The city with a royal heritage Jaipur is Rajasthan’s state capital and also the largest city in the state. Popularly known as Pink City, Jaipur attracts tourists from across the globe.
A trip to Jaipur is incomplete without a visit to the grand Amer Fort, Nahargarh Fort and Jaigarh Fort. The majestic Jal Mahal standing on a lake is believed to be founded by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh in the late 18th century to use it as a hunting lodge during his duck shooting trips. Other major tourist attractions in Jaipur include the Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar and City Palace among others.
In 2015, Jaipur was conferred the title of the World Craft City by the World Crafts Council, becoming the only city in the world to have received the title for multiple crafts. Jaipur, in particular, and Rajasthan in general, has seen some successful crafts-based businesses and startups reach scale in the last few decades. What about Corporate Social Responsibility activities happening in and around Pink City? As the year 2023 concludes, let’s take a look at the top CSR projects in Jaipur held in the last one year year.
Top CSR Projects in Jaipur 2023
Piramal School of Leadership
Piramal Group announced the launch of Piramal School of Leadership in Jaipur, Rajasthan under its philanthropic arm Piramal Foundation in December, 2023. The facility will house five specialised schools initially, poised to become operational and capable of annually accommodating and training over 150,000 middle managers from state and government agencies, as well as professionals from CSR initiatives and non-profit organisations.
Spread over an area of 32 acres, the school is expected to commence operations in December 2025, and is envisaged to be a centre of learning that will enable holistic development of those enrolled. There will be five specialised schools in the campus, imparting learning across crucial development sectors, aligning closely with Government initiatives. Piramal School of Leadership targets India’s 30 million public officials, especially middle managers to help them improve the service delivery of various programmes and initiatives of the Government.
Lupin Foundation’s first Mobile Medical Van
Lupin Human Welfare & Research Foundation strengthened its Desh Bandhu Jan Aarogya Sewa programme by flagging off its first Mobile Medical Van (MMV) in Jaipur in July, 2023. The fully equipped MMV will function as a mobile healthcare unit, capable of delivering a comprehensive range of essential diagnostic services and medical support. This MMV enhances access to screening, diagnostic, treatment, and disease management capabilities in the Rajgarh, Laxmangad, Renni and Kherali blocks of Alwar. Moreover, as an integral part of the initiative, 18 health camps are being conducted twice a month at nine selected health facilities. These camps will be staffed by trained MBBS doctors who will be supported by dedicated paramedical personnel.
The initiative aims to enhance the well-being of communities by working towards addressing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) with high disease burden, with a specific focus on Cardiovascular and Respiratory diseases. Aligned with this goal, in November 2022, the Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Rajasthan, forging a partnership to work together on this important area with the State Department of Health and Family Welfare.
CSR of Asian Paints for visually impaired children
Project Sparsh, an initiative launched by Asian Paints and St+art aims to bring the magic of art to visually impaired children, letting them experience it from an entirely new perspective. Rajasthan Netraheen Kalyan Sangh school in Jaipur has been transforming the lives of visually impaired students for more than five decades. Asian Paints along with the St+art India Foundation added an artistic touch to the school by creating ‘tactile murals’, which turns simple surfaces into tactile language that the students can touch and feel.
The initiative focuses on touching these children’s lives in a meaningful way at their school, which is like a second home to many of them. Through Sparsh, the goal is to broaden their young minds to new ways of experiencing art while sharing their pride in the vibrant and cultural heritage of Rajasthan on which the designs of the murals are based.
McDonald’s India’s ‘McDonald’s for Youth’ initiative
In an attempt to empower local communities and promote social change, McDonald’s India – North & East has taken a step towards uplifting the less-privileged youth of Jaipur under its flagship community program ‘McDonald’s for Youth’.
Speaking on the initiative, Rajeev Ranjan, Managing Director, McDonald’s India – North and East, said, “Through our McDonald’s for Youth program, our aim is to create opportunities for youth of India’s local communities by dismantling the barriers to employment. We are on a mission to make an impact by opening doors to jobs and reducing barriers to employment by partnering with NGOs and skill development organizations, especially those who work with less-privileged communities at the grassroots level.”
More than 600 employees have been hired under this programme across McDonald’s restaurants in Rajasthan in collaboration with local NGOs in Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Ajmer, as on Novermber 2023. The purpose is to generate meaningful employment and providing skilling opportunities to those from less-privileged backgrounds. The skills taught include responsibility, efficiency, teamwork, and responsiveness among others.
McDonald’s India – North and East has collaborated with NGOs such as Magic Bus Foundation, Quess Corp Ltd., etc. on a national level for hiring process. In Rajasthan, McDonald’s India – North and East is currently working with Magic Bus Foundation, Quess Corp, Skills Certified. The company currently has 11 restaurants in Rajasthan, as per an announcement.
AU Foundation & Ambuja Foundation’s CSR for youth skills
AU Foundation, the CSR arm of AU Small Finance Bank has partnered with Ambuja Foundation to launch ‘Future Skill Academy’ that will impart relevant IT skills among youth in Rajasthan. The new curriculum is a part of AU Ignite, the flagship programme of AU Foundation on skill development to empower marginalised youth of the state. Graduates (or 3rd year students) from Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths (STEM) background can enrol for this this 90-day training programme, as per an announcement made in December, 2023.
After a thorough market research for need assessment, both the Foundations joined hands and prepared a new IT based curriculum to bridge the gap between industry demand and existing talent. The youth is being trained in data science, full-stack development and salesforce development which are the courses that are high in demand in the current times.
The programme has been launched to commemorate AU Foundation’s five years of association with Ambuja Foundation. So far, altogether 7 skill training centres have been setup in Rajasthan benefitting 5500 rural youth, as per an announcement. After successfully imparting skills for the last five years, the two foundations have now expanded their geographies to train youth of Jaipur, Chirawa, Jaitaran, Nagaur and Goverdhan. At present, AU SFB’s skilling programme- AU Ignite is running at 16 centres across Rajasthan having trained over 15,800 youth.
For the next two years, the programme will focus on training youth for jobs like domestic data entry associate, accounts – debt recovery agent, associate – CRM and business correspondent, hospitality roles, accounts executive, general duty assistant, microfinance jobs and others.
AU Bank’s ‘Bano Champion’ Programme
Bano Champion project- ‘Maidaan se Manzil Tak’ is CSR initiative of AU Small Finance Bank, launched in October 2021, to provide guided sports training to rural youth, in sports such as athletics, football, throwball, volleyball, and games of local preference. The programme has impacted the lives of over 8000 children across 64 rural and semi-urban locations in 22 districts of Rajasthan, till date. The initiative has garnered support from various sectors, including partnerships with sectoral experts, association bodies, and the government. Key achievements of the Bano Champion program include:
–Over 90 trained coaches & sub-coaches, along with a large support of volunteers, guiding the aspiring champions.
–680 young sports enthusiasts showing exemplary results at State and National Level competitions.
–One athlete qualifying for world Athletics Championship in Lima, Peru
–A robust sports tournament structure at Village, District, and State levels, witnessing massive participation.
The Bano Champion programme goes beyond providing just training by organising sports tournaments at various levels, creating platforms for children to showcase their talents. The State Level Sports Tournament of Bano Champion was organized at SMS Stadium in Jaipur in 2023. With renowned wrestler, Ms. Geeta Phogat as Chief Guest for the finals, the tournament witnessed participation of 1800+ children across seven sports. In a rewarding development, seven athletes from the program were selected by the Delhi Sports School (DSS), opening doors to national and international opportunities through their blend of sports and academics.
