Rajasthan is known for its beautiful palaces especially tourist attractions of historical ages like the royal forts and palaces, unique culture, topography and mouthwatering cuisine. Economically, it is an important state in the country as it houses 90 per cent of the country’s total mineral reserves and is an extremely popular tourism destination for travel lovers from across the globe. Economic opportunity and poverty go hand in hand in the state of Rajasthan making it an attractive destination for CSR.

In FY 2023-24, Rajasthan received a total of Rs. 1145.67 Cr. from 1851 companies with the district of Jaipur enjoying the highest share of CSR funds (Rs 248.24 Cr). Other districts getting a lion’s share of CSR benefits in the state are Udaipur, Ajmer, Alwar and Bhilwara. This is followed by Churu, Pali, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Kota.

The top three sectors of focus for CSR initiatives were Education, Health and Rural Development, which received Rs. 546.43 Cr., Rs. 213.45 Cr., and Rs. 150.15 Cr. respectively. The top three spenders in the district were Hindustan Zinc Limited (Rs. 200.13 Cr.), HDFC Bank Ltd (Rs. 57.7 Cr.) and Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals Limited (Rs 31.82 Cr).

Top CSR initiatives in Rajasthan

Major flagship programmes and latest CSR initiatives in Rajasthan inlcude:

Shree Cement’s Partnership with Fifty Villagers Seva Sansthan for Rural Girls in Rajasthan

Shree Cement Ltd. has partnered with Fifty Villagers Seva Sansthan, a Barmer-based grassroots NGO dedicated to transforming the lives of underprivileged rural children through education. Under this partnership, Shree Cement will support 25 underprivileged girls from across Rajasthan through a residential medical entrance coaching program, helping them prepare for NEET and pursue careers in medicine. The company has committed ₹25 lakh per year for two years to the program.

Founded in 2012 by Dr. Bharat Saran, a government medical officer, the initiative began in a small, rented room where he taught children after hospital hours. Over time, this small act of service became a movement, one that has so far supported 286 students, including 119 admitted to medical colleges, 23 at AIIMS and 52 serving in government roles such as teachers, police officers and Air Force personnel. His dedication has inspired hundreds of children to rise beyond their circumstances and build meaningful futures.

These children come from some of Rajasthan’s most remote and underprivileged areas, often facing hunger, long walks to school and limited resources. Despite these challenges, many have excelled academically, scoring over 75% without access to coaching.

Football Academy by Hindustan Zinc Ltd.

Football Academy is a pioneering effort by Mining major Hindustan Zinc Ltd. (a subsidiary of Vedanta Limited.) in Rajasthan to identify local football talent at an early age and train them to be Indian Football Stars. The objective of the project is to initiate a large scale holistic Football programme for strengthening grassroots community connect by setting up the HZL Football Academy as well as Community Football Centers in communities around HZL operations; identifying talented young footballers from Rajasthan; training them using the latest methodologies and technological interventions to create Indian Football stars.

The project has 4 pillars:

Community Outreach Programme – Geared to generate mass community engagement in football. 64 Community Football Centers are being set up in select communities around HZL operations. Children coming to these centers receive training for 2 hours a day for 3 days a week. Goal-Post campaigns to train 32 local community coaches have also been initiated. In just 4 months since the initiation of the Project, the outreach programme reached out to 2500 children from Zawar, Debari and Dariba. Talent Hunts are being initiated across Rajasthan. Given the interest shown by girls during outreach camps, plans have been put in place to explore possibilities of forming girls Football teams in the Community Football Centers.

HZL Football Academy – Set up as a residential programme for the most talented players. Training is provided by highly qualified expert coaches using world class infrastructure facilities, latest scientific methodologies and technology. The students selected for this football Centre of Excellence receive intensive football training as well as formal education till class 12. The Academy now has a capacity of 80 boys.

Performance Analysis Center – A high technology centre to provide world class scientific and technological training facilities to local football talents from an early age. It is being built at Zawar and will be ready by February 2018.

Zinc Football League – The best way to become a football champion is to play football matches and to win games and championships. A grassroots football league is being created to strengthen community connect and to give our young champions a taste of playing real games.

Unchi Udaan by Hindustan Zinc Ltd.

The ‘Unchi Udaan’ programme is built on the base being created by Shiksha Sambal, another Flagship programme by Hindustan Zinc. The objective of the programme is to give wings to dreams of meritorious students, studying in government schools in communities around HZL operations, to study in IITs and other prestigious Engineering Colleges by providing quality coaching and residential schooling.

UNCHI UDAAN identifies and prepares young meritorious students from government schools in communities around HZL’s operational areas in Ajmer, Bhilwada, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Udaipur districts of Rajasthan and Pantnagar district of Uttarakhand. It gives wings to children’s dreams, of studying in IITs and other institutions of national repute. This is a multi-year residential programme being implemented in partnership with ‘Resonance Eduventures Pvt. Ltd.’ (coaching institute) as the technical partner and Vidya Bhawan as the school and hostel partner.

CSR of Bajaj Finance Limited: Healthy Motherhood-Healthy Childhood

Bajaj Finance Limited (BFL), a subsidiary of Bajaj Finserv Limited, is one of the major spenders for CSR in Rajasthan. The company has a project for Healthy Motherhood-Healthy Childhood and Targeting the Hardcore Poor (Rural development) in Sikar and Dungarpur districts. They have been working towards addressing issues of Child Protection and Nutrition (Healthcare and promoting gender equality) in Bharatpur, Alwar, Sikar, Baran and Ajmer district and Early Childhood Care in Rural Areas (Healthcare) in Udaipur district.

They also have projects for education of autistic and slow learner children, community based management of disability- childhood to livelihood, holistic nutrition support to underprivileged children afflicted with cancer, mother and child care, construction of school building, comprehensive tribal model village development program, imparting vocational training and rehabilitation services in different areas of Rajasthan.

Vedanta Nand Ghar

Nand Ghars are a flagship social impact project dedicated to benefit rural children and women in India. A measure undertaken by Vedanta Resources Ltd. under the Anil Agarwal Foundation Initiative, together with the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD), the project aims at progress of rural India.

Nand Ghar has over 200 centres across Rajasthan’s Jodhpur district. A network of a model Anganwadi, Nand Ghar provides pre-school education through e-learning, BaLa designs, and smart kits. Nand Ghars are equipped with solar panels to ensure 24X7 electricity, water purifiers, clean toilets, and smart television sets and have become a model resource centre for the local communities. Pre-school education is provided to children in the age group of 3-6 years. Nutritious meals and take-home rations are being provided for children, pregnant and lactating women. Primary healthcare services are rendered through mobile health vans & telemedicine facilities and women are empowered through skilling, credit linkage, and enterprise development.

To transform the lives of women and children, Vedanta signed a MOU with the Government of Rajasthan last year to develop 25,000 Nand Ghars across 13 districts.

ICICI Rural Self-Employment Training Institutes

The Central government’s Ministry of Rural Development (MORD) has roped in banks to set up RSETIs (Rural Self Employment Training Institutes) for young people from rural communities. On behalf of ICICI Bank CSR, the Foundation has been managing a residential RSETI in Udaipur and its satellite centres for a decade. Satellite centres provide doorstep training and flexible courses on location.

ICICI RSETIs have a high success rate, with more than 75% of the trainees continuing gainful employment long after they have passed out; nearly 58% are women. The curriculum is designed after surveying local employers. There are skilling courses in more than 30 trades, which also align with the guidelines of the National Skills Qualifications Framework. Other activities include roadshows and Ratri Choupal gatherings to generate interest in entrepreneurship.

These centres build micro-entrepreneurs and attempt to walk them through the venture end-to-end support. They will inform them about credit schemes from the government, fill out application forms and show the procedure to set up their business enterprise. There are follow-ups for two years after training where the team checks up on their progress.

HDFC Bank Parivartan

HDFC bank’s CSR initiatives in Rajasthan mainly focus on rural development initiatives, education, vocational skill training and healthcare. HDFC Bank Parivartan, the bank’s umbrella programme for social initiatives impacted lives of over 35.43 lakh people in Rajasthan in the FY 2020-21, as per their announcement. The bank reached out to 132 villages across 13 districts – Bhilwara, Sikar, Baran, Alwar, Jaipur, Chittorgarh, Pratapgarh, Dhaulpur, Jaisalmer, Karauli, Dausa, Pali, Rajasmand and Alwar. #Parivartan aims at mainstreaming economically & socially-challenged groups across the country by ushering growth, development and empowerment.

HDFC Bank’s Holistic Rural Development Programme (HRDP) includes farm and nonfarm-based livelihood, water conservation, on-ground training for farmers, creation of Farmer Producer Organisations, sanitation and Natural Resource Management. The bank facilitates livelihood enhancement opportunities, particularly for women and youth, primarily in agriculture and allied areas such as dairy and poultry. The objective is to help them find jobs locally, enhance their household income and discourage migration.

The bank aims to reduce the carbon and ecological footprint of communities by promoting clean and renewable energy solutions. This includes undertaking projects such as tree plantation for carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation. In addition, it is providing solar home lights, biomass chulha, biogas plant, solar study lamp, and a solar irrigation unit, covering 25% of the households in each village. The biomass stoves have helped improve indoor air quality, creating a direct positive impact on women’s health.

HDFC Bank is implementing a programme to promote education in line with India’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan. Under this theme, a multi-faceted support is provided to schools, to enhance the quality of education – which includes training the teachers, providing scholarships and career guidance to students, as well as infrastructure support to schools, such as building toilets and improving classrooms.

The Bank has dedicated programmes for improving teachers’ skills and scaling up no-cost solutions for improving existing systems and processes. It has also been working towards establishing libraries, scientific labs and digital classrooms. Under this theme, the aim is to enhance the quality of education in government schools through a three-dimensional, target-driven approach.

CSR of Honda Motorcycle And Scooter India

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. (HMSI), a leader in two-wheeler manufacturing is a major spender in CSR projects in Rajasthan. The company has undertaken CSR initiatives like computer lab training and hardware (Gyantantra Digital Dost), water conservation projects through Self Help Groups, hospital upgradation and maintenance of toilets at community health centres in Alwar district.

Apart from these, they also have initiatives for education, health camps and mobile medical unit & static medical unit. Honda has invested in developing the existing local government Community Health Centres (CHC) in two locations around the Honda plants in Tapukara and Tijara in Alwar district. These include redevelopment of boundary walls, post-mortem room, parking area for ambulance, X-ray machines, medical equipment, first aid care, oxygen pipeline, cleaning staff and cleaning equipment, facilitating over 800 local residents.

The company’s water conservation projects through Self Help Groups in Alwar include construction and restoration of water structures and a dam in Kalikhol village, Skill development of an SHG by providing them training in the field of water conservation along with infrastructure development.

They have also supported the learning of 75,000 government school students in Rajasthan through a WhatsApp based home learning model. Honda has also developed playgrounds and sports ground facilities in the villages of Burera, Ishroda and Tapukara villages in Alwar district

Satya Bharti Schools

With a strong belief that education is critical to empower children, particularly in rural India, Bharti Foundation (the CSR arm of Bharti Enterprises) launched its flagship Satya Bharti School programme in 2006. The CSR programme imparts free, quality education to less privileged children of India. Currently, 28 schools are functioning in Jodhpur district, directly impacting the lives of over 170 teachers and 6,300 students with a 50-50 ratio of girls and boys and more than 75% being from disadvantaged communities.

All the schools provide free quality education to underprivileged children, with a special focus on the girl child. Specially designed girl-child policy, separate toilet for girls, one female teacher in each shift and special sensitization campaigns have been put in place to encourage parents to send their daughters to school. The curriculum followed in the schools is at par with curricular structures followed in schools across the country. It is also integrated with community campaigns, which helps children in developing life-skills as well as critical and creative thinking skills through hands-on experiences.

CSR of LIC Housing and Finance Ltd. for rural development

LIC Housing and Finance Ltd collaborated with NGO AROH Foundation in 2021 for an aspirational Holistic Rural Development Project ‘Hriday’ for seven indigent villages of Rajasthan. Hriday aimed at socio-economic reformation of villagers in the Antah block of Baran District in Rajasthan. These were targeted to achieve through various interventions in agriculture, animal husbandry, water & natural resource management, health, education, employment, nutrition, awareness & advocacy.

The Holistic Rural Development Programme seeks to bring about dignified and healthy living among the rural communities and strengthen community self-governance. The project also instils and fosters scientific innovations in its implementation and substantiation processes. Some of these include SMART class set ups for government schools, scientific agricultural practices, chemical-free and organic farm activities, use of GPS for asset tagging and monitoring, extensive use of technology for monitoring and tech based models for access to water and education interventions.

The project also serves as an additional step towards the achievement of all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

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