Agriculture & Rural Development

Corporate Social Responsibility has emerged as a strong mechanism for businesses to affect community-based water projects. Between 2014 and 2019, CSR has funded over Rs. 5,018 crores in environmental sustainability, Rs. 2,087 crores in sanitation and Rs. 824 crores in safe drinking water in India according to a report by the United Nations Development...

Artificial intelligence in agriculture is attracting the attention of technology bigwigs like IBM. At a time when the whole world is disrupted by COVID-19 and social distancing is the norm, electronic mandis, for example, could offer an excellent way for transactions between farmers and customers in the post-COVID world. Manoj Balachandran who heads CSR at...

IDFC FIRST Bank announced the launch of Ghar Ghar Ration Program, an employee-funded program for its low-income customers whose livelihoods are affected by COVID-19. The Bank also announced a comprehensive program for the families of employees who unfortunately lost their lives due to COVID-19, and a number of other CSR initiatives aimed at controlling...

As the second wave continues to affect the income of the daily wage earners such as painters, Nippon Paint (India) Private Limited (Decorative Division) extends support to the painter community. The paint manufacturer has resumed its outreach efforts to painters who have been affected due to a lack of employment opportunities. In the first phase,...

Covid Livelihood Coalition (CoLive), a consortium of grass-root level Covid response collectives, has come together to protect and sustain India's most vulnerable communities linking health and livelihoods at a local scale. Its maiden endeavour is a survival kit that targets nearly 2 lakh tribal families in 5000 villages in the states of Karnataka and...

As the country battles the second wave of the pandemic, Nayara Energy, a downstream energy and petrochemicals company, extended further support for people near its Vadinar refinery. The company announced the launch of a Covid care centre with 50 beds in Zakhar village, to provide for the care and treatment of Covid-19 positive patients suffering...

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

Corteva Agriscience, the global agriculture company is working towards establishing an ecosystem of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO) in multiple states across India including Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Bihar. The company is focused on promoting agri-entrepreneurship, especially for women, by supporting seven FPOs in the districts of MP. This includes training on agricultural methods, providing...

FMC Corporation announced that it will launch a multi-year scholarship programme in major agricultural schools across eight states in India in April 2021. The FMC Science Leaders Scholarship Programme is aimed at creating greater opportunities for aspiring scientists to develop their aptitude in agricultural research. Every year, 20 scholarships will be awarded to 10 students...

Integrating smart technologies into agriculture is transforming how the world produces, processes, and delivers food. With the world seeking more sustainable and efficient means of food production, smart technologies in agriculture are growing in demand, with global VC investment in the sector touching $4 billion in just the last two years. AI will play...

On one of my recent visits to Raigad, I interacted with Shiva, a small farmer whose family has been practising agriculture for generations. Walking across his field, he was navigating between three apps. He subscribed to one of the apps through Swades; for monitoring his farm inputs and cultivation data, while the other two...

On World Water Day, Astral Foundation - the CSR wing of the Astral Group completed the social initiative to lay a 2.7 km water pipeline to make water accessible in Hiwali, a remote village in Maharashtra prone to acute drought, every summer. On 19 February 2021, Astral Foundation along with the local tribal villagers, Social...