions and at the frontline.
RB has extended CSR support to North Delhi Municipal Corporation by donating 30,000 litres of Lizol and Harpic to help break the chain of this fast-spreading infection. The North Delhi Municipal Corporation has been actively disinfecting Containment Zones, COVID Care Centres and Hospitals, Quarantine Centres amongst other infected areas. Through this alliance, RB is looking at supporting the North Delhi Municipal Corporation by providing them with quality products to disinfect high-risk areas in the capital.
Narasimhan Eswar, Senior Vice President, Reckitt Benckiser Hygiene, South Asia said, “We wanted to extend our support to healthcare institutions and workers who are going the extra mile to keep our fellow Indians safe and that’s why we decided to donate our trusted brands Lizol and Harpic for disinfection. We are thankful that our partnership with North Delhi Municipal Corporation will empower these amazing institutions and frontline workers to help break the chain of infection and keep themselves and others safe.”
Ira Singhal, Deputy Commissioner, Remunerative Project Cell North Delhi Municipal Corporation, said, “We have partnered with Reckitt Benckiser to provide us with products that will help us in disinfecting areas to fight coronavirus. We thank them for this generous donation and are grateful that they were able to deliver the products so promptly.”
RB Hygiene has extended its support to the COVID-19 Control Room of the Maharashtra Government by donating 1,60,000 litres of Lizol and Harpic for disinfection. COVID-19 Control Room has been working relentlessly with the municipal corporations and the state government since the onset of the pandemic by disinfecting public areas including hospitals and public facilities in Covid-19 affected zones. Through this alliance with RB, they are looking at cleaning and disinfecting public and community toilets with Harpic and using Lizol to disinfect hospitals and public areas across Maharashtra.
Bhushan Gagrani, Incharge- CSR Cell, COVID-19 Control Room, Maharashtra said, “With the number of cases increasing daily, it is getting even more critical to clean and disinfect public areas and healthcare institutions at regular intervals. We are grateful to RB for extending support.”
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The PepsiCo Foundation has partnered with Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society (SEEDS), a nonprofit organization to run a relief intervention programme and deliver life-saving assistance to people worst affected by cyclone Amphan in West Bengal.
As part of the CSR partnership, SEEDS will provide 3,75,000 meals, 1000 hygiene kits and 80 water filters for safe water access to the community members in East Medinipur, Howrah, Kolkata, and South 24 Parganas districts of West Bengal. Based on SEEDS needs assessment of the Amphan-affected areas in West Bengal, vulnerable communities will be assisted with these emergency supplies.
The CSR initiative includes distribution of 3,75,000 meals to impacted communities along with a month’s supply of hygiene kits. Since people are also at a high risk of water-borne infections, PepsiCo Foundation through SEEDS will ensure access to clean drinking water by setting up 80 community filters. This will enable the availability of clean water for more than a year, benefitting over 8000 affected people.
On partnering with PepsiCo Foundation for the intervention programme, Dr. Manu Gupta, Co-Founder, SEEDS, said, “The effect of Cyclone Amphan has been devastating for communities located in the remote areas of the Sunderbans; the generous support from PepsiCo Foundation is helping us reach urgent humanitarian aid to these communities who would have otherwise been left behind.”
Ahmed ElSheikh, President, PepsiCo India said, “Cyclone Amphan has displaced thousands of families who are in dire need of food, safe drinking water and hygiene items. Our commitment is just a small effort to help those in need and support them in their journey of coming back to normalcy. We are delighted to partner with SEEDS, one of the leading NGOs front-ending the Amphan community relief work in West Bengal. We will continue giving our support to the communities in West Bengal during these challenging times.”
Additionally, PepsiCo Foundation recently announced a fresh infusion of $3 million to provide safe water access to agricultural communities and help women in high water-risk areas including West Bengal. This CSR programme aims to provide 200,000 farmers and their families access to piped water supply for household use, increased water resources, and will establish community-managed water distribution systems in these communities.
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When the World celebrates the 6th edition of International Yoga Day on June 21st 2020, the Mukul Madhav Foundation, the CSR arm of Finolex Industries, is proud of their contribution to popularising yoga not only amongst children from Mukul Madhav Vidyalaya but also children with Cerebral Palsy. It is even more pertinent at a time when this lockdown has made children nervous on coping with online education.
The Foundation runs the Mukul Madhav Vidyalaya at Golap in Ratnagiri district which primarily caters to children of local fishermen and farmers. Set up in 2010 and right from inception, it has given importance to yoga as a subject and Karate for the physical and mental well-being of the children. It has a total of 653 students.
The Foundation is also popularizing Yoga for children with Cerebral Palsy as a part of their Mission Cerebral Palsy since 2015 and during this lockdown, they have collaborated with a local television channel in Ratnagiri which broadcasts the basic physiotherapy session along with a 10-minute yoga session. This has received an encouraging response as children will not have to miss their sessions and it helps improve their quality of life.
Speaking on the significance of International Yoga Day, Mrs Ritu Chhabria, Managing Trustee at Mukul Madhav Foundation stated, “We realised that teaching yoga to children helps in their overall development, be it physical or mental. It improves concentration and they are free of ailments. Our work with children suffering from Cerebral Palsy assists them with their physiotherapy sessions which is a great boon for them during this lockdown.’’
The COVID 19 induced lockdown has also led to a suspension of classes and teaching has migrated to a virtual environment. However, this had an impact on the children for whom this was also a novel experience. Lessons in Yoga and the art of performing different asanas was taught by Adv Ruchi from the foundation.
This lockdown has brought into sharp focus on the role of mental health for the general wellbeing of young and old and the Mukul Madhav Foundation has worked tirelessly to cater to every section of society.
JSW Foundation, the social development arm of JSW Group, through its Ballari-based Jindal Sanjeevani Multi-Specialty Hospital has tied-up with six top Hospitals in Ballari district to provide in-patient healthcare facilities for Non-Covid-19 patients from the surrounding villages. This responsible move is aimed at ensuring continuity of medical care to regular and new patients of Jindal Sanjeevani Hospital following JSW Foundation’s pledge to convert Jindal Sanjeevani Hospital into Covid-19 Care Centre.
These tie-ups have been forged exclusively for the treatment of non-coronavirus patients covering community members residing in villages around the steel factory, JSW employees & their families as well as residents of JSW Townships. The list of hospitals under this tie-up includes:
1. B K S Murthy Hospital, Gandhi Nagar (For General Medicine & Surgery, Cardiology Pediatrics & Gynecology)
Jindal Sanjeevani Hospital will continue to operate its Causality & Dialysis sections while Outpatient services will be managed through the Health Centers located in all the four JSW Townships.
On a daily basis, Jindal Sanjeevani Hospital provides medical care to approximately 400 walk-in patients, approx. 70-75 in-patients and approx. 30 casualty or trauma patients. The current tie-up with these six hospitals, OPD services through four health centres in JSW Townships and casualty & trauma services at Jindal Sanjeevani is expected to benefit these patients.
This partnership arrangement with six local hospitals will last as long as Jindal Sanjeevani Hospital continues to serve as a COVID-19 Care Centre. A dedicated team has been appointed to ensure smooth admissions on priority for availing the inpatient care at these hospitals. This team will also assist in cashless hospitalization as well as Third Party Administration (TPA) related matters.
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COVID-19 lockdown in India caused a major disruption in the schedule of school-going children of the country. With new norms to be followed, the schools across the country were shut down resulting in compromised education status of young students of India. Considering the uncertainty regarding the duration of COVID-19 lockdown or social distancing norms, many schools across the country started taking online classes of students. However, many students were left bereft of this because of inaccessibility to the internet or smartphones.
Digital penetration in India has been very successful. But it has not been enough to ensure that every citizen is able to avail the benefits of the digital world. This has left many students at a disadvantaged position than their peers.
Kerala has been pioneering in the education sector. Keralites have time and again asserted that education is a major priority for them. The state has often gone out of its way to ensure that all of its have access to education irrespective of costs or circumstances. The state could not accept that 2.42 lakh of its students will not have access to online classes as they did not have access to the internet or smartphones.
In order to ensure education for all its students, the entire state of Kerala started a mass movement that included collaboration among government, businesses, alumni associations, MLAs, MPs and local civic bodies. This unprecedented intervention has helped reduce the number of students without access to online classes to 1.20 lakh. However, this was not enough for the Keralites.
To make the accessibility of education more inclusive, in some villages, WhatsApp groups and alumni associations donated money to buy TVs or smartphones. Furthermore, many local businessmen provided TV sets as part of a “TV challenge’’ launched by the state’s Industries Department to enable digital learning for students. In addition to this, with approval from the government MLAs used their local development fund to buy TVs and laptops for students. And the state’s local self-governing bodies stepped in to complete the chain.
Almost all villages in Kerala have at least one common centre, be it an Anganwadi, a reading room or a sports club. The availability of these spaces made it easier for the education department to set up a classroom. Teachers of government and aided private schools were placed in charge at these centres.
For instance, Wayanad had the largest number of students without individual access to online classes. Therefore, common study centres were set up for 9,200 children in the district.
The state has resumed the classes for the next academic year and is being telecast on the educational channel IT@School Victers channel.
Because of dedicated hard work by the stakeholders, the state of Kerala has set a precedent by ensuring in the duration of two weeks, that online classes reach every school student in the state.
Federal Bank handed over houses rebuilt for the benefit of flood-affected villages of Batswad and Rajapurwadi in Kolhapur (Maharashtra) to beneficiaries today. The Bank has rebuilt 80 houses under its CSR project for these villages.
Formal handing over of garbage pick-up vans, water ATMs and solar power system was also done today. Dr. Rajendra Patil Yadravkar (Minister for State, Govt. of Maharashtra for Public Health, Medical Education, Textile, Food & Drugs Administration and Cultural Activity) presided over the meetings at both the villages.
In October 2019, Federal Bank had announced a comprehensive package for rebuilding of villages of Kolhapur. The Bank allocated an amount of ₹ 3.06 Crore towards this project. The Bank is funding for reconstruction of two school buildings in these villages. These schools are being furnished with benches, tables, computers, projectors etc. The Bank has also sponsored milch animals to people who lost their livelihood, and given away machinery for cottage industries. Other public amenities like fogging facilities, public toilet and first aid items have also been provided as part of the CSR of Federal Bank. It has planted 500 trees.
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As Pride Month 2020 comes to a close, let’s turn our attention to trans-inclusion at corporate houses in India. All central government departments were recently asked to include ‘transgender’ as a separate category of gender for recruitment in civil services and other posts, according to an order by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
The move is based on the provisions of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, notified in December last year. ‘All ministries/departments of the government of India are requested to modify the relevant examination rules providing for inclusion of ‘Transgender’ as a separate category of gender, so as to make the said Rules in conformity with the provisions of The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019,’ the Ministry said.
While the transgender community has been a topic of discussion, it still remains to be accepted into the workplace due to the lack of actionable policies and programmes across organisations. Deep-rooted stigma has unfairly marginalised the transgender community. Its members struggle to be included at every level of the society — right from homes to corporate offices. LGBT+ ally companies like Essar Group, Godrej, TCS and Lalit Hotels have trans-inclusive policies which are constantly updated to be more sensitive to the community.
Essar Group has taken baby steps towards transgender sensitisation at the workplace. Back in 2018, it associated itself with Tweet Foundation, a self-help group for transgender welfare. The Group ensures that festivals are celebrated inclusively within the organisation. In-house platforms are provided to showcase the entrepreneurial talent of transgender persons. Through another initiative, called ‘Sattar Minute’, employees proactively participate to support transgender training and development projects.
Sattar Minute is a blend of employee engagement and community outreach. It is a platform inviting employees to contribute towards community outreach either in an individual capacity or in association with the Essar Foundation, the CSR wing of the Essar Group. The organisation has a flagship transgender sensitisation umbrella programme, called the Rainbow Project.
Under this project, its partners with NGOs and SHGs to carry out activities for the welfare of the trans-community. It has partnered with Kineer Services India a self-help group for transgender people, to provide hands-on training on professional housekeeping services and a workshop on interview techniques and resume writing. This was followed by a job fair, where Essar collaborated with other organisations to provide scope of employment to the community members.
The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group stands out for trans-inclusion in the hospitality sector due to its commitment to the UN Business Standards of Conduct. All employees go through sensitization programmes on LGBT issues. Kitty Su, the nightclub, also hosts fashion shows and drag shows featuring those from the transgender community.
The Lalit has drafted a policy for hiring transgender employees. It includes basic processes such as all forms having the option of three genders, gender being a non-mandatory detail to fill, gender-neutral restrooms, and gender-neutral communication. They have also hired transgender employees and placed them in positions of visibility in their establishments.
