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CSR initiative
needed in
adventure
I
n a trendsetting initiative, a team of blind
and sighted climbers from India and
Israel scaled Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest
peak of Africa. Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanza-
nia stands at about 4,900 metres (16,100 ft)
from its base, and 5,895 metres (19,341 ft)
above sea level.
The team three blind climbers (two from
India and one from Israel) and 10 able-bod-
ied individuals (from India and Israel) under-
took the expedition from 8-14 September.
The Adventures Beyond Barriers
Foundation (ABBF) and Summiting4Hope
Rajesh Tiwari (S4H) jointly organized what was India’s first
Publisher “inclusive climb” to the Africa’s tallest peak.
rt@iccsr.org Inclusive expeditions re-evaluate our
rigid views about disability and shatter
stereotypes that plague Persons with Dis-
ability (PwDs).
The Kilimanjaro Through great difficulty S4H founder
inclusive climb the Anusha Subramanian and Divyanshu
Ganatra, the founder of Pune-based ABBF,
participation of managed to secure funding for the project.
blind as well as In fact, there is need for more CSR
into adventure, particularly, where PwDs
sighted climbers are involved.
to send out a “The Kilimanjaro inclusive climb the par-
ticipation of blind as well as sighted climbers
strong message to send out a strong message that all of us
that all of us are are part of the same society and can co-exist
together. Mountains and the outdoors do
part of the same not differentiate between anyone, so why is
society and can it that we differentiate among people? I have
always believed that to change something,
co-exist together you have to be the change yourself. We can,
indeed, play and grow together beautifully,”
points out Subramanian.
The inclusive climb also bore witness
to the youngest climber Baepi Donio, a
14-year-old boy from Israel. ..
“Exclusion is something that PwDs have
to deal with a lot, because with disability, in
publisher’s note
our country, comes invisibility. The real chal-
lenge is to be empathetic, to be understand-
ing, to be able to dialogue even though we
(PwDs and able-bodied people) may have
our differences,” adds Divyanshu Ganatra,
the founder of Pune-based ABBF and one of
the blind climbers from India.
For such adventure initiatives, finding
source of funds is perhaps more difficult
than the actual expedition.
CSR refers to the responsibility of enter-
prises for their impact on society, namely
on economic, environmental, social and
human rights, and on corporate governance
aspects. It focuses on the impact and the
risks on the rights and concerns of the
stakeholders to a Group, clearly identified
and participants in the enterprise’s strategy
on CSR.
India, admittedly, is not the most hospi-
table of places for people that have some
form of disability. But things are changing,
albeit slowly. A fair number of resorts and
hotels, big and small, now put in a lot of
effort to make the stay of differently-abled
people as comfortable as possible. As with
everything, check whether the destination
you’re headed to does have facilities that are
accessible to the disabled.
There are, in India, adventure-activity
operators that keep the needs of the
differently abled in mind – again, do a
background check on whether these travel
providers have the wherewithal, and also
the necessary training, to make the experi-
ence for the differently abled as pain- and
hassle-free as possible. The country does
not have a great record when it comes to
looking after the safety and comfort of the
differently abled, but a few set-ups have,
admirably, gone the extra mile to make
themselves disabled-friendly.
October 2018 CSR Today 3
Contents
20 | Cover Story
MESCO – Steely Resolve for CSR
CSR EXAMPLE
14 India to Celebrate 10th
Anniversary of DaanUtsav
15 Ford India Launches Happy
Schools Program in Gurgaon/NCR
CSR ISSUE
16 Coming full circle? The state of
circular economies around the globe
18 The Arctic’s oldest, thickest ice
is breaking up
CSR NECESSITY
24 National Consultation on
Reducing Malnutrition and
Childhood Illnesses
CSR INITIATIVE
26 Brillio Technologies Bringing
Smiles Program - Digital for Good
29 Big cities vow to make buildings
carbon neutral by 2050
30 IIT Roorkee inaugurates Design
Innovation Centre
REGULARS: 03 Publisher’s note 05 CSR News 13 CSR News You
Can Use 45 Csr Placements
4 CSR Today October 2018
CSR COLLABORATION
32 Officials from Sri Lanka visit
NIRDPR for training on local
governance, decentralization, and
social welfare programming for
rural development
CSR CONCERN
34 The world of Plastics, in
numbers
CSR SUSTAINABILITY
36 Will sustainability ever trump
price for Asian consumers?
38 Vital for life, heat and power
What you never knew about salt
water
CSR FUTURE
40 In climate-stressed Singapore,
the future is super low energy
buildings
CSR TRENDS
42 Onward toward gender equity
in the era of climate change
october 2018 | Vol. 06 | Issue 03
Printer and Publisher: Rajesh Tiwari
EDITORIAL
Consulting Editor: M Bose
Executive Editor: Neil Thakkar
INDIAN CENTRE FOR CSR
ADVISORY BOARD
Pankaj Pachauri, Ted McFarland,
Mag. Martin Neureiter, Chandir Gidwani,
Lou Altman, Kingshuk Nag, Toby Webb,
Anil Bajpai, Rajesh Tiwari, Satish Jha,
Amit Chatterjee, Jitendra Bhargava,
Namita Vikas, Dinesh N. Awasthi, Kapil Dev,
Dr. Kamal Kant Dwivedi, Sanjiv Kaura,
Suhel Seth
PRODUCTION, CIRCULATION
AND LOGISTICS
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HEAD OFFICE
CSR Today
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CSR News
CSR < NEWS

ACC encourages reading and

education in Chandrapur District
ACC TRUST facilitates the
distribution of 31,000 new
books worth over 80 lakhs; sets
up 29 libraries; organises 2-day
workshop for government and
private schools to benefit
7000 students.

I
n yet another initiative to improve
the quality of education in the
country, ACC Limited, one of India’s
leading producers of cement and ready
mix concrete today facilitated a mas-
sive book distribution drive providing
students of Chandrapur District access
to 31,000 new books weighing about 28
tonnes, worth 80 lakhs. As part of its
flagship programme ACC Vidya Utkarsh,
ACC TRUST has provided quality read-
ing material ranging from storybooks
and textbooks on science and social
studies to literary masterpieces to over
123 schools, and has set up 29 new
libraries at Cluster Resource Centres
within Chandrapur District.
Additionally, ACC TRUST has organ-
ised a two-day workshop for headmas-
ters and librarians from government
and private schools to brainstorm on
ways to improve the quality of existing
libraries and how they could improve
reading habits among students. At
the end of the two-day workshop, all
the learnings and suggestions will
be compiled and handed over to the
district administrator for their con-
sideration and action. Through these
efforts, ACC is empowering over 65,000
(L-R): Vijay Khati, General Manager – CSR, ACC Limited; Avinash Shirake, Principal – Savitribai
Phule College of Social Work, Yawatmal; Jitendra Papalakar IAS, Chief Executive Officer – Zilla
Parishad Chandrapur; Brijbhushan Pazare, Chairman – Social Welfare Department, Zilla Parishad
Chandrapur; Kurian Chandapillai, Head – Business Services, ACC Limited and Kotam Vamsidhar
Reddy, Director Plant, Chanda Cement Works
students from 123 Schools and 32 the mind what exercise is to the body.
colleges in the district. The workshop Many deserving children and youth in
was graced by Jitendra Papalkar (IAS) our country do not have access to quali-
CEO ZP - Chandrapur, C. Kurian, Head ty reading material. Through ACC Vidya
Business Services - ACC Limited and Utkarsh, we are continuously investing
K.V Reddy, Director Plant - ACC Chanda in improving education and reading
Cement Works.Pratyush Panda, Head habits amongst students. We are proud
CSR - ACC Limited, Sanjay Dorlikar, to lead this effort to complement the ef-
Education Officer - ZP Chandrapur, forts of the Chandrapur administrators
Lokhande, Education Officer Primary and educators.”
- ZP Chandrapur, Fr Robert, Principal ACC Vidya Utkarsh facilitates quality
- Viyani Vidya Mandir, Brijbhushan education to children in host communi-
Pazare, Chairman - Social Welfare, ZP ties through a hub and spoke model. 15
Chandrapur, Satyajeet Amale - Police ACC established schools have developed
Station Incharge Ghugus were present. into Centres of Excellence over the past
Commenting on the initiative, Neeraj decades which play the role of a hub
Akhoury, Managing Director & CEO, ACC to enhance the quality of education in
Limited said, “It is said that reading is to government schools.

October 2018 CSR Today 5

CSR > NEWS
Bharti Foundation expands Quality
Support Program to Karnataka
B
harti Foundation, the phil-
anthropic arm of Bharti
Enterprises, has signed a
Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) with the Education Department,
Government of Karnataka to imple-
ment its Satya Bharti Quality Support
Program at 30 government schools in
Ramnagara District.
As part of the MoU, Bharti
Foundation will work in partnership
with Government schools to enhance
the overall schooling experience of the
students and the teachers. The initiative
marks Bharti Foundation’s entry into
the State of Karnataka.
The Government will continue to
own, manage and run the schools and
provide its ongoing support to the school
with its financial resources, teachers,
infrastructure facilities and expansion
as per the State’s annual plan. Currently,
the Satya Bharti Quality Support
MSRDC’s initiatives towards preserving wildlife
I
n a initiative towards preserving wild-
life habitat alongside of Maharashtra
Samruddhi Mahamag (MSM), Maharashtra
State Road Development Corporation
(MSRDC) has signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) with Dehradun based
Wildlife Institute of India.
Under this MOU, the study of wildlife
habitats through which expressway is pass-
ing will be undertaken as also steps initiated
to protect the wildlife. Post construction of
the Nagpur Mumbai Super Communication
Express way (NMSCEW), measures will be
taken to ensure that the wildlife move freely.
The institute will submit the recommenda-
tion report to MSRDC and will provide guid-
ance on the steps required to be taken for
this. When the construction of expressway
is complete, proper care will be taken so that
there is no threat to the wildlife. The Wildlife
Institute of India, falling under Ministry
6 CSR Today October 2018
Program is directly impacting close to
2,00,000 students and more than 7000
teachers across 12 states of India.
Vijay Chadda, CEO, Bharti
Foundation said, “We are delighted
to partner with the Government of
Karnataka and are committed to
jointly work with the State Education
Department to drive the Government’s
agenda of enriching schooling experi-
ence in the State. Our holistic develop-
ment approach and school improve-
ment plan involves working in close
coordination with all stakeholders - the
school leaders, educationists and of-
ficials in the Department.”
Bharti Foundation’s Satya Bharti
Quality Support Program is an educa-
tion initiative run in partnership with
Government Schools. Through this pro-
gram, Bharti Foundation engages with
the school leadership, teachers, students
and local communities to enhance
of Environment and Forests (MoEF), will
partner with MSRDC till the completion of
the Maharashtra Samrudhi Mahamarg. This
is for the first time in the country that any
infrastructure development project will focus
on wildlife conservation work.
Commenting on the development,
MSRDC Vice Chairman and Managing
Director, Radheshyam Mopalwar said,
“MSRDC is sensitive towards the issue
of conserving wildlife and committed to
maintain their habitat. We are determined
that Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg will
serve as a model project for the protection
of wildlife. Therefore, we are extremely
keen to develop the interest of wildlife in the
sanctuaries falling along the expressway. The
Corporation recently signed a Memorandum
of Understanding with the Wildlife Institute
of India, Dehradun, which will cooper-
ate with us for protecting the wildlife
schooling experience and strive for
excellence. The approach focuses on
identifying, integrating and optimising
best practices from Satya Bharti Schools
from across the country with the intent
of encouraging innovation, participa-
tion, ownership and facilitating sustain-
able change.
Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic
arm of Bharti Enterprises, was set up
in the year 2000. Since inception the
Foundation has reached out to 3,00,000+
students and 13,000+ teachers through
more than 2100 schools/centres across
15 States through its initiatives in the
education sector. In addition to educa-
tion, the Foundation also runs its sanita-
tion program Satya Bharti Abhiyan
which has achieved the distinction of
having delivered more than 18,000
household toilets, directly benefitting
over 90,000 beneficiaries in Ludhiana
and rural Amritsar.
during the construction of the expressway.
Development of infrastructure projects
involves a thorough study of the social and
environmental impacts. Proper care needs to
be taken to maintain environmental balance.
The effect of the project on wildlife, which is
an important component of the environment,
is also taken into consideration and accord-
ingly, necessary measures are initiated.
Two wild life sanctuaries fall within
26 talukas and 390 villages that will be
connected through NMSCEW, also known
as Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg, in
addition to three major cities of Nagpur,
Aurangabad and Mumbai. Many wildlife
habitats dwell in these sanctuaries. MSRDC
has decided to take help from the Wildlife
Institute of India, Dehradun to see to it that
the wildlife does not suffer from vehicular
traffic and pose any problem due to construc-
tion of the expressway.

New India Framework of WB
T
he World Bank Group (WBG)
Board of Executive Directors
has endorsed a new Country
Partnership Framework (CPF) for India
which aims to support India’s transition
to a higher middle-income country by
addressing some of its key development
priorities – resource efficient and inclu-
sive growth, job creation and building
its human capital.
The India CPF represents the largest
country program of the WBG, reflect-
ing the strong collaboration between
India and the Group’s institutions: The
International Bank for Reconstruction
and Development (IBRD), International
Finance Corporation (IFC) and
Multilateral Investment Guarantee
Agency (MIGA). The Group expects to
deliver $25-30 billion during this CPF
period, ending in FY2022.
“With a fast growing economy, global
stature, and its unique experience of
lifting the highest number of poor out
of poverty in the past decades, India
is well-positioned to become a high
middle-income country by 2030,” said
Hartwig Schafer, World Bank South Asia
Vice President. “This CPF charts a path
for how the World Bank, IFC and MIGA,
will leverage their relative strengths to
deliver stronger development outcomes
for this dynamic country, half of whose
population is under the age of 25.”
Welcoming the CPF, Subhash
Chandra Garg, Secretary, Department of
Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance,
Government of India said, “I comple-
ment the World Bank Group for align-
ing the CPF with India's development
and investment objectives of high, sus-
tainable and inclusive growth. I hope
that the World Bank Group would be
able to use their global experience and
expertise in assisting India to achieve
her objectives."
The CPF is underpinned by the
Systematic Country Diagnostics (SCD),
the World Bank Group’s comprehen-
sive analysis of the opportunities and
challenges for India to achieve poverty
reduction and shared prosperity in a so-
cially and environmentally sustainable
way, and builds on extensive consulta-
tions with the government, the private
sector, civil society and academic
experts from across the country.
The WBG will focus on three broad
areas under the new CPF: promoting a
resource efficient growth path, particu-
larly in the use of land and water, to
remain sustainable; enhancing competi-
tiveness and enabling job creation; and
investing in human capital - in health,
education, skills – to improve qual-
ity and efficiency of service delivery.
The Indian economy has
evolved to a level where
the private sector can be
counted on to close large
developmental gaps.
Within these, some areas of deeper
WBG’s engagement will include ad-
dressing the challenge of air pollution,
facilitating jobs for women, increasing
the resilience of the financial sector and
investing in early years of children’s de-
velopment. Across the sectors, the WBG
will invest in harnessing the impact of
new technology.
The CPF has emphasized not only
the areas of engagement but how the
WBG will engage in India. The CPF
highlights the shift from a “lending” to
a “leveraging Bank”, emphasizing the
growing potential and need to draw
in capital markets in the financing of
development priorities. Complementing
transformational national programs,
the Bank will also develop strategic
state partnerships to address state-spe-
cific development priorities and support
implementation capabilities at the state
and local level.
CSR < NEWS
“The future of India lies in the states
of India. The country’s transition to high
middle-income status will be deter-
mined in large part by the effectiveness
of India’s federal compact,” said Junaid
Ahmad, Country Director, World Bank
India. “In this context, an important
focus of the CPF will be to deepen en-
gagement with India’s states and invest
in the institutions and capabilities of the
states and local governments to address
their development priorities.”
The CPF also places emphasis on
India’s global leadership role in promot-
ing renewable energy and disaster
resilient infrastructure development,
which holds significant impact
for India as well as the global
economy. Through an initiative
labelled “Lighthouse India” the
WBG will leverage India’s devel-
opment experience to support
the development efforts of other
countries especially in Africa and
Central Asia.
The emphasis on a “leverag-
ing Bank” is reflected in the CPF
in the potential role of private sector
finance and expertise to meet India’s
development needs at scale.
“The Indian economy has evolved to
a level where the private sector can be
counted on to close large developmental
gaps. Through this CPF, the WBG will
help India leverage additional resources
from the private sector to help India re-
alize its full potential,” said Jun Zhang,
Country Head, IFC, India.
India is the largest IBRD client of the
World Bank. Between 2015 and 2018,
the World Bank lent around $10.2 bil-
lion to India. As of mid-September 2018,
total World Bank assistance stood at
$27.2 billion representing 104 proj-
ects, of which IBRD was $18.1 billion
(52 projects) and IDA $9.0 billion (46
projects). At the end of July 2018, IFC’s
India portfolio contained 281 projects,
amounting to a committed exposure of
$6.4 billion.
October 2018 CSR Today 7
CSR > NEWS
India, an Inalienable Part in
Alibaba’s Philanthropy Roadmap
T
he Alibaba Foundation, a pri-
vate charity fund established
by Alibaba Group, jointly with
UCWeb (‘UC’), a business within Alibaba
Digital Media and Entertainment Group,
hosted the Global Forum of the XIN
Philanthropy Conference 2018. It is the
first conference of this kind to be held
out of China.
Launched in 2016, the biennial
conference is an important representa-
tion of Alibaba Group’s commitment to
encouraging inclusive, universal and
sustainable growth for businesses and
communities alike – all for the greater
benefit of people. The Global Forum
held in Delhi under the theme of ‘Love
and Infinity’ advocates for a wide public
awareness and actions on Education,
Children Protection and Women
Empowerment. With global impacts and
local insights, Alibaba Group regards
India as a major part of its philanthropy
roadmap, while UC’s philanthropic
mission in India is to bridge the Digital
Divide as much as possible.
Hosted by Indian actress and
Founder of Col. Shamsher Singh
Foundation Gul Panag, the Global
Forum of Xin Philanthropy Conference
has become a prominent gathering
of Indian renowned philanthropists
and public welfare advocates. Popular
Hindi film superstar Kangana Ranaut
has joined the roundtable to share
personal experience being a frontline
advocate of women equality; outstand-
ing speakers within the global welfare
and business domains includes Robin
Raina, the Chairman, CEO & President
of Ebix Inc. and Founder of the Robin
Raina Foundation, Abha Singh, lawyer,
social activist and Founder of Rann-
Samar Foundation, etc. Current status of
women equality and education, innova-
tive solutions with “Internet plus phi-
lanthropy” model are discussed, given
the trend that internet has brought
disruptive change to every aspect of our
8 CSR Today October 2018
lives. According to Alibaba’s philosophy
of philanthropy, technology can help to
lower the barrier for each individual
to participate in philanthropy and un-
leash “The Power of Small” to drive big
change for public welfare.
“As the world’s first Internet compa-
ny that integrates philanthropy into its
core strategy,” stated on the occasion by
Shunyan Zhu, President of UC, Alibaba
Digital Media and Entertainment Group,
“Alibaba’s philanthropy is without a
L to R: Ms. Kangana Ranaut, India Actress, Mr. Shunyan
Zhu, President of UC, Alibaba Digital Media and Entertain-
ment Group, Ms. Shaina NC, Fashion Designer & Social
Worker & Ms. Gul Panag, Indian actress and Founder of Col.
Shamsher Singh Foundation
border. That’s why we take the XIN
Philanthropy Conference out of China
for the first time, here in India. It shows
the importance of India for Alibaba.
This is also the first time our Internet
plus Philanthropy Model has set its foot
on the global path.”
• Alibaba Group’s Mission Million Books,
aims to complete the million book dona-
tion target by end of the year
• UC unveils UC Hope - UC Charity News
Channel and partners with 10 India
charitable organisations to arouse public
awareness
• UC initiates online women empowerment
campaign #Shedeservestoknow, associ-
ates Bollywood celebrity Kangana Ranaut
Arunima Sen, Programme Analyst
for Governance, UN Women India MCO,
Meagan Fallone, CEO of Barefoot College
International, Soha Moitra, Regional
Director of Child Rights and You,
Saurabh Jain, Vice President of Paytm
and Head of Paytm Build for India
Initiative and Alex Li, Managing Director
of Alibaba Cloud India, joined Shunyan
to officially kick off the 5th September
Philanthropy Week during which differ-
ent business units of Alibaba Group will
have multiple philanthropic
programs for public participa-
tion on a global scale.
A business within
Alibaba Digital Media and
Entertainment Group, UC
has rooted in India for 7
years, amplifying Alibaba’s
charitable efforts with the
global breadth and Indian
depth along with its business
influence and brand reputa-
tion. With its new mission
of Bigger We-Media, Bigger
You, UC Browser, a leading
content platform with 130
million monthly active users,
will work with Indian content creators
to build a responsible content ecosys-
tem. “We will use Internet technology to
bridge the inequality gap, and eliminate
poverty with knowledge and informa-
tion,” said Shunyan Zhu.
With its user influence and brand
reputation in the Indian market, UC
launched a series of philanthropic
projects on three main perspectives:
Children Protection, Education, and
Women Empowerment. UC joined hands
with Indian Charity group Kailash
Satyarthi Children's Foundation and ini-
tiated the #SafeChildhoodSafeIndia cam-
paign on June 12th, the International
Anti-Child Labor Day. The UC Anti-Child
Labor Initiative has gained supports
from 60,000 users within one day only.
Education wise, in line with India
 CSR < NEWS

government policy, Alibaba Group Browser established the UC

launched the “Mission Million Books”.
Initiated in 2016, the project aims to do-
nate 1 million books to underprivileged
schools and colleges across India to help
educate and empower the country’s
children and youth. Books collected via
various donation routes are distributed
to these educational institutions at no
cost. In a short span over 8 lac books
have already been collected and close
to 7 lac donated impacting close to
2.5 million students across more than
2000 institutes in India. Another effort
to improve children education is UC
Shiksha campaign. UC Shiksha is a user-
powered online-to-offline book dona-
tion program, attracted a participation
of 1.5 million users within two months
and benefited 50,000 students. UC is
planning to expand the reach and depth
of the project to help more children in
need in a more comprehensive way.
In light of the positive result of UC
Shiksha, UC determines to fully uti-
lise the influence of its platform for
philanthropy. In collaboration with 10
charitable organizations and philan-
thropic advocates in India, UC Browser
is about to launch the UC Hope, a
Women’s channel, firstly in
India, that provides knowl-
edge in lifestyle, fashion,
and career, it allows women
to focus on self-growth and
self-realization. The women-
oriented news channel has
affected 7.5 million users
since its launch in April. In
L to R: Meagan Fallone, CEO of Barefoot College Inter-
addition to that, UC kicks off
national, Swati Maliwal, Chairperson of Delhi Commis-
sion for Women, Abha Singh, Lawyer, Social Activist & #Shedeservestoknow cam-
Founder of Rann-Samar Foundation, Kangana Ranaut, India paign led by the well-known
Actress,Shunyan Zhu, President of UC, Alibaba Digital Media Bollywood actress Kangana
and Entertainment Group, Shaina NC, Fashion Designer & Ranaut and winners of UC
Social Worker and Gul Panag, Indian actress and Founder of
Miss Cricket. They share the
Col. Shamsher Singh Foundation & Arunima Sen, Programme
Analyst for Governance, UN Women India MCO knowledge of how women
should empower themselves
charity channel for local charitable via #Shedervestoknow. “I pride myself
content. The channel aims to increase of being a fearless woman who believes
users’ awareness on the social issues in that women empowerment is a move-
India and to nurture empathy by news- ment that has to take over the world. It
feeding the philanthropic content. has been a pleasure for me to be here
Apart from empowering local to witness a brand like Alibaba and UC
charitable organisations, UC strives encouraging women and providing us
to empower the women in India. As with a platform where digital literacy
the second most populated country, and empowerment are primary fo-
India possesses unexplored power cuses,” said Kangana Ranaut, who is also
from women. Based on the belief that associated with the #Shedeservestoknow
the Internet is an equal platform, UC empowerment project.

NPCI organises digital training workshops at 50 plus

educational institutes on teacher's day

I
n a bid to empower educational institutes
with smart way of digital payment alterna-
tives, National Payments Corporation
of India (NPCI) organised digital training
workshops at 50 plus institutions on the
occasion of Teacher’s Day. Over 35 colleges
and 15 schools in Mumbai, Pune and Madhya
Pradesh will participate in this activity cov-
ered over 15,000 students, parents, teachers,
principals and other staff.
This initiative is being executed in associa-
tion with online fee payment platform OnFees.
Participants will be familiarised with modes of
digital payments, details on various payment
applications, features and offers of RuPay debit
and credit cards and practical session on BHIM
app downloads and transactions. Students
were encouraged to adopt cashless modes of
payments with prepaid cashless vouchers to
make transactions on OnFees, BookMyShow
and Amazon. Participating institutions have
also enabled students to make fees payment
digitally through the OnFees platform.
Kunal Kalawatia, SVP – Marketing said,
“In our journey towards making India a less-
cash economy, this is yet another initiative to
digitise cash usage by targeting youth through
the educational institutes. We partner with
players in the ecosystem to bring about the
change, for this initiative we have joined hands
with OnFees.” Mayur Jain, CEO, OnFees said,
“For India to have digitally empowered and
cashless future it is important to create the
much needed awareness on digital payments
and OnFees is making every possible effort to
facilitate this by providing the infrastructure
and awareness. We are proud of this opportu-
nity to partner with NPCI to encourage digital
transactions in the education sector and take
them to a much higher level."
R. D. National College, H R College,
Thadomal Sahani, Vidyalankar Educational
Campus, Nirmala Niketan College of Home
Science, Andrews College, Ramnarain Ruia
College, R A Podar College, SIES College,
Khalsa College, Ambi Talegaon Tal Maval D Y
Patil Colleges were among the 50 participat-
ing colleges.

October 2018 CSR Today 9

CSR > NEWS
Rohit Sharma to help save Rhino
R
ohit Sharma, renowned Indian
cricketer , has pledged his
support to WWF-India’s rhino
conservation efforts in the country.
Announced on World Rhino Day, Rohit
will join several other celebrities across
the globe supporting WWF’s conserva-
tion activities across countries. In India,
Rohit will join the likes of Amitabh
Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Vidya Balan,
fellow cricketer Shikhar Dhawan and
others who have supported WWF-
India’s work in the past. As one of the
country’s largest conservation organ-
isations, WWF-India has been working
on rhino conservation for over four
decades and has been instrumental in
many milestones and successes in pro-
tecting the Greater One Horned Rhino
or the Indian Rhino.
India is home to 82% of the world’s
rhinos. Once found all along the
Indo-Gangetic-Brahmaputra valley,
the Indian rhino is now only found in
select pockets in India and Nepal, with
only about 3500 of them left in both
India and Nepal. This is a result of ex-
cessive poaching for their horn and the
expansion of human settlements and
CSR TODAY
India’s First Magazine on
Corporate Social
Responsibility
To subscribe, contact:
CSR TODAY, Indian Centre for CSR, 104,
Nirman Kendra, Dr. E. Moses Road, Mahalaxmi
Estate, Mumbai- 400 011 (India). Tel: +91 22
249 03078 / 03082 / 55260
change in landuse patterns, leading to
a loss of rhino habitats. In the country,
this large mammal is found primarily
in three states – Assam, West Bengal
and Uttar Pradesh. A key initiator of
the Indian Rhino Vision (IRV) 2020 in
Assam in partnership with the Assam
Forest Department and other partners,
WWF-India is currently working to
ensure that a breeding population of
the Greater One Horned Rhino in India
is spread across 10 Protected Areas
by 2030.
In order to raise awareness about the
Indian rhino’s significance and to effec-
tively communicate WWF-India efforts
towards the conservation of the species,
Rohit Sharma will be a huge asset to
the organization. Rohit has also lent his
autographed bat and jersey to be auc-
tioned to support WWF-India’s conser-
vation efforts in India. As a renowned
cricketer of international stature, Rohit
will use his position as a platform to
spread the message of protecting rhinos
and preserving their habitats.
Speaking about the association,
Ravi Singh, CEO and Secretary General,
WWF-India said, "We are encouraged
that sportsmen like Rohit are com-
ing forward to support the call for
conservation. Rohit’s contribution to
international cricket is well known
and his supporting the conservation of
rhinoceros in India will help the cause
of the species. We welcome Rohit into
the WWF family."
For Sharma, the cause of rhino
conservation is one that is very close to
his heart. “My love for rhinos sparked
when I first heard about Sudan, the last
male northern white African rhino who
passed away this year thus leading to
the inevitable extinction of the entire
species and that broke my heart. As
the world and I mourned for my fallen
friend Sudan, I researched the best
way for me to help prevent something
like this happening and the best way I
know how is to create awareness. After
getting in touch with WWF I learnt
that 82% of the world’s rhinos reside in
India and I am honoured to be WWF-
India’s rhino ambassador to spread
awareness and do my bit to contribute
to the protection and survival of the
rhino and help make this world a better
place for them’’
 CSR < NEWS

Grant Thornton in India celebrates its fourth global

CSR day, adopts ‘Every Day CSR’ approach
ACC TRUST facilitates the distribution of 31,000 new books worth over 80 lakhs;
sets up 29 libraries; organises 2-day workshop for government and private schools to
benefit 7000 students.

I
n its continuous effort to unlock the
potential for growth in its local com-
munities, Grant Thornton in India
celebrated its fourth Global CSR day on 13-
14 September where 174 Grant Thornton
employees dedicated 700 working hours
towards community development pro-
grammes across eleven cities in India.
From this year onwards, the Firm has
adopted ‘Every Day CSR’ approach. With
this fresh approach, Grant Thornton
aims to equalise the quality of education,
improve the general health and well-being
for underprivileged families and design and
implement an industry recognised employ-
ment linked programme for underprivi-
leged youth.
“We are redefining the way we ap-
proach CSR to be something much more
meaningful and something which helps
create purpose for our people beyond just
their work commitments and career aspira-
tions. We want to embed social respon-
sibility into our Firm’s Culture and that
is why we call it Every Day CSR. We have
already launched 4 work streams each
with their distinct focus i.e., supporting or
empowering our support staff and their
Grant Thornton volunteers at U&I centre in Mumbai
families, building financial and compliance organisation and conducted curriculum
capabilities among our clients in the NFP aligned outcome based sessions on English,
space and providing support to underprivi- Mathematics, Science, Oral Hygiene and
leged children in the areas of health and Waste Recycling at six locations including
education. The CSR team is enthused by NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai
the nearly 300 partners and staff who have and Hyderabad. We also collaborated
volunteered their time across the work with NGOs like Ektara in Kolkata, Humari
streams. We would encourage even higher Kaksha in Chandigarh and Sewa Sehyog in
participation and are committed to making NCR, Mumbai and Kochi.
a difference to our Communities thereby “In 2014 what started as a small initia-
furthering our Firm’s purpose of contrib- tive of extending support to our sup-
uting to a more port staff through education assistance,
Vibrant Economy,” training and health insurance covers, has
said Vikesh Mehta, grown to become a movement as our
Partner, Grant Ambition to grow with our Community
Thornton India LLP. has grown manifold.
Education, In 2018, we at Grant Thornton
healthcare and skill have committed to volunteer our time
development were throughout the year towards developing
the three thematic communities by rendering assistance in
areas identified the areas of Education, Skill development
for this year’s and Health care. Because by giving we are
CSR day. The Firm contributing towards developing a vibrant
associated with economy,” said Kavita Mathur, People &
U&I, a volunteer- Culture Leader, Grant Thornton Advisory
driven charitable Private Limited.

October 2018 CSR Today 11

CSR > NEWS
Axis Bank sets up ‘Digi Labs’ in 108
Schools across Leh & Kargil District
A
xis Bank, in collaboration with
17000 ft Foundation, a non-
profit based in Ladakh, has
adopted 108 remote government schools
of Ladakh under a 3 year project to
improve infrastructure and bring in
learning improvement for the children
of these schools. In the first year (2017),
each school received a playground and
library consisting of 500 storybooks in
multiple languages catering to different
reading abilities.
This year (2018), we have launched
Digi Lab, a project to bring Digital
Learning opportunities powered by Solar
to the 108 schools by providing access
to the hardware and software needed to
reach specially curated and customized
e-learning content direct to the student.
The first Digi Lab was inaugurated
today at Middle School Ayu Saboo, Leh
District, by Sanjay Silas, President &
Head – Branch Banking, Axis Bank. The
function was presided over by Tashi
Dolma, Joint Director Education, Ladakh,
Kunzes Angmo, Project Officer, ICDS
Center, Leh, and Sujata Sahu, Founder
17000 ft Foundation, along with other
senior dignitaries.
Speaking at the occasion, Silas said,
“Axis Bank strongly believes in holistic
development of communities with focus
on creating sustainable livelihoods.
Access to quality education thus becomes
an important enabler to achieving this.
We believe that with the introduction of
‘Digi labs’ in these schools, will improve
the learning abilities of children and will
help in promoting computer literacy.”
He further talked about the deep
commitment of Axis Bank to Ladakh, not
just through the commissioning of CSR
funds, but also through the involvement
of senior officers who travel each year
to volunteer and help implement the
project at the ground level. He also spoke
about deepening community engage-
ment with the local people through the
12 CSR Today October 2018
opening of new branches at Khaltse and
Kargil, which not only provide services,
but also employment to the local people.
Ms. Tashi Dolma spoke about the im-
portance of the project, of reaching and
using technology to improve learning of
students, placing due emphasis on the
fact the digital content was customized
to match the local curriculum. Ms. Sujata
Sahu expressed her appreciation towards
Axis Bank to extend its CSR reach to such
remote areas of Ladakh. The children of
MS Ayu Saboo presented a small cultural
program to welcome the guests.
Initiatives under this project:
Under this project, each school will
receive the following:
• Electricity – Electricity to power up a
Digital Lab in the school consisting of
a 200 W Solar Panel and Battery
• Furnishings – Desks and for the
DigiLab room in the school
• Tablets / Tablet PCs – 6 to 14 Android
tablets (depending on the enrolment
of the school) pre-loaded with a stu-
dent centric learning platform with
specially curated and graded content
to enhance learning
• L.E.D T.V – A 32” L.E.D T.V. to allow
the teacher to display digital content
as a part of her teaching process.
• Content Server – A Raspberry Pi
content server to create a local wi-fi
to sync student usage and house extra
content
• Books – Graded Computer Literacy
Books for individual students of
grades 1 to 8
• Educational Content – Specially
curated content for Grades 1 to 8
in Maths, EVS, English Reading and
Grammar, General Knowledge.
Exploratory stories, videos and games
aimed at increasing exposure, and
finally, access to software aimed at
building Digital Literacy
• Individual Student Learning
– Personalized Student Logins,
individual learning journeys and
student assessments that will be
stored in a central dashboard and
will be accessible to teachers and
the School Management within the
school, as well as centrally to the local
Administration.
• Individual Teacher Content –
Personalized Teacher logins to allow
teachers access to learning content
and to monitor progress of students
• Training for Subject Teachers as
well as Computer Literacy Teachers
to implement and run the program
in accordance with the school
curriculum
• Performance Monitoring –
Assessments, Usage and Performance
data that will be available to teach-
ers, the Headmaster and the local
administration
Status of Project:
With this inauguration, 108 schools
across Leh and Kargil will receive
DigiLabs. With multiple implementa-
tions happening simultaneously across
Leh and Kargil, the setup of all schools
is expected to be completed by early
to mid-October 2018. Over 300 teach-
ers across Ladakh have already been
trained, and a Dashboard to monitor the
progress of the project is being setup
centrally at the 17000 ft office and at
multiple Education offices.
Way forward:
In the last year(2019), the project will
provide Classroom furniture for each
of the schools, as well as improve the
Anganwadi Centres in the villages by
providing age appropriate TLM, furnish-
ings and training to the workers in an ef-
fort to set them up as model centres. The
3 year project will be closely monitored
by the Department of Education with the
help of 17000 ft Foundation.
news you can use
Mumbai Press Club pledges support to
Goonj ‘Rahat Floods’ campaign

A
s part of its social responsibility,
Mumbai Press Club is pledging
its support to Goonj campaign
‘Rahat Floods’, meant for raising
resources to support flood-affected
Kerala along with other states that
deserve help.
Goonj has been playing a critical role
in rehabilitating flood affected people
and is also engaged in rebuilding the
state from its current plight caused by
nature’s fury. Several Indian corporates
and institutions have partnered with
Goonj for this noble cause consider- for income tax benefits as applicable Companies0020can use this payment
ing its innovative and deep work and under Section 80G. link to make donations https://www.
proven credentials as an organization goonjapp.in/donation/. Goonj shall
that also specializes in disaster manage- For companies: ensure company contributions will be
ment and globally recognized for its As per views expressed by senior backed by documentation including an
efforts since 1999. officials in the Ministry of Corporate impact assessment report. Endurant
Affairs, corporate contributions to Partners shall liase with Goonj to as-
For individuals: Kerala floods is eligible for manda- sist companies keen to participate in
All members of the club can donate tory 2% CSR spend. Disaster relief can this Press Club appeal, to ensure their
to the cause using the Goonj payment cover wide range of activities that contributions shall qualify for the man-
link https://www.goonjapp.in/dona- can be appropriately shown under dated CSR spend as per Section 135 of
tion/. All contributions will be eligible various items listed in Schedule VII. the Companies Act.

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& save
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Magazine now
To subscribe, contact:
CSR TODAY, Indian Centre for CSR, 104, Nirman Kendra,
Dr. E. Moses Road, Mahalaxmi Estate, Mumbai- 400 011 (India).
Tel: +91 22 249 03078 / 03082 / 55260
CSR > example
India to Celebrate
10th Anniversary
of DaanUtsav
Join India’s festival of giving from October 2nd
to 8th along as celebrities and citizens come
together to bring a change
D
aan Utsav, India’s festival
of giving, is celebrating
10 years of bringing joy
in giving from October
2 – October 8, 2018.
The festival has become the biggest
platform for philanthropy across India
with many NGOs, corporates, schools,
colleges, communities and celebrities
associating to make it a bigger success.
From CXOs to homemakers, vegetable
vendors to designers and schoolchil-
dren to company employees– this is a
people’s movement to offer their time,
skills, money, etc. for social good. The
2017 edition of the festival saw more
than 6 million people from over 200
towns, cities and villages across the
country celebrating the festival.
Driven entirely by volunteers, the
10th edition is gearing up for a range
of interesting, large scale initiatives
across the country. In Mumbai, more
than 20,000 volunteers will conduct
an Art Pathshala for children of BMC
schools on October 6, teaching them the
art of making paper bags and conserv-
ing the environment. Chennai will see
thousands of citizens coming together
to provide sanitation and conservancy
workers a sumptuous “thank you” meal
on October 2. Bangalore will get togeth-
er to create 100 children’s playgrounds
in different parts of the city during the
Week. A Book Donation Drive in Delhi
14 CSR Today October 2018
will help ensure that books reach those
in need at the earliest. In Kolkata, Pujor
Jama will see thousands of new clothes
being donated to children in need.
Events are planned across the length
and breadth of the country, not just
in the major metros but even in small
towns, like Tilonia and Assagao in
the West, parts of Tripura in the East,
Nainital in the North and in the porta-
cabin schools of several naxal-affected
districts of Chattisgarh. Villages across
Odisha will once again organise a series
of Seva Mahotsavs, involving thousands
of villagers.
Most large scale national events will
continue to happen this year too. Across
over 20 cities in the country, the Goonj
#DaanUtsav Buses will travel through
the city, enabling people to donate
stationery, toys, clothes and other mate-
rial. Hundreds of IOC petrol pumps in
multiple cities will become venues for
non-profits to showcase their work and
seek support. And with the “digital era”
upon us, online platforms will not be far
behind, as people can make donations
across various e-commerce and online
grocery platforms, travel portals, cab
aggregators and food delivery services.
#GivingTuesdayIndia will be
celebrated on October 2 and expects
to see over Rs15crore raised through
online challenges and crowdfunding
campaigns this year. Platforms like
Danamojo, SmallChange, GivNow, Do-
natekart, Letzchange, GlobalGiving and
several others will offer matching and
challenge grants. The NPCI will promote
giving via UPI to 500+ NGOs, while the
IamHere app will allow 8700+ nonprof-
its to create engagement opportunities
for the public.
The 10th year celebrations have a
special logo. Rapper Big Deal alias Samir
Mohanty has created a special #DaanUt-
sav rap, while Aman Shahpuri from Luc-
know has composed a soulful song about
giving to commemorate the 10th year.
Sharing and giving, brings smiles
and happiness not only to the receiver
but also to the giver – so let’s celebrate
and encourage the spirit of giving with
Daan Utsav. Gifting a small sandwich to
the hungry child sitting on the streets,
or teaching slum children can bring a
smile or a real and long-lasting change.
The idea of this movement is to create
a culture of social commitment among
individuals and institutions alike in
making differences in the lives of the
less privileged with all our support.

Ford India Launches
Happy Schools Program
in Gurgaon/NCR
Anurag Mehrotra handing over the learning kits to the Principal of Govt. Pri-
mary School, Ghosi Village during the launch of Happy Schools in Gurgaon
G
oing further in its commit-
ment to India, Ford has an-
nounced the expansion of its
‘Happy Schools’ initiative in
Gurgaon/NCR.
Focused on bridging the gaps with the
introduction of a unique art-based-cur-
riculum, the Happy Schools program in
Gurgaon/NCR will cover 10 Government/
Aided primary schools in the first phase,
benefitting more than 1000 children.
The Happy Schools is Ford’s ongoing
initiative to improve access to holistic
education by addressing gaps in infra-
structure, academic support, health
and nutrition.
Under the program, Ford partners
with reputed NGOs to collectively con-
ceptualize and design social interven-
tions that address identified gaps specific
to each school.
For Gurgaon/NCR chapter, Ford will
partner Nalandaway, an NGO renowned
for using visual and performing arts to
Anurag Mehrotra Interacting With Students From Govt. Primary School,
Ghosi during the launch of Happy Schools in Gurgaon
help children be creative and express
through Arts. With a special Arts in Edu-
cation curriculum, the implementation
in Gurgaon/NCR will involve training
teachers to integrate fine arts, music,
drama and theatre exercises in day-to-
day learning.
“At the heart of Ford’s commitment
to India lie people and communities,”
said Anurag Mehrotra, president and
• Ford’s flagship CSR program aims at
bridging the gaps and improving access
to holistic education to make schools a
happy place for kids to return
• The first phase of Ford Happy Schools
program in Gurgaon/NCR to focus
on learning via a unique art-based-
curriculum across 10 Government schools
• Expansion of Happy Schools in Gurgaon/
NCR follows the success of the program
in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, presently
benefiting over 4000 children across 40
schools
CSR < example
managing director, Ford India. “With an
unwavering commitment to India and
its people, our social initiatives are truly
a reflection of our ‘Go Further’ journey
that continues to grow from strength to
strength every year.”
Ford’s Happy Schools initiative was
first announced at the Jaipur Literature
Festival in 2014 and has continued
to receive appreciation from State
Government(s) in Tamil Nadu and Guja-
rat. Presently, Happy Schools program
in India covers 40 schools in Chennai
and Sanand.
During the inauguration of the pro-
gram in Gurgaon/NCR, volunteers from
the company created mural paintings
to create awareness about Road Safety
among children and distributed learning
kits for each class.
Making the atmosphere livelier, Delhi
Chamber Choir, a group of underprivi-
leged children mesmerized the school
kids with their soulful performance.
October 2018 CSR Today 15
CSR > issue

Coming
full circle?
The state of circular economies
around the globe
High-income economies consume 10 times
the amount of resources per capita that low-
income economies do. So it’s worth asking:
What is their progress toward a circular
economy? The results are mixed, writes
Mkhail Klimentov

N
atural resource consump-
tion is growing at an
alarming rate. United
Nations estimates suggest
that the level at which
humanity is using up earth’s naturally
occurring resources, including water,
land, air, forests and minerals, will
double by 2050. This situation — a
byproduct of growing global popula-
tions, consumption trends in developed
economies and the economic transfor-
mation of developing countries — is
clearly unsustainable. In the long term,
our ravenous resource consumption
puts us on a course toward grave
economic, social and geopolitical con-
sequences, ranging anywhere from a
degradation of the standard of living,
to the disappearance of habitable land,
and even to war.
A transformation of economic mod-
els may be the solution. Currently, most
production and consumption follows
the linear “take-make-dispose” model; a
more sustainable option may be the cir-
cular “reduce-reuse-recycle” model. The
circular economy can “close the loop,”
explained one Oliver Wyman report,
by “reusing end-of-lifecycle products as
raw materials, sharing idle resources,
using renewable resources, or extend-
ing the product lifecycle,” ultimately
paving the way toward a reduction in
resource use.
The potential benefits of shifting to
the circular economy are tremendous.
There are the readily apparent benefits
of a system based on reuse, namely the
reduction of waste and emissions. But
even beyond this, the circular economy
would reduce dependence on imports
and stimulate economic growth by cre-
ating news jobs and spurring develop-
ment of green technologies.
High-income economies consume
10 times the amount of resources per
capita that low-income economies do.
So it’s worth asking: What is their prog-
ress toward a circular economy? The
results are mixed.
The United States
According to U.S. Environmental Protec-
tion Agency data (PDF), since 2010, trends
in recycling and landfilling of municipal
solid waste have remained static. A
small number of cities and organizations
have committed to principles and goals
aligned with the vision of the circular
economy: New York City’s Zero Waste
initiative, for example, aims to reduce the
amount of commercial waste by 90 per-

16 CSR Today October 2018


cent by 2030 through a range of govern-
ment programs and interventions.
In 2016, the U.S. Department of
Energy allocated $70 million in federal
funds to the REMADE Institute, with the
stated goal of “driving down the cost of
technologies essential to reuse, recycle
and remanufacture materials.” How-
ever, beyond this, there have been few
broad federal initiatives comparable to
those being pursued by China and the
European Union.
China
In 2009, China instituted the Circular
Economy Promotion Law; however, one
recent study suggests that the law has
not achieved its desired effect, with the
study’s authors noting that “the CEPL
has not realized its target of promoting
the transition of [China’s] economic de-
velopment model.” The study’s findings
also suggest that progress on developing
a circular economy is “closely linked
to the macroeconomic situation.” The
study’s authors developed a model that
tracked China’s level of adoption of a
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circular economy and found that this
metric fluctuated significantly in 2007
and 2008, during the time of the global
financial crisis.
Europe
In 2015, the European Commission ad-
opted a Circular Economy Action Plan,
with a stated goal of “[unlocking] the
growth and jobs potential of the circular
economy.” This was the first prong of
the European Union’s commitment to
transitioning toward a circular econo-
my. Soon after, in 2018, the EU adopted
new rules that set specific waste man-
agement targets for member states: By
2025, 65 percent of all packaging waste
would be recyclable; by 2030, that target
would increase by five points to 70 per-
cent. Similar goals were established for
municipal waste as well.
The ultimate goal? Phasing out
incineration and landfilling in favor
of reuse. Some estimates suggest that
the European economy could see a 3.9
percent GDP increase by shifting toward
circular economy practices.
Order CSR Today
Magazine now
To subscribe, contact:
CSR TODAY, Indian Centre for CSR, 104, Nirman Kendra,
Dr. E. Moses Road, Mahalaxmi Estate, Mumbai- 400 011 (India).
Tel: +91 22 249 03078 / 03082 / 55260
CSR < issue
The United Kingdom
In 2018, the U.K. Department for Envi-
ronment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
signaled its intention to sign on to and
abide by the EU’s circular economy
strategy, despite changes to the coun-
try’s member status and relationship
with the European Union following
Brexit. In fact, the director of environ-
mental quality at Defra noted that the
U.K.’s unique status gave the country
leeway to go beyond the EU’s targets.
Canada
Although only limited research is
done on the impact of a shift toward a
circular economy in Canada, analyses
of similar countries suggest huge ben-
efits. Spain, a country with a compa-
rable labor force, stood to add 400,000
jobs from such a shift, according to
research aggregated by the Smart Pros-
perity Institute.
(Source: https://www.greenbiz.com/article/
coming-full-circle-state-circular-economies-
around-globe}
CSR > issue

The Arctic’s
oldest, thickest ice
is breaking up
The melt-out above Greenland has alarming clocking in at 5.396 million square
kilometres (about 2.1 million square
implications for the future. If even the thickest, oldest miles). That’s the good news. (The 2012

ice is now susceptible to increased warming and record was set at 3.387 million square
kilometres on September 17.) But the
changes in weather, what hope is there for the rest melt-out above Greenland has alarming

of the Arctic? implications for the future. If even the

thickest, oldest ice is now susceptible
to increased warming and changes in
weather, what hope is there for the rest
of the Arctic?
The waters around Cape Morris
Jesup on Greenland’s north coast are
typically so frozen solid that they’re
known as the “last ice area.” It was
assumed this region would be the final
refuge for sea ice under global warm-
ing. Yet the open water area extended
all the way from Fram Strait to the
Lincoln Sea this summer.
Though this year’s openings were
driven more by wind than by hotter
temperatures, future temperature spikes
are cause for concern. The Cape Morris
Jesup weather station recorded 10 days
above freezing in February—in a place

A
t the start of August,
for the second time
this year, a corridor of
open water developed
along the north shore
of Greenland, this one more than 100
kilometres (over 62 miles) wide. The ice
very nearly melted out enough to make
the island country circum-navigable, as
some sea ice pundits put it, for the first
time in human history. Now, scientists
say, the oldest and thickest ice in the
Arctic is beginning to break up.
We’re unlikely to see a new record
sea ice extent minimum in the Arctic
Ocean come September 2018, despite
entering the summer melt season with
ice coverage lower than that at the same
time during the record-low year of 2012.
Sea ice extent in the Arctic is currently
usually sitting below -20 degrees Celsius
(-4 Fahrenheit) at that time of year.
“It’s hard to say if this has happened
before,” Walt Meier, a research scientist
at the National Snow and Ice Data Cen-
ter, told Mongabay. The satellite record
that tracks such things only dates back
to 1979. “If it has happened in the past
it’s been extremely rare.” He added that
the opening earlier this year—around
February when ice is nearly reaching its
maximum —extent was even rarer.

18 CSR Today October 2018


Sea ice is constantly moving across
the Arctic. The Arctic Ocean’s Transpo-
lar Drift Stream pushes ice away from
Siberia and piles it up around northern
Greenland and the Canadian Archipel-
ago, like rubble in thick ridges around
four to five meters thick. Some spots
are as much as 20 meters thick. As this
multi-year ice continues to get pushed
up against the coast, it’s unable to move.
“It’s pretty strong, solid ice,” he said.
But this summer, southerly winds in
a high-pressure system pulled the ice
away from the coast, creating an unex-
pected opening. Though the area often
experiences more northerly winds,
southerly winds aren’t entirely uncom-
mon, meaning this could happen again.
In years prior, the ice was too solid
for a change in wind direction or force
to budge it by much. But what this sum-
mer showed is that the “last ice area” is
significantly weaker than it has been in
the past. Even if this break-up has hap-
pened before, it’s likely that it’s taking
less extreme conditions for it to occur
now. “Just one extended period of winds
blowing north or northwest, et voilà,
CSR TODAY
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The ice is more
broken up. It’s thinner.
It’s less resistant to
wind. That’s a pretty
stark change in the
Arctic and in that
region in particular.
Walt Meier
Research Scientist, National
Snow and Ice Data Center
one can almost circumnavigate Green-
land. It says something about the state of
the ice,” sea ice enthusiast Neven Curlin
observed in his Arctic Sea Ice Blog.
Meier agreed: “The ice is more bro-
ken up. It’s thinner. It’s less resistant to
wind. That’s a pretty stark change in the
Arctic and in that region in particular.”
It’s also a change unlikely to affect
Greenland’s waters alone.
CSR < issue
Off the coast of Barrow and Prudhoe
Bay, Alaska, there’s another patch of
thick, multi-year ice. But it’s separated
from the main icepack, bobbing out in
the ocean on its own. In a normal year,
the sea ice would melt from the coast
inward—a fringe of open water along
the coast, followed by an impenetrable
ice pack in the larger ocean. But thicker
chunks have increasingly gone floating
off by themselves over the past decade.
And their increased surface area makes
them more susceptible to melting.
After the southerly winds that
opened up Greenland’s north coast
in February died down, the region
refroze—albeit as thinner ice, which
made the second open-water period this
August all the more possible. Curlin,
however, noted that will not happen
again. “Not until September,” he wrote.
“If it closes again, it will be because
northerly winds push the ice back
towards the Greenland coast.”
(Source: http://www.eco-business.com/
news/the-arctics-oldest-thickest-ice-is-
breaking-up/)
CSR > COVER STORY

Mrs. Rita Singh

Chairperson & MD
MESCO Steel

20 CSR Today October 2018

 CSR < COVER STORY

Mesco
Steely Resolve
for CSR
Mesco Steel is leading the way in Corporate Social Responsibility.
They have a defined multi-pronged and professional approach
to CSR. CSR Today speaks to Mrs. Rita Singh, Chairperson and
Managing Director of Mesco Steel (Mideast Integrated Steels
Limited) to know their philosophy of CSR.

T
he Company owns
steel plants and
mining reserves in
Odisha, Jharkhand,
Madhya Pradesh and
overseas. The vision
of the company is
spearheaded by Mrs. Rita Singh (Chair-
person and Managing Director) and
Mr. J K Singh (Chairman Emeritus). The
company primarily caters to players in
the domestic market but is now look-
ing at exporting its products to Middle
Eastern markets.
Incorporated in 1992 with assets in
coastal Odisha, MISL currently oper-
ates an iron ore mine and pig iron Staff at the working bay-Mesco Steel
plant in Odisha. MISL’s main products
are iron ore fines, calibrated lump ore the finished steel capacity to 3.5 mil- organization actively contributes
and pig iron. MISL currently operates lion tonnes. through sponsorship and develop-
two 389 cubic meter blast furnaces at The company is also committed to mental work are education, sports,
its plant in Kalinga Nagar, Odisha. The its role in the upliftment and develop- healthcare, infrastructure develop-
plant has a pig iron making facility of ment of society at large. The company ment, safety and environment. The
1.2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). undertakes a large number of com- Organization also runs an NGO called
MISL is planning a major expansion at munity development initiatives. Some “Krishna Ashram “for Welfare of stray
its plant in two phases which will take of the prominent areas in which the dogs and other animals.

October 2018 CSR Today 21

CSR > COVER STORY

What is CSR and sustainability ac-

cording to you? Is there any differ-
ence between the two?
For Mesco Steel sustainability is a part
of the organization’s vision and strategy
for way ahead. We at Mesco Steel have
positioned ourselves to strike a fine
balance between the social challenges,
economic benefits, environmental op-
portunities and threats.
CSR on the other hand is the record
of the contribution the organization has
made to the society in consonance with
the organization’s vision. The objectives
of the CSR program should be set keep-
ing in mind the nation, societal require-
ments and needs.

How did you start MESCO? What Steel manufacturing operations-Mesco Steel
are the drivers, impact, and focus of
the work of Mesco?
Mesco Steel was formed in the year
1992, with an aim to establish itself as
major player in the steel and min-
ing sector in the country. Since its
inception, the Company has followed
an ethical approach to business and
compassion towards the environment
and society. The company has emerged
as a strong business house with a very
large and elaborate economic and so-
cial footprint. Sustainable growth and
conservation of the natural resources
has always been the primary agenda
and crucial driving force of the organi-
zation. As a result of its varied efforts,
the company has managed to multiply Staff working in the plant-Mesco Steel
its growth manifold and has received
enormous public support. Mesco Steel’s CSR team works towards Healthcare:
the upliftment of its neighboring areas. We provide vital medical equipments
What is the best way to earn profit? Over the years, Mesco Steel has directed and healthcare infrastructure at our
Ethical practices have always been the its community services in the areas of mines, plants and units. We also orga-
primary block of our group’s business healthcare, education, infrastructural nize health camps in villages for pro-
strategy and creating wealth through development and employee welfare. A viding basic medical care. The health
sustainable conversion of natural re- number of well focused initiatives have camps organized are also directed
sources has always been our motto. been undertaken in this direction. towards creating awareness about
maintaining hygiene and prevention of
What is your CSR policy, principles What are the steps taken by you to various diseases.
or mission? make positive impact on society or
Mesco Steel believes in creating value environment? Primary Education & Sports:
for all its stakeholders. As a responsible Mesco Steel has directed its community The group provides sponsorship to
corporate, Mesco Steel is focused on services in the areas of healthcare, edu- bright students studying in the nearby
promoting the good of its large neigh- cation, infrastructural development and villages. We have also undertaken in-
boring communities. employee welfare. frastructural development activities at

22 CSR Today October 2018


Staff at work-Mesco Steel
Medical treatment facility at Krishna Ashram
nearby schools including construction
of toilets at schools in line with Swachh
Bharat Abhiyan. We have not only
provided trained teachers to the local
schools but also sponsored state level
players in various sports.
Infrastructure Development:
Some of the various infrastructure de-
velopments activities undertaken by the
Mesco Group include
• Excavation and digging of water
tank/tube well
• Construction of concrete roads
• Construction of boundary walls of
schools
• Providing water supply to nearby
villages
Staff Colony and recreation:
Staff quarters and various recreational
facilities have been set up by the com-
pany at its plant and mines.
The company regularly organizes
functions and get-togethers to pro-
mote employee well being and healthy
relationships amongst the community.
Through constant awareness, training
and review of safety process, safety au-
dits (External and Internal) the compa-
ny strives to improve and maintain the
highest safety standards. The company
CSR < COVER STORY
has also set up a dispensary inside the
factory premises to provide quick medi-
cal aid to its employees
NGO:
Mrs. Rita Singh, CMD, Mesco Group is
highly passionate about animals and
their well being and runs an NGO called
“Krishna Ashram” that gives refuge to
hundreds of stray animals and dogs.
The ashram houses around 600 animals,
which includes 400 dogs and 200 other
animals like cattle, monkeys, horses and
mules. The ashram has all the facilities
of veterinary services including trained
doctors, technicians, medicines, labora-
tory, operation theatres, X-ray machines
and ambulances for animals.
What keeps you going?
We have curated Mesco Group to become
a leader in the steel and mining sector.
We believe in creating and promoting
excellent organizational climate. I try to
lead by example and work towards bet-
terment of neighboring communities and
widening organization’s social footprint.
What do you think about this state-
ment – “Make profit and make
impact”?
These are essential requirements and
are an important part of our SOP.
With 2% mandatory spending on
CSR, is it possible that companies
might now start taking part in elec-
tions to control their stakes instead
of working with local representa-
tives for larger social good?
Doing social good and working towards
upliftment of the neighboring communi-
ties has always been an integral part of
Mesco Steel’s vision and leadership. The
company has always maintained a prin-
ciple of contributing and creating an im-
pact – the results always and invariably
follow. In order to do so we interact with
all levels of bureaucrat and public repre-
sentatives at zila level, panchayats, MLA’s,
local Union Leaders as well as state and
national level political leaders. Our aim is
to consistently strive to improve the social
footprint of the Mesco Group.
October 2018 CSR Today 23
CSR > necessity

National
Consultation
on Reducing Malnutrition
and Childhood Illnesses

W
orld Vision India
(WVI), a grass
root humanitar-
ian organiza-
tion hosted a
national level consultation on the theme
‘Enroute to Kuposhan Mukt Bharat’ at
the India International Centre, in New
Delhi yesterday. The panelists at the day
long consultation discussed on the need
for partnerships and focused multi-sec-
toral approach to scale up maternal and
child health services in the country.
The experts analysed India’s nutri-
tion landscape and reiterated the need
to develop a comprehensive plans with
the respective state government depart-
ments, to fulfill India’s commitment
to global health and nutrition target, (L to R) : Prof. Satish Agnihotri, IIT Mumbai; Mr. Cherian Thomas, National Director and CEO, World
Sustainable Development Goals and Vision India; Dr. Vinod Paul, Member, NITI Aayog; Dr. Sujeet Ranjan, Executive Director, The Coalition
for Food and Nutrition Security
National Nutrition Strategy. The consul-
tation was an opportunity to share and
disseminate best practices for reducing Food and Nutrition Security along with life. This is when the brain grows as
undernutrition, maximizing the impact World Vision India intends to facilitate well, if not properly fed it would lead
and reaching the most vulnerable scaling up of best practices to eradicate to intellectual loss. What you need is
through proven community mobiliza- malnutrition among vulnerable commu- breastfeeding, if there was optimum
tion strategies and scale up models. nities and put forward innovative ideas breastfeeding from the baby’s point
World Vision India has an integrated and solutions for tackling on-ground of view then we can reduce 16 per
program across 60 locations to improve challenges and policy formulations. cent of stunting. We need to focus on
the nutritional status of pregnant Dr. Vinod K.Paul, Member, Niti small babies, premature babies and
women, newborns, infants and children Aayog said, “There is a window, where undernourished babies, as they are
less than 2 years of age. Through this more children are becoming stunted, not sufficiently fed. The focus needs to
consultation, the National Coalition for which is the first 24 months of a child’s be given at this point of time, the first

24 CSR Today October 2018


1000 days. The action needs to be in the
area of continued breastfeeding, timely
introduction of complementary feeding,
prevention of diarrhea and hygiene
management. I urge all stakeholders
to join the ‘National Nutrition Month’
which is the month of September, so as
to create a big buzz around POSHAN. A
plethora of activities are planned, this
would be the month when the POSHAN
Abhiyan would be taken to a different
level across the country.”
Addressing the consultation through
a video message, Prof. M.S Swamina-
than stated, Patron and Emeritus Chair,
Coalition for Food and Nutrition Secu-
rity “I am extremely happy that World
Vision India is organizing a conference
on how to generate partnerships to
make a nutrition free India. We have
achieved some degree of progress in
the sense we have food security, physi-
cal availability of food, put in place the
National Food Security Act, and the
Integrated Child Development Services.
Nevertheless, the problem of malnutri-
tion still persists. If you want to have
healthy mothers, healthy children you
have to attack the different types of
hungers. I strongly believe we need to
now move from food security to nutri-
tion security, where not only calories
and proteins but also micronutrients
are there. All that needs to be done is
to bring agriculture, health and nutri-
tion together into a triangular rela-
tionship, which can only be achieved
through partnerships.”
“This consultation is a joint effort of
World Vision India and the coalition for
food and nutrition security. Malnutri-
tion is India’s silent emergency and one
of the greatest human development
challenges. To address malnutrition
there is a need for change in household
behaviour, strong supervision, indepen-
dent monitoring and knowledge man-
agement for effective policy, program,
and budgetary action.” stated Cherian
Thomas, National Director and CEO of
World Vision India
Speaking at the event, Dr. K.P. Was-
nik, Additional Commissioner (Exten-
sion) Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer’s
CSR < necessity
( L to R) : Dr. Anita Victor, Team Leader Health, World Vision India; Grana Pu Selvi, Strategic Lead,
Child Health and Nutrition, World Vision India; Dr. K.P. Wasnik, Additional Commissioner (Extension)
Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare, Govt. of India; Dr. Chandrakant S. Pandav, Vice Chair, The
Coalition for Food and Nutrition Security (CFNS), Mr. Cherian Thomas, National Director and CEO,
World Vision India; Dr. Sujeet Ranjan, Executive Director, The Coalition for Food and Nutrition Security;
Dr. Rashmi Avula, Research Fellow, IFPRI
Welfare, Govt. of India highlighted, “It It can also contribute to economy and
is the responsibility of all stakeholders increase government revenues to fund
to eradicate undernutrition and ensure infrastructure, health and malnutrition
sustainable human development. The prevention programmes. We should
cost of treating malnutrition is 27 times make nutrition visible and prioritize it
the cost of the cost of preventing it, at all levels.”
therefore the focus on prevention is World Vision India urged the Centre,
critical to reduce levels of undernutri- Civil Society organizations and indi-
tion. Agriculture plays a very impor- viduals working at the national level to
tant role in ensuring nutrition since collaborate and work towards ending
it has the potential to reduce poverty, malnutrition and childhood illnesses
a key contributor to undernutrition. by 2020.
The consultation included sessions
World Vision India on Overview of National Nutrition
Strategy, Partnerships and Collabora-
urged the Centre, tions the way towards a Nourished
Civil Society
India, Return on investment –What
counts?, Last mile solutions – What
organizations and Civil society organisations can do bet-
individuals working
ter? And Enhancing service delivery for
Kuposhan Mukt Bharat. Panelists for
at the national level the consultation include- Dr, Chan-
drakant S Pandav, Coalition Vice Chair,
to collaborate and The Coalition for Food and Nutrition
work towards ending Security, Ms. Rasmi Avula, Research Fel-
low, International Food Policy Research
malnutrition and Institute (IFPRI), Dr. Sujeet Ranjan, Ex-
childhood illnesses ecutive Director, The Coalition for Food
and Nutrition Security and Dr. Satish
by 2020. Agnihotri, IIT Mumbai.
October 2018 CSR Today 25
CSR > Initiative

Brillio
Technologies
Bringing Smiles Program -
Digital for Good
Technology companies can play an active role in delivering digital interventions for
development given the country’s leadership position on the global IT map. India’s vast
population is now getting connected in ways previously unimaginable. We are looking at
a future in which, STEM education/ digital technology will be a great enabler in delivering
education and growth.

T
here is a significant gap in
quality and access to educa-
tion between government
and private schools. Con-
sequently, there is a lack of
motivation to learn amongst students
from underprivileged backgrounds.
Government schools generally do not
have the necessary facilities, such as
science labs and computer labs.
Most companies wait to be profitable
to start their social responsibility pro-
gram. At Brillio, it was part our agenda
from the very first year of operations.
CSR was built-into our corporate strat-
egy, and we have pledged in the year
2015 to help 100,000 underprivileged
young minds by 2020.
Our team works with various gov-
ernment schools to reduce the digital co-innovate and intend to scale up in the world, and partnership with schools
divide. We strive to provide the same this space. End-to-end project manage- and nonprofit organizations. More than
level of exposure and innovation to all. ment of all our programs is taken care 818 (~32%) of Brillio’s 2,500-plus work-
We want to support and invest in a new in-house, by the CSR team; and with the force have volunteered 12,623 hours of
digital economy through smart classes, help of our employees, either physically their time to the effort.
e-learning projects, innovation work- or digitally. The primary focus of Bringing Smiles
shops, interactive self-learning initia- Launched in 2015, Bringing Smiles is to prepare young people, in the 10 to
tives, and active skills sharing. Along combines financial resources from 16 year age bracket, globally for careers
with our umbrella of NGO partners, we Brillio, employee engagement around and life in a digital-centric, entrepre-

26 CSR Today October 2018

 CSR < Initiative

neurial, and disruptive world. We have

reached 63 schools and impacted some
23,747 children so far.
A strong CSR effort is a vital part of
the Brillio culture. The workforce has
pledged to donate 100,000 hours of their
time to CSR programs by 2020 and, ulti-
mately, reach 100,000 students.
Brillio’s Bringing Smiles efforts are
currently focused on schools in India
where STEM education is virtually
non-existent.

Brillio iMobile Lab (STEM Program)

| Impacting 1000 students | 12 – 15
Schools | NGO Partner: Agastya
International Foundation
The i-mobile lab fills a significant gap
in education by providing Science &
Tech labs to children in government
schools, by filling the gap and lack of
opportunities for interactive, hands-on
learning. The carefully curated design
of the i-Mobile blends traditional, non-
traditional and digital approaches to
teaching through science and technol-
ogy experiments.

E-Teaching in Rural Schools

(Connecting India with Bharat) |
Impacting 300 students | 5 Schools |
NGO Partner: eVidyaloka
This program aims to empower
hundreds of children from schools in
rural India by providing them access to
quality education. The remote teach-
ing model brings together passionate
people from across the globe, leveraging
the power of simple modern technol-
ogy. Brillio Volunteer e-Teachers engage
and teach children in five rural schools
on a weekly basis, right from their
cubicles or living rooms. Currently, we
haveset-up rural teaching classrooms in
Karnataka, Bihar & Jharkhand and our
employees also teach in Andhra Pradesh
& West Bengal schools.

Empowering the disabled |1250+

books recorded; benefitting
500+ Divyangs | NGO Partner:
Samarthanam Trust
We have set-up a digital library to make
education accessible for the people with

October 2018 CSR Today 27

CSR > COVER STORY
visual disabilities, dyslexia and verbal
processing difficulties. The books are
being scanned, typed, recorded and ed-
ited by Brillio Volunteers and the team
at Samarthanam to ensure optimum
quality of work to provide easy access
to content in a digital audio mode to
persons with disabilities.
Tinker Lab – STEM program|
Impacting 600 students | 2 Schools
| NGO Partner: Samabhavana
Society (STEM Learning)
We have set-up tinker labs in two Govt.
Schools in Bangalore aimed at fostering
curiosity, creativity, and imagination in
young minds. At the end of this program
students will be able to create software
program using Scratch, mobile applica-
tions using MIT App Inventor, design &
print 3D models and create robots like
Color detector, Obstacle avoider, light
detector, etc.
Science Labs | Impacting 2811
students | 12 Schools | NGO
Partner: Samabhavana Society
(STEM Learning)
We set-up science labs in 12 Govt.
Schools in Karnataka which stimulate
curiosity, provide practical opportuni-
ties to explore a concept in easy ways,
develop appropriate hands-on experi-
ence in understanding science and
its concepts
28 CSR Today October 2018
Bridging Digital Divide: Digital
Classrooms in Govt. Schools |
Impacting 4500 students | 30
Schools | NGO Partners: SRF
Foundation & Reaching Hand
Brillio has set-up 30 digital learning
centers in India. We have provided
e-learning/ digital classrooms to sev-
eral schools, consisting of content,
aligned with the syllabus. These kits
also include tools such as projectors,
speakers, etc. that make learning more
interactive which will empower them
with digital education.
TGIF – Friday Classes: Every
Friday Teaching at Govt. Schools |
Impacting 300 students | 2 Schools
Another unique employee volunteer-
ing program which we introduced is
called TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday!).
Previously, Fridays were associated
with long lunches and the fun and
leisure that weekends promise. Now,
TGIF has a new meaning. Every Friday
between 2-3.30 pm, Brillio employ-
ees, or ‘Brillians’ as we call ourselves,
get together and immerse in various
volunteering programs that make
a meaningful impact. As part of the
initiative, they visit four government
schools in Trivandrum and Bengaluru,
to teach English and Mathematics to
students. The classes are conducted
through a structured syllabus that has
been developed by feedback from the
school and our internal assessment of
the students. This supplements what
they learn in the class and helps them
improve their grades.
Digital Day and Science Day
| Impacting 150 students | 22
Schools
A program launched by Brillio, where
we invite children from various govern-
ment schools to attend half-day work-
shops every alternate month, either at
their schools or even as a field trip to
Brillio offices. Providing a real-world
context in technology and science, these
workshops expose the children to the
latest technologies such as Wearables,
VR, AR, AI, experience how mobile apps
work, among others. The children also
get an opportunity to work on exciting
science experiments that supplement
their daily education.
Partner with T and B-Schools – We
engage with B School in advocating
business responsibility, and we con-
ducted an idea contest and Case study
competition with SIBM, Pune where
hundreds of MBA students from Top B
School Participated. IIT Delhi invited
Brillio to share Digital in CSR program.
We also conducted a social analytics
challenge with TAPMI, Manipal.
Computer Labs & Libraries -Comput-
er lab/ Libraries at 6 schools in Karna-
taka and Kerala.

Big cities vow to
make buildings carbon
neutral by 2050
Houses, offices and
other buildings account
for more than half of
all planet-warming
gasses emitted by
urban areas.
L
eaders of some of the world’s
biggest cities vowed on to
make all buildings carbon
neutral by 2050, ensuring
they make no contribution to
climate change.
From London to Tokyo, 19 mayors
said they would put in place regulations
requiring all new buildings to be carbon
neutral by 2030 and all existing ones to
reach the same goal by 2050.
“Climate change poses an existential
threat to New York City, and making
our buildings more sustainable and
efficient is a key part of the solution,”
said Mayor of New York Bill de Blasio
in a statement.
Houses, offices and other buildings
account for more than half of all planet-
warming gasses emitted by urban areas,
according to C40 Cities, a network of
cities pushing climate action that shep-
herded the latest commitment.
In London, Los Angeles and Paris,
the share is as high as 70 percent of all
greenhouse emissions, it said.
“Paris is home to some of the world’s
most beautiful and iconic buildings...
we recognise our responsibility to en-
sure every building, whether historic or
brand new, helps deliver a sustainable
future,” said Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo.
CSR < initiative
Experts said the target was
feasible, but that more cities
would have to follow suit if
the world was to achieve the
Paris climate goals.
The 2015 Paris Agreement
set a goal of limiting a rise
in average world surface
temperatures to “well below”
2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial
times, while “pursuing ef-
forts” to limit rising tempera-
tures to 1.5C (2.7F).
“The biggest challenge The London skyline covered in smog. Cities like London, Los
is ensuring that developers Angeles and Paris share as high as 70 per cent of all green-
house emissions in the planet.
avoid cutting corners to save
relatively small amounts in
construction today, by passing retrofit of this century,” he told the Thomson
costs onto future owners,” said Eric Reuters Foundation.
Lounsbury, director of environmental Buildings that are net carbon neutral
consultancy Carbon Trust. are powered by renewable sources and
“To achieve the ambitions of the Par- consume little energy, typically using
is Agreement we will need all buildings LED lights, winter insulation and roof-
to be net zero emissions by the middle top solar panels.
“Buildings are a large contributor to
greenhouse gas emissions, so to meet
reductions set out in the Paris Agree-
ment, it’s critical that we tackle this
Buildings are a
problem,” said Helen Clarkson, head of
The Climate Group, a charity promoting
large contributor climate action.
to greenhouse gas The pledge was signed by London,
emissions, so to meet Copenhagen, Johannesburg, Los Ange-
les, Montreal, New York City, Newbury-
reductions set out in port, Paris, Portland, San Francisco, San
the Paris Agreement, Jose, Santa Monica, Stockholm, Sydney,
it’s critical that we Tokyo, Toronto, Tshwane, Vancouver
tackle this problem. and Washington DC.
Helen Clarkson (Source: http://www.eco-business.com/news/
Head, The Climate Group big-cities-vow-to-make-buildings-carbon-
neutral-by-2050/)
October 2018 CSR Today 29
CSR > initiative

IIT Roorkee inaugurates

Design Innova
• GOI selects IIT Roorkee
as one of the DICs
under the National
Initiative for Design
Innovation to advance
design and innovation
in the region to improve
the quality of life
• DIC to operate in Hub &
Spoke model

T
he Indian Institute of
Technology Roorkee has
launched the Design Inno-
vation Centre (DIC) named
(Navonmesh)with a project
outlay of Rs. 10 crores.
Funded by the Ministry of Human
Resource Development (MHRD), Gov-
ernment of India, the centre aims to
address issues of the Himalayan Region
using locally available resources as well
as cater to National Priorities.
Inaugurating the centre, Prof. Ajit
K. Chaturvedi, Director-IIT Roorkee
said, “The technical/non-technical col-
leges/institutes and schools can involve
themselves in mentoring and support-
ing innovation and design activities, to
address general issues & issues specific
to the Himalayan region. This will also
help Indian Farmers and develop in-
novative means & ways to enhance
their growth & productivity. The centre
will usher in a new culture among the
stakeholders of the state to address the
difficulties faced by the common people
From L to R - Prof. Manoranjan Parida, Dean Sponsored Research & Industrial Consultancy (SRIC), IIT
Roorkee; Prof. P. V. M. Rao, Head of the Department of Design, IIT Delhi; Prof. Ajit K. Chaturvedi, Director,
IIT Roorkee & Prof. Apurbba Kumar Sharma, Coordinator of Design Innovation Centre (DIC), IIT Roorkee
in their daily life. The emphasis is on nology Uttarakhand (NITUK), Indian
the development of a design culture and Institute of Management, Kashipur (IIM
interdisciplinary work. All infrastruc- Kashipur) and College of Technology, GB
tural support will be provided to the Pant University of Agriculture and Tech-
centre to make it one of the leading cen- nology (GBPUA&T), Pantnagar.” The
tres”. Professor Chaturvedi also pointed Design Innovation Centre, IIT Roorkee
out the importance of humanisation will be headed by Prof. Apurbba Kumar
of technologies using the platform of Sharma as the Coordinator and Princi-
DIC. He emphasized on exploring the pal Investigator of the centre.
unique opportunity of taking technolo- Prof. PVM Rao, Head of the Depart-
gies to the farmers of the state through ment of Design at IIT Delhi, while
the KVK (Krishi Vikas Kendra) network speaking as the guest of honour,
developed by the partner institute Col- explained the concept of such an in-
lege of Technology, G B Pant University novation centre and said, “I have full
of Agriculture and Technology. confidence on IIT Roorkee for accom-
He further added, “DIC, IIT Roor- plishing the targeted tasks. I am happy
kee will operate in the Hub and Spoke about the unique programs targeted by
model in which IIT Roorkee will be the Design Innovation Centre at IIT Roor-
Hub institute with three other premier kee. A centre of design would make
institutes in the region acting as spokes tools and technology accessible to make
namely, National Institute of Tech- human life easier while solving many

30 CSR Today October 2018


ation Centre
From L to R - Prof. P. V. M. Rao, Head of the Department of Design, IIT Delhi, Prof. Ajit K. Chaturvedi,
Director, IIT Roorkee, lighting the lamp & Prof. Apurbba Kumar Sharma, Coordinator of Design Innova-
tion Centre (DIC), IIT Roorkee
environment-related problems.”Prof.
Rao has also had shared some of his
experiences at IIT Delhi on developing
design programs and explained a few
schemes how to make design interest-
ing to the students.
Prof Pradyuman Vyas, Director NID,
Ahmedabad, addressed the gathering
using Skype. He emphasised the need
of coming together of different profes-
sionals such as engineers and doctors
for developing innovative solutions for
the country.
The DIC’s objective is to develop in-
novative designs primarily to address
the local issues which need low-cost
solutions and to nurture and advance
the culture of design and innovation in
the region to improve the quality of life.
The DIC aims to produce region-specific
products and will support innovative
proposals for product development.
Design Innovation Centre, along with
its patrons will focus on the specific
problems of the region which will
benefit the society. The DIC has already
identified several products that are go-
ing to be developed under its aegis. The
center will develop products like ‘green
furniture’ using the forest wastes – that
will potentially help minimizing haz-
ards due to forest fire, advanced crop
harvester to make the life the farmers
easy, advanced loom make increase the
productivity of the local weavers and all
terrain vehicles to help people carrying
loads to areas where formal roads are
not there. Another important focus of
the center is to develop assistive devices
for people with mobility and sensory
impairments. IIT Roorkee already has
an ecosystem in place in terms of well-
CSR < initiative
established Tinkering Lab, technology
incubation center and a mechanism for
protecting intellectual properties that
supports the design center’s activities.
Additionally, it has some unique out-
reach programs such as COMAL (Com-
mon Man to Laboratory), under which
DIC will connect with the common
man, who often has innovative ideas,
but usually gets deprived of proper
mentoring, to turn his ideas to reality.
Further, the center will focus on taking
the laboratory scale developments to
the common man as well as the relevant
industries through its schemes like P2P
(Prayogshala to Prayogkshetra) and U2U
(Udbhavan to Utpadan)
The DIC will also provide following
study programmes:
• Minor specialisation on Innovation
Management and Product design.
• Modular programme (Certificate
courses) on focused areas / design
of different time durations (1-3
months).
• Elective courses in UG/PG pro-
grammes
• Two 2-year Masters Programmes on
Industrial Design and Innovation
Management (MIM)
In addition to this, the DIC will also
take up Industrial Consultancy and
Collaborative Activities besides con-
ducting Workshops/Seminars and U2U
(Udbhavan to Utpadan). The Design
and Innovation Centre will evolve a
unique model of focusing on the devel-
opment of a culture of collaborative
partnership with society, industry and
other stakeholders to further develop
state-of-the-art outcomes like address-
ing the needs of differently-abled
people which is among the priority
areas at IIT Roorkee.
October 2018 CSR Today 31
CSR > collaboration

Dr. W.R. Reddy, Director

General NIRDPR addressing
the delegation in his open-
ing remarks kickstarting
the week-long visit

Officials from Sri Lanka visit NIRDPR

for training on local governance,
decentralization, and social welfare
programming for rural development
Week-long exposure visit for international delegation the knowledge and experience that
would help them make informed deci-
organized by The Asia Foundation & NIRDPR

T
he Centre for Good Gover-
nance and Policy Analysis
(CGGPA) at the National In-
stitute of Rural Development
and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR)
coordinated an international exposure
visit of a delegation from the Northern
Provincial Council, Sri Lanka from 17-
21 September at the institute campus
in Hyderabad.
Twelve elected representatives of
the Northern Provincial Council, Sri
Lanka, including the Chairman, Deputy
Chairman and members and six govern-
ment’s officials (Chief Secretary, Secre-
tary – Council Secretariat, Secretary –
Ministry of Education, Director – Social
Services and three representatives of
The Asia Foundation (TAF) participated
in this visit.
The visit was intended to focus on
rural development and decentralized
practices in devolved institutions. It
aimed at equipping the delegation with
sions and put in place effective policies
within their local settings to improve
policy formulation and implementation.
Following a thorough research of
the specific needs of the programme
and the range of participants, NIRDPR
undertook the following exercises prior
to and during the visit:
• Designing a course for a weeklong
exposure tour
• Identifying appropriate resource
persons/institutions for conduct-
ing technical sessions on selected
themes/topics

32 CSR Today October 2018


• Working with the identified resource
persons to structure the content and
pedagogy of sessions and ensure
quality and congruence of objectives
• Ensuring timely delivery of sessions
and background materials
• Identifying appropriate local govern-
ment institutions for field visits to
showcase live examples of policies
and practices
• Liaising with the identified institu-
tions to organize a presentation of
the leading practice, followed by
interactions with key officials and
process managers
• Facilitating all local logistics includ-
ing inland travel, accommodation
and local transport
• Conducting a debriefing session/
event to help ground some of the
learnings and observations for fol-
low up action in Sri Lanka
Talking about the institutional col-
laboration, Dr. K. Prabhakar, from the
Centre for Good Governance and Policy
Analysis (CGGPA) at NIRDPR said, “the
international collaborative exposure
cum training to NPA delegation at
NIRDPR is a cross-country exchange of
knowledge and sharing of experiences.
The main objective of this visit is to fo-
cus on the exposure to the Indian model
of decentralization, and in particular,
the functioning of the Panchayati Raj
system and rural development pro-
grammes towards poverty eradication,
skilling etc.”
The week-long visit exposed the del-
egation to training and lectures on wide
ranging topics including inter alia the
history of Panchayati Raj in India; gen-
der governance; role of elected repre-
sentatives in rural development; experi-
ences under the initiatives of MGNREGA
in rural development; good governance;
and Gram Panchayat Development Plan
(GPDP). The programme also incorpo-
rated lectures from experts from the
sector such as Mr. Manoj Kumar, CEO
Naandi Foundation who spoke about
promoting social entrepreneurs and
Ms. Sowmya Kidambi, Director Society
for Social Audit, Accountability and
Transparency (SSAAT) who shed light
CSR < collaboration
on the experiences with social audits in
development programmes.
Manoj Kumar, CEO Naandi Foun-
dation said that “as an entrepreneur
trying to create a large scale transfor-
mative business like my Araku Coffee
(which is both about sustainable liveli-
hood and reversal of climate change),
the main qualities one needs is tonnes
of fortitude, impeccable integrity and
oodles of patience supported by capital
that understands that you are not
looking for unicorns but to tame wild
elephants in the room.”
The exposure visit, that also had the
financial assistance from the Depart-
ment of Foreign Affairs and Trade,
The Delegation from the Northern Provincial Council Sri Lanka with Dr. W. R. Reddy, Director General
NIRDPR sitting in the centre
Government of Australia, incorporated
visits to the NIRDPR Rural Technology
Park (RTP), field visit to the Gangade-
vipalli village and a tour of Hyderabad
city for the participants.
Speaking on behalf of the partici-
pants of the delegation from Sri Lanka,
Dr. Gopa Kumar K Thampi, Director,
Economic Governance, The Asia Foun-
dation, Colombo- Sri Lanka said that,
“after a protracted conflict that lasted
almost three decades, the Northern
Province of Sri Lanka elected a new
Council in September 2013 following a
historic poll that saw a voter turnout
exceeding eighty percent of the eligible
population. The incumbent Northern
Provincial Council faces a daunting
array of challenges, including rebuild-
ing critical infrastructure, rehabilitat-
ing war affected population, leading
economic development and ensuring
political stability. Alongside, a key
capacity challenge is to strengthen the
knowledge and capacity of the elected
Council members, and the executives’
visit to NIRDPR may help get enrich
them with a first-hand exposure to rural
innovations, processes of decentraliza-
tion and flagship programs.”
C.V. Kandiah Sivagnanam, Chairman,
Northern Provincial Council Sri Lanka
added, “The learnings from the exposure
visit to NIRDPR would help us apply
some of the policies and practices in our
province, and we can introduce the train-
ing programmes in the future as well.”
This exposure visit was built into re-
cently launched Sri Lanka Subnational
Governance Program (SNGP) which
seeks to improve the subnational gover-
nance in Sri Lanka through the effective
institutionalization of tested models for
resilience, representation, and redress.
Given that a key component of the SNGP
is consistent engagement with the Na-
tional Provincial Council, NIRDPR was
chosen for the capacity building of these
officials as it is a globally recognized
centre of excellence in rural develop-
ment and decentralized governance.
This exposure visit has sought to en-
able the participants to strengthen local
governance by sharing insights on the
pioneering initiatives of NIRDPR in par-
ticipatory planning and social welfare
programming.
October 2018 CSR Today 33
CSR > concern

The world of
Plastics,
in numbers
Typically derived from petroleum or natural gas, these are
long chain molecules with hundreds to thousands of links in
each chain. Long chains convey important physical properties,
such as strength and toughness, that short molecules simply
cannot match, writes Eric Beckman, Professor of Petroleum
Engineering, University of Pittsburgh

F
rom its early beginnings
during and after World War
II, the commercial industry
for polymers — long chain
synthetic molecules of which
“plastics” are a common misnomer —
has grown rapidly. In 2015, over 320 mil-
lion tons of polymers, excluding fibers,
were manufactured across the globe.
Until the last five years, polymer
product designers typically have not
considered what will happen after the
end of their product’s initial lifetime.
This is beginning to change, and this is-
sue will require increasing focus in the
years ahead.
The plastics industry
“Plastic” has become a somewhat mis-
guided way to describe polymers. Typi-
cally derived from petroleum or natural
gas, these are long chain molecules with
hundreds to thousands of links in each
chain. Long chains convey important
physical properties, such as strength
and toughness, that short molecules
simply cannot match.
“Plastic” is actually a shortened form
of “thermoplastic,” a term that describes
polymeric materials that can be shaped
and reshaped using heat.
The modern polymer
industry effectively was
created by Wallace Caroth-
ers at DuPont in the 1930s.
His painstaking work on
polyamides led to the com-
mercialization of nylon,
as a wartime shortage of
silk forced women to look
elsewhere for stockings.
When other materials
became scarce during World War II, re-
searchers looked to synthetic polymers
to fill the gaps. For example, the supply
of natural rubber for vehicle tires was
cut off by the Japanese conquest of
Southeast Asia, leading to a synthetic
polymer equivalent.
Curiosity-driven breakthroughs in
chemistry led to further development
of synthetic polymers, including the

34 CSR Today October 2018


now widely used polypropylene and
high-density polyethylene. Some poly-
mers, such as Teflon, were stumbled
upon by accident.
Eventually, the combination of need,
scientific advances and serendipity
led to the full suite of polymers readily
recognized as “plastics.” These poly-
mers rapidly were commercialized,
thanks to a desire to reduce products’
weight and to provide inexpensive
alternatives to natural materials such
as cellulose or cotton.
Types of plastic
The production of synthetic polymers
globally is dominated by the polyolefins
— polyethylene and polypropylene.
Polyethylene comes in two types:
“high density” and “low density.” On the
molecular scale, high-density polyeth-
ylene looks like a comb with regularly
spaced, short teeth. The low-density
version, on the other hand, looks like a
comb with irregularly spaced teeth of
random length — somewhat like a river
and its tributaries if seen from high
above. Although they’re both polyethyl-
ene, the differences in shape make these
materials behave differently when
molded into films or other products.
Polyolefins are dominant for a few
reasons. First, they can be produced us-
ing relatively inexpensive natural gas.
Second, they’re the lightest synthetic
polymers produced at large scale; their
density is so low that they float. Third,
polyolefins resist damage by water, air,
grease, cleaning solvents — all things
that these polymers could encounter
when in use. Finally, they’re easy to
shape into products, while robust
enough that packaging made from them
won’t deform in a delivery truck sitting
in the sun all day.
However, these materials have seri-
ous downsides. They degrade painfully
slowly, meaning that polyolefins will
survive in the environment for de-
cades to centuries. Meanwhile, wave
and wind action mechanically abrades
them, creating microparticles that can
be ingested by fish and animals, making
their way up the food chain toward us.
Recycling polyolefins is not as
straightforward as one would like, ow-
ing to collection and cleaning issues.
Oxygen and heat cause chain dam-
age during reprocessing, while food
and other materials contaminate the
polyolefin. Continuing advances in
chemistry have created new grades
of polyolefins with enhanced strength
and durability, but these cannot always
mix with other grades during recycling.
What’s more, polyolefins are often
combined with other materials in multi-
layer packaging; while these multi-layer
constructs work well, they are impos-
sible to recycle.
Polymers are sometimes criticized
for being produced from increasingly
scarce petroleum and natural gas. How-
ever, the fraction of either natural gas
or petroleum used to produce polymers
The automotive sector uses increasing
amounts of thermoplastics, primarily to
reduce weight and hence achieve greater fuel
efficiency standards.
is very low; less than 5 percent of either
oil or natural gas produced each year is
employed to generate plastics. Further,
ethylene can be produced from sugar-
cane ethanol, as is done commercially
by Braskem in Brazil.
How plastic is used
Depending upon the region, packaging
consumes 35 to 45 percent of the syn-
thetic polymer produced in total, where
the polyolefins dominate. Polyethylene
terephthalate, a polyester, dominates
the market for beverage bottles and
textile fibers.
Building and construction consumes
20 percent more of the total polymers
produced, where PVC pipe and its
chemical cousins dominate. PVC pipes
are lightweight, can be glued rather
than soldered or welded, and greatly
resist the damaging effects of chlorine
in water. Unfortunately, the chlorine
CSR < concern
atoms that confer PVC this advantage
make it very difficult to recycle — most
is discarded at the end of life.
Polyurethanes, an entire family of re-
lated polymers, are widely used in foam
insulation for homes and appliances, as
well as in architectural coatings.
The automotive sector uses increas-
ing amounts of thermoplastics, primar-
ily to reduce weight and hence achieve
greater fuel efficiency standards.
The European Union estimated (PDF)
that 16 percent of the weight of an
average automobile is plastic compo-
nents, most notably for interior parts
and components.
Over 70 million tons of thermoplas-
tics per year are used in textiles, mostly
clothing and carpeting. More than 90
percent of synthetic fibers, largely
polyethylene terephthalate, are pro-
duced in Asia. The growth in synthetic
fiber use in clothing has come at the
expense of natural fibers such as cot-
ton and wool, which require significant
amounts of farmland to be produced.
The synthetic fiber industry has seen
dramatic growth for clothing and
carpeting, thanks to interest in special
properties such as stretch, moisture-
wicking and breathability.
As in the case of packaging, tex-
tiles are not commonly recycled. The
average U.S. citizen generates over
90 pounds of textile waste each year.
According to Greenpeace, the average
person in 2016 (PDF) bought 60 percent
more items of clothing every year than
the average person did 15 years earlier,
and keeps the clothes for a shorter
period of time.
(Source: https://www.greenbiz.com/article/
world-plastics-numbers)
October 2018 CSR Today 35
CSR > sustainability

H
alf of consumers in
Southeast Asia would pay
more for environmen-
tally-friendly products,
according to a global sur-
vey conducted by Nielsen in 2017. That
alone might suggest that sustainable
products are taking off in the region.
But are Asian consumers putting their
money where their mouth is?
“Consumers voice positive opinion
for sustainable products but do not
always back it up at the check-out coun-
ter,” said Regan Leggett, executive direc-
tor of thought leadership and foresight

Will sustainability
at Nielsen, a global measurement and
data analytics company. “But if the price
is competitive for two brands, sustain-

ever trump price for

ability could be the deciding factor.”
He added that while there has been
positive momentum for sustainable

products in Asia, it is difficult to accu-
rately measure how well they’re selling.
In many industries, the definition of
what makes a product sustainable is
often fuzzy. Furthermore, consumers
are often unaware of a brand’s true
sustainability credentials.
According to Leggett, global demand
for more environmentally-friendly and
ethically-made products should influ-
ence more companies to drive sustain-
ability initiatives and make their claims
more public.
However, as climate change and oth-
er environmental issues such as waste
and plastic pollution become a growing
concern for Asian consumers, sustain-
able products are now more popular in
the region than ever before.
In 2017, the total volume of green
purchases made on China’s leading e-
commerce retailer JD.com increased by
71 per cent the same year the company
more than doubled its range of sustain-
able products. Almost half of the sales
were made by millennials aged 26 to
35, while the products that enjoyed the
highest premiums were childcare and
beauty products.
“People are definitely willing
to purchase more sustainable and
ethical products, but they also want to
maintain their standard of living and
Asian consumers?
People often say they will pay a premium for sustainable
products. But there’s a difference between what people
say in a survey and what they actually do in a store. Are
Asian consumers ready to pay more for green goods?
convenience,” said Stephanie Dickson, ucts for 5 to 10 per cent less than the
founder of Green is the New Black Asia, market rate.
an eco-conscious lifestyle festival. Skincare and cosmetics label Lush,
This is especially true in Singapore which opened in Singapore in 2011,
where consumers tend to prioritise cost similarly gives its customers the option
and convenience. When the country’s of going Naked, by offering lotions,
major supermarket chains considered shower gels and shampoo bars pack-
introducing a levy on plastic bags to aging-free. According to the director of
ease the country’s waste problem, the Lush Singapore, Sohana Rouf Chowd-
idea received heated criticism from cus- hury, the brand has seen an increase
tomers and the charge was abandoned. in customers looking for sustainable
Nonetheless, more eco-friendly products. Lush sold 2,000 shampoo bars
stores have cropped up around the in Singapore last month, saving 6,000
country, encouraging sustainable con- plastic bottles from being created.
sumption while also offering products Asian consumers are more inclined
at low prices. UnPackt and The Social to buy sustainable utility items that
Space, which sell goods like shampoo, can be easily weaved into everyday
dishwashing liquid, cereal and other life. “People are still looking for small
daily food items in bulk without any replacements like a disposable cup or a
packaging, are able to sell their prod- bamboo straw or tapao [takeaway] con-

36 CSR Today October 2018


tainers,” said Mayur Singh, co-founder
of both Coopita, a retail platform that
trades artisanal products from around
the region, and The Green Collective, a
pop-up store which offers a mix of sus-
tainable products from different brands.
When charged with a higher price
for these items, Asian consumers “are
okay with making that choice,” he said.
This appears to be true of big-
ticket purchases as well as lower value
items. Preeti Gupta, corporate affairs
director for BMW Group Asia, shares
that the German automaker has seen
sales of its electric and plug-in elec-
tric hybrid (PHEVs) vehicles increase
steadily since the launch of its PHEV
range and the BMW i3 in Singapore in
September last year.
“Purchasing a vehicle is a long-term
investment, and while the initial cost of
owning a EV or PHEVs may be slightly
more expensive than a petrol or diesel
vehicle, the overall long-term costs are
lower,” she said.
“The positive increase in sales is
proof that our customers in Singapore
are willing to pay a premium, initially,
to drive an electrified vehicle.”
What do Asian consumers
want?
As a whole, benefits to health and well-
ness, as well as brand trust, are two
key factors driving consumer decisions
in Asia. In a 2015 report by Nielsen,
seven in 10 consumers in the region
Sustainable products
typically last longer
and have positive
social impacts that
make consumers feel
good about buying
them.
Stephanie Dickson
Founder, Green Is The New
Black Asia
prioritised their health and well-being,
with the same proportion of consumers
favouring products made with natural
or organic ingredients.
Dickson agreed that a lot of what
influences Asian consumers to buy
sustainable stems from their own
well-being, although she notes that the
struggle to find smaller brands often
deters consumers from switching to
sustainable products.
“They don’t really know where
to purchase, where to put their
money,” she said. “They’re sceptical
about bigger brands and can’t find the
smaller brands.”
Last year, close to five thousand
people flocked to Green is the New
Black: The Conscious Festival, where
over sixty eco-conscious brands rang-
ing from fashion, lifestyle and beauty
showcased their wares. According to
Dickson, people are more likely to buy
sustainable products if they have access
to the right brands.
Putting consumers directly in touch
with the people behind these smaller
brands bridges the trust gap that often
exists between consumers and big
companies that are not transparent
enough about their practices. Accord-
ing to Regan, consumers would switch
brands if a company was able to fulfil
basic attributes such as quality and
convenience while living up to sustain-
able values.
Price prevails over
sustainability in Asia
It would be impossible to turn all con-
sumers on to sustainable products. So
companies in Asia are expanding their
consumer bases by not just targeting
eco-warriors but those interested in ex-
ploring new, more innovative products.
Many consumers in Singapore, home of
the hit movie Crazy Rich Asians, fall into
the latter category, with Singh calling
them some of the most peculiar con-
sumers in Asia based on their unique
spending habits.
While consumers in lower income
countries such as India and Vietnam are
very price-sensitive, Singaporean con-
CSR < sustainability
“There will never be
a day where more
than 90 per cent of
the customers in the
world want to buy
sustainable products
because they’re
expensive.”
Mayur Singh
Co-founder of Coopita and
The Green Collective
sumers are not price-sensitive at all if
they like a product. According to Singh,
“they will just give you the credit card
without even looking at the price.”
However, from a sustainability
standpoint, consumers in general will
choose to fork out money for sustain-
able products that do not make big
dents in their wallets. This stops Asian
consumers from spending more on
pricey, artisan products that are made
sustainably in the region, such as tra-
ditional crafts and handmade products
that Coopita aims to promote.
“There will never be a day where
more than 90 per cent of the customers
in the world want to buy sustainable
products because they’re expensive.
And that’s the truth,” said Singh.
Nonetheless, the perception that
sustainability is wholly unaffordable is
slowly being broken, believes Dickson.
Sustainable products typically last
longer and have positive social impacts
that make consumers feel good about
buying them. She said, “People think
they are expensive because they look at
what they’re used to buying. But once
they see the long-term benefits, they
come to understand. It’s all about a shift
in mindset.”
(Source: https://www.eco-business.com/
news/will-sustainability-ever-trump-price-
for-asian-consumers/)
October 2018 CSR Today 37
CSR > sustainability

Vital for
life, heat
and power
What you never knew
about salt water
Salt water is literally
the most common
substance on the surface
of Earth, and could be
the key to a more
sustainable future, writes
University of Queensland’s
Timothy Duignan.

Y
our tongue is a salt detec-
tor—it dissolves the solid
salt crystals sprinkled on
your chips to create an
intense flavour sensation.
But salt is way more important than
just being a food additive.
Salt water is literally the most com-
mon substance on the surface of Earth,
and it’s really important—for life and
for the planet.
Here are five things that will surprise
you about plain old salt water.
1. Salt water carries the
electrical signals that make
life possible
Salt water is made when a solid salt,
such as table salt (sodium chloride),
is added to water and breaks apart
into individual freely moving particles
called ions. There are many kinds of
salt water, depending on which ions
are present.
These ions act just like a balloon
that’s been rubbed against your hair.
They carry an electrical charge, and al-
low salt water to conduct electricity.
Your body uses salt water to send the
electrical signals that cause your heart
to beat and your brain to think. To do
this, the body has special molecules
called ion pumps that move these ions
around. Many diseases are caused when
these ion pumps malfunction.
It also matters which ions carry these
signals. For example, replacing sodium
with its closest elemental relatives on
the periodic table gives either a treat-
ment for bipolar disease in the case of
lithium, or a lethal injection ingredient
in the case of potassium.

38 CSR Today October 2018

 CSR < sustainability

2. Salt water acts as a
conveyor belt to carry heat
around the planet
As made famous by the movie The Day
After Tomorrow, Europe and North
America are kept warm by the Gulf
Stream, a massive current of warm wa-
ter flowing north from the tropics.
The Gulf Stream is a huge flow of
water north from the tropics.
This current is driven by changes
in the saltiness of ocean water. As the
polar ice caps freeze in winter, the sur-
rounding ocean water becomes saltier.
Saltier water is heavier and so it sinks
to the sea floor, stirring the ocean and
driving these currents.
As climate change melts the ice caps,
these currents may be disrupted. This
will upset the flow of heat and nutrients
around the world in complex ways.
3. Salt water can be used to
suck carbon dioxide out of
the air
To prevent the worst effects of climate
change we need to extract carbon dioxide
(CO2) from the air and store it on a huge
scale. The ocean currently already does
this, removing more than a quarter of all
the CO2 that humans put into the air.
CO2 reacts with water to form ions
that increase the ocean’s acidity—which
is a major problem for animals that live
in it.
But we could use this effect for our
benefit. Deliberately exposing large
volumes of air to water containing
potassium ions (similar to salt water)
can effectively capture CO2 very cost-
effectively. This could be done wherever
power is cheap and there is somewhere
to store the CO2.
4. Building batteries that use
salt water could solve energy
storage problems
Wind farms and solar panels are very
effective at capturing energy—but to ad-
dress climate change we need new and
cheaper ways to store energy.
Lithium ion batteries, the most com-
monly used technology, use lithium ions
dissolved in a liquid to carry electricity
back and forth between the positive
and negative terminals of a battery.
The liquid currently used is expensive,
slows the charging of the battery, and
can catch fire.
Replacing this liquid with salt water
is a key goal of battery research—with
expected benefits in cost and safety.
These types of batteries are also easier
to manufacture, important for meeting
increasing battery demand.
5. But we still can’t predict
even the simplest properties
of salt water
Over the past century the importance
of understanding salt water has been
recognised—some of science’s greatest
Nobel prizewinning minds have worked
on this problem.
We’re still making exciting progress
on this question today, in part by using
powerful supercomputers and quantum
mechanics to simulate how salt water
behaves.
Unfortunately, our ability to predict
the properties of salt water still has a
long way to go. For example, extremely
salty water can make a supersaturated
solution which can be used to make
hand warmers.
If this type of solution is left for long
enough it will spontaneously form a
solid salt, but our theoretical predic-
tions for how long this will take are
literally more than a quadrillion times
too fast. The magnitude of this miscal-
culation tells us we’re missing some-
thing vital!
Heart-shaped hand warmers!
The study of simple salt water is a
hard sell compared with more excit-
ing science about black holes or curing
cancer. But this doesn’t mean that it is
any less important.
In fact, understanding salt water is
vital for understanding our own bodies
and our own planet. It may even be the
key to saving them.
Timothy Duignan is Postdoctoral Research
Fellow in Energy Storage at The University
of Queensland. This article is republished
from The Conversation under a Creative
Commons license.
(SOURCE: https://www.eco-business.com/
opinion/vital-for-life-heat-and-powerwhat-
you-never-knew-about-salt-water/)

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October 2018 CSR Today 39

CSR > FUTURE

In climate-stressed
Singapore, the future
is super low energy
buildings
Spray-on solar panels,
smart aircon, and heat-
reflective paint will be
part of a plan to reduce
the energy consumption
of the tropical city-state’s
built environment with a
new building standard

A
s part of a national
plan to lower carbon
emissions and fight
climate change, Singa-
pore has introduced a
new standard to produce “super low
energy” buildings.
The tropical city-state wants office
buildings to lower their energy use to
60 per cent of 2005 levels, with smart
airconditioning, cool paint and natural
ventilation some of the ways the con-
struction industry has been tasked to
meet the new standard, known as the
Green Mark for Super Low Energy (SLE).
Under the new scheme, commercial
buildings cannot consume more than
100 kilowatt-hours per square metre a
year, while schools are limited to using
more than 25 kilowatt-hours per square
metre a year. A “zero energy” category
recognises net-zero buildings or those
that run entirely on renewable energy.
The SLE programme, developed by
the Building and Construction Author-
ity, was announced by the Minister for
Solar panels on a building amidst the Singapore skyline. Green buildings are a priority for Singapore,
says National Development Minister Lawrence Wong, as the the built environment accounts for about
a quarter of the city state’s carbon emissions. Image: St.A.,CC BY-SA 2.0, via IFPRI Flicker
National Development Lawrence Wong ence of construction industry profes-
on Wednesday at the International sionals, policy makers and end-users.
Green Building Conference on the first Also part of the programme will be
day of Singapore Green Building Week. the SLE Challenge which invites
As a tropical country, cooling is the building developers to take the lead
biggest source of energy consumption in making highly efficient buildings
in our buildings. through innovative designs and cost-
Lawrence Wong, Minister for effective technologies.
National Development and Second Wong said that more than 10
Minister of Finance “This will recognise developers and building owners have
developers and owners for achieving already pledged their commitment to
high SLE building standards. I hope that achieve at least one SLE project over
this will incentivise more building own- the next five years.
ers to come on board,” Wong said in his One of them is the Defence Science
keynote address to a 12,000-strong audi- and Technology Agency (DSTA), which

40 CSR Today October 2018


has worked with the army to achieve
a high standard of energy efficiency
for building facilities in its Kranji and
Seletar Camps.
In the camps, solar light pipes are
used to channel sunlight into the build-
ing facilities, while sensors are used to
automatically lower artificial lighting
levels when there is sufficient sunlight.
Solar panels are installed on the roofs
of both buildings to convert sunlight to
electricity, generating sufficient energy
to meet all their requirements.
The two army buildings will save
close to 540 MW of electricity a
year – which is equivalent to the an-
nual electricity consumption of about
116 four-room public housing flats
in Singapore.
The minister also highlighted the
programme’s SLE Buildings Technology
Roadmap to help buildings achieve up
to 80 per cent energy efficiency by en-
couraging the building sector to develop
innovative solutions.
One such project is by property
developer Keppel Land, which wants
to convert Keppel Bay Tower, a Green
Mark Platinum building—the highest
grade of green building in Singapore—
into a super low energy building.
Keppel Land aims to convert Keppel
Bay Tower, a Green Mark Platinum
building, into a super low energy
building by incorporating five energy-
efficient technologies.
Last year, Keppel Land was awarded
$1.28 million from the BCA’s Green
Buildings Innovation Cluster to conduct
a pilot on super low energy technologies
at Keppel Bay Tower. These technolo-
gies include a smart lighting system, air
conditioning based on indoor activity
analytics, an intelligent building control
system, a high efficiency air distribu-
tion system, and a cooling tower water
management system.
Cooling is key to Singapore
meeting 2030 green building
targets
Wong, who is also Singapore’s second
minister for finance said that buildings,
which account for about a quarter of
CSR < FUTURE
of the world’s first
prototype for a non-com-
pressor air-con system,
which uses water to
cool the surrounding
air. It is 20 per cent
cheaper to manufacture,
consumes 40 per cent
less energy, and does not
use harmful refrigerants
that contribute to global
warming.
Singapore’s first post-
independence prime
minister Lee Kuan Yew
said that airconditioning
was the greatest inven-
tion of the 20th century,
Wong noted. “While it
is a great invention, it
uses a lot of energy and
is based on technology
that was invented last
century,” he said.
Lastly, he cited en-
hanced solar technolo-
gies as key to cool and
Keppel Land aims to convert Keppel Bay Tower, a Green Mark Plati- green Singapore’s build-
num building, into a super low energy building by incorporating five ings, noting how the is-
energy-efficient technologies. Image: Keppel land state receives about
50 per cent more solar
Singapore’s carbon emissions, were radiation than temperate countries.
key for Singapore meeting its national While admitting that land scarcity
target to cut carbon emissions intensity limits the available space for solar panel
by 36 per cent from 2005 levels. installation, Wong said that Singapore
“As a tropical country, cooling is the will still maintain its target to have over
biggest source of energy consumption 2,400 public residential buildings fitted
in our buildings. So solving the cooling with solar panels by 2020.
problem is key to meeting our sustain- More solar power in buildings will
ability targets,” Wong said. also be achieved through emerging
One method for greening buildings is technologies, said Wong.
passive design, which he said can mini- Vertical solar panels will be used as
mise heat entry and reduce the energy they tap on previously unused space,
needed for cooling by up to 12 per cent. such as the sides of high-rise buildings
This can be done by orienting building and are less likely to accumulate dust.
entrances away from direct sunlight, Although still in the research stage,
coating exteriors with cool paints and Perovskite solar cells are also being
heat reflective materials, and designing looked into as they are flexible and
for natural ventilation. easy to produce, and can be painted or
Another method is the use of active sprayed onto a surface.
design to improve the efficiency of air
conditioning. He highlighted a system (Source: https://www.eco-business.com/
developed by researchers at National news/in-climate-stressed-singapore-the-
University of Singapore early this year future-is-super-low-energy-buildings/)
October 2018 CSR Today 41
CSR > trends

T
he recent United Nations (UN)
report “Gender and Climate
Finance” has said that cli-
mate finance can catalyze the
transition to zero-carbon and
climate-resilient development while ad-
dressing gender issues such as equality
and empowerment.
While climate change is among the

Onward toward
most urgent challenges of our time, it is
critical to note that its impacts are not
gender-neutral. The situation is worst
for the most vulnerable and marginal-

gender equity
ized populations of the world. Women
face additional difficulties as well.
According to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate

in the era of
Change (UNFCCC), women commonly
face higher risks and greater burdens
from the impacts of climate change and
global warming than men do.

The UN has made significant recent
progress in elevating gender in climate
change planning at the national and
global levels.
The Climate Investment Funds (CIF)
are a set of financing instruments to
support the transition toward climate-
smart development in developing coun-
tries. It also has a Gender Action Plan
that was approved in 2014.
The latest examples of progress come
from the inclusion of gender dimen-
sions in a selection of Intended Nation-
ally Determined Contributions (INDCs).
These were submitted under the United
Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change in Paris.
The UN report on gender demon-
strates that greater vulnerability of
women to climate change can be traced
to sociocultural barriers that result
in the unequal distribution of labor,
income and opportunities. Women have
less access and control over land and
other productive assets. They also have
fewer legal rights, lesser geographic
mobility and lower political and profes-
sional representation.
The first reference to gender equality
that contributed to advancing gender
equality and women’s empowerment
appeared at COP7 in 2001. Despite these
initial measures, gender considerations
climate change
The UN has made significant recent progress in
elevating gender in climate change planning at the
national and global levels.
emerged only nine years later at COP16
in 2010. Finally, at COP18 in 2012, par-
ties included “gender and climate” as a
standing agenda item for COP sessions.
It collectively was decided that gender-
related issues should no longer be con-
sidered on an ad hoc basis under “any
other business.”
What monitoring
requirements help include
gender in climate finance
measurement?
According to Evelyne Batamuliza, gen-
der and climate change finance regional
specialist at United Nations Develop-
ment Program Asia-Pacific Region
(UNDP), her employer works directly
with the Ministry of Finance to identify
major issues in gender and poverty
reduction for particular countries. Al-
though the final decision about includ-
ing gender-based climate financing lies
with the government alone, UNDP helps
to track where the funds are being al-
located and how.
Based in Bangkok, Batamuliza is
working on the “Governance for Climate
Change” program. This is aimed at bring-
ing the issues of climate change into the
budgeting processes of governments.
According to Ciara Daniels, gender,
results and reporting coordinator at UN-
DP’s Global Environmental Finance Unit,
her employer has country-level monitor-
ing requirements that use various indi-
cators that can be tracked to a country.
All projects report their progress against
specific targets annually. They report on
progress on their gender action plans
and rate their behavior, Daniels said.
This information is analyzed and
aggregated at the portfolio level for
performance assessment, Daniels said.

42 CSR Today October 2018


The aggregated results are published in
an annual report. These projects also
undergo a midterm review by a team of
national and international consultants.
The team makes recommendations for
improving and managing the results
based on the realities on the ground.
The team may do another midterm
gender analysis, making changes to
refine and improve what the project is
doing. At the end of these projects, an
independent evaluation team performs
a terminal evaluation. This team gives
the final verdict on how well the project
did in achieving its goals.
Daniels works in UNDP’s Global
Environmental Finance (GEF) Unit,
based in New York City. Her team helps
partner countries access money from
the environmental financing mecha-
nisms such as GEF and Green Climate
Fund. Her role is focused on gender
mainstreaming, quality assurance and
gender integration.
Some examples include the Green Climate Fund, set up
in 2010 to help support the transition to low-emission and
climate-resilient development.
“We have a strong component of
accountability and transparency in our
programs, especially for our budgets,”
Batamuliza said. “We believe in better
participation, which equals better eq-
uity in terms of ensuring that the bud-
get investment and public finance are
related to these issues. We work with a
range of actors in terms of ensuring the
accountability and transparency.”
Who are the actors?
“First and foremost, it is the civil
society,” Batamuliza said. This also
includes the media. This engagement is
necessary because a lot of the process-
es are not known outside the Ministry
of Finance.
“We also work with the Parliamen-
tarians,” Batamuliza said. “They ask
critical questions when the budget is
being presented. Last, we work with
the auditors.” The auditors determine if
the money has been spent correctly on
achieving its intended impact.
What successes have
occurred?
According to three sources (PDF) pub-
lished by UNDP, successes are showing
up in a few nations already.
Climate change aggravates the
burdens of unpaid care work, affecting
women more than men. This also reduc-
es their ability to adapt. CCAF (Climate
Change Adaptation Facility) projects
have implemented activities that aim
to reduce women’s time poverty to help
strengthen their adaptive capacity.
In both cases, gender roles progres-
sively changed as women reallocated
time from domestic chores to other
productive roles. They transitioned
some of their time from raising animals
and growing crops to participating in
education and politics.
How can this become a
high priority?
“I think we can do a better job of show-
ing the link that I definitely see — the
link between addressing gender equal-
ity and improved environment, climate
and resilience outcomes. UNDP has this
massive portfolio of projects doing this
work and we see this link,” Daniels said.
“The intersection of gender, human
rights and climate change is probably
already established. We need to do
much more in governing evidence and
knowledge about the connection to cli-
mate change financing itself,” Batamu-
liza said. “We also need to be mindful
and aware that for all of this to hap-
pen, we should ensure that the gender
situation in the country is approached
holistically. There is much more work
that needs to happen, especially when it
comes to influencing budget reforms.”
CSR < trends
How does women’s
empowerment affect
climate?
According to the UN report “Over-
view of Linkages between Gender and
Climate Change (PDF),”today there is a
greater understanding of the need to
include gender perspectives in climate
change policies than there was before.
However, the report said, there are
still considerable gender-based barriers
across major international and national
policy processes on climate change.
Meaningful participation and economic
empowerment of women will enhance
the effectiveness and sustainability of
climate change projects and programs.
This would enable groups to address ex-
isting inequities while working towards
fulfilling the respective international
climate change agreements.
Despite these positive steps, it
remains clear that much work remains
to be done. Many women and girls are
still unable to exercise their rights to
be agents and beneficiaries of climate
action or to participate fully in the shap-
ing of such actions.
To ensure that climate finance
efforts make a difference in building
resilience and reducing vulnerability,
gender equality and women’s empow-
erment dimensions should be main-
streamed within all climate finance
governance structures, the UN gender
report said. Gender-based climate
financing should be included in all
phases of the project cycle — its de-
sign, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation. It will make a true differ-
ence only if all of these are captured
simultaneously.
(Source: https://www.greenbiz.com/article/
onward-toward-gender-equity-era-climate-
change)
October 2018 CSR Today 43
 STAY INFORMED…
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bu al a
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e nexts to ensunsibility ards Ke
th
For need Respo ed tow
es al ss
pani Soci focu
comporate to be
Cor

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 CSR < Placements

India’s Leading
Job Portal
I
ndian Centre of CSR in association with Times
Jobs bring you the most sort after job opportuni-
ties in the field of Corporate Social Responsibil-
ity. TimesJobs.com, the fastest growing and most
innovative Indian online recruitment portal, was born
with a mission to reach out to all Indians in the coun-
try and abroad and provide them with the best career
opportunities available.
Today TimesJobs.com, has achieved the distinction of
becoming India’s No.1 recruitment portal, with the larg-
est number of active jobseekers and a database of over
10 million candidates and over 20,000 new resumes
added every day, it offer one of the largest database of
active jobseekers in India today.
Its focus is to ensure your skills are showcased and
matched suitably with the HR requirements of employ-
ers from diverse industries including the field of Corpo-
rate Social Responsibility. In a very short span Times-
Job’s concentrated approach has made it the blue-eyed
boy of recruiters and aspirants alike.
You can apply for the below listed jobs on www.times-
jobs.com by typing the Job ID in the search window,
alternatively you could also search categorywise to find
many more opportunities in CSR.

Company: Grovalue Group.
Designation: Corporate Social Responsibility
Executives.
• Experience: 0 to 2 yrs
• Salary: Rs 2.00 – 3.00 Lacs p.a Designation: Corporate Social Responsibility.
• INDUSTRY: NGO / Social Services.
• Location: Mumbai.
• Key Skills: CSR, Fund raising, Corporate
Social Responsibility, Social Work.
• Job Function: Sales / Business Development.
• Specialization: Direct / Commission Sales,
Health care Sales, Experience in CSR .
• Qualification: Any Graduate. csr activities, presentation skill IR.
Job Description:
• Team player with good interpersonal skills
• Ability to communicate clearly with donors
• Excellent communication and influencing skills
• Ability to generate leads
• Through institutional tie-ups, employee
fundraising, retail and individual fundraising
and HNI Network
• Executing all CSR initiatives, ideating on new
and relevant opportunities for social impact
• Interested candidates can email their reumes
on yash.pandya@grovalue.in or contact me
on 022-62166623/9699555955.
Company: HCAPITAL.
• Experience: 7to 10yrs
• Salary: As per Industry Standards.
• INDUSTRY: Recruitment/ Placement
Agencies, Consulting Servivces. etc. They focus on products in the structured
• Location: Mumbai(Maharashtra) credit space backed by adequate collaterals
• Key Skills: HR, training, corporate social
responsibility, salary, Communication skills,
• Job Function: HR / PM / IR / Training.
• Specialization: Recruitment.
• Qualification: MBA / PGDM ,Any Graduate.
Job Description:
• Job Id: 499 Job Title: Corporate Social
Responsibility Industry: Banking, Financial
Servcies& Insurance Functional Area: HR /
Admin / PM / IR / Training Salary: 12 Lac - 15
Lac About the Client The company is India’s
Leading Non Banking Finance Company
(NBFC) operating in Wholesale & SME
Lending. As part of the business activities,the
company is predominantly focused into
Asset Financing and Lending business.
The Wholesale Lending Business segment
provides specialized and holistic solutions
to Indian corporates helping them build and
grow their businesses with initial funding,
mezzanine financing, acquisition financing
and cash flows to build a secured and quality
wholesale lending portfolio.
• Plan and execute various CSR initiatives as
per the annual calendar
• Ensure best in class execution with fresh
ideas to engage the readers and ensure large
participation
• Maintain relations with various NGOs and
Media dealing with CSR
• Database management of all the CSR
activities implemented as per the plan
• Conduct research with help of internal team
to understand the impact
• Timely invitation mails, teasers and regular
communication with participants

October 2018 CSR Today 45

CSR > Placements
• Effective information management of various
CSR activities details Desired
Candidate Profile
• Skills/Qualifications required:7 -10 years of
relevant experience
• MBA or Post Graduate in Social sciences
from XISS or TISS
• Should have thorough understanding of the
CSR field
• Should have good written and oral
communication skills.
• Should have good negotiation and
presentation skills. 6. Should have sound
understanding of the CSR initiatives by
various companies
Company: Grovalue Group.
Designation: Hiring Fundraisers – Corporate
Social Responsibility Executive.
• Experience: 0 to 1 yrs
• Salary: As per Industry Standards
• INDUSTRY: Financial Services / Stockbroking.
• Location: Mumbai ( Maharashtra), Thane
(Maharashtra). Administration, IR
• Key Skills: Fresher’s, sales, lead generation,
business development, Sales executive,
corporate social responsibility.
• Job Function: Sales / Business Development.
• Specialization: Corporate Sales, Direct /
Commission Sales, Sales.
• Qualification: Any Graduate.
Job Description:
• Team player with good interpersonal skills
• Ability to communicate clearly with donors
• Excellent communication and influencing
skills
• Ability to generate leads
• The candidate should be able to lead the
development and delivery of the fund
raising strategy through institutional tie-ups,
employee fundraising, retail and individual
fundraising and HNI Network
• Executing all CSR initiatives, ideating on new
and relevant opportunities for social impact
• Interested candidates can walk - in on 10th
September 2018 between 2 : 00 PM - 5 : 00
PM at the below mentioned address along
with their updated resume.
• Candidates can email their resumes on
yash.pandya@grovalue.in or contact me on
022-62166623.
• Address - 03, Enterprise Centre, Off Nehru
Road, Near Domestic Airport Vile Parle (East),
Mumbai- 400 099, Maharashtra, India
46 CSR Today October 2018
Company: Strategic Management India
Consultants Pvt Ltd.
Designation: AGM Administration &
Security.
• Experience: 10 to 20 yrs
• Salary: As per Industry Standards
• INDUSTRY: Consulting Services. • Implementation of Statutory Compliance
• Location: Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra),
Mumbai (Maharashtra).
• Key Skills: IR , HR, corporate social
responsibility, recruitment.
• Job Function: HR / PM / IR / Training.
• Specialization: Recruitment.
• Qualification: Any Graduate.
Job Description:
• Candidate should have work Experience of
Administration, Facility Management, security
& Safety, Manpower Management, Vigilance,
Office administration, Fire Safety, Corporate
Social Responsibility, etc.
• Salary: Not Disclosed by Recruiter
• Industry: Iron and Steel
• Functional Area: HR, Recruitment,
• Role Category: Administration/Facility
Management
• Role: Manager / Sr Manager – Administration
• Employment Type: Permanent Job, Full Time
• Keyskills: Office Administration Facility
Management Vigilance Security Fire Safety
Corporate Social Responsibility Manpower
Management Administration admin
Company: Tata Projects Ltd.
Designation:Project HR Head – 2 Billion USD
Project in Mumbai.
• Experience: 20 to 25 yrs
• Salary: As per industry Standards.
• INDUSTRY: Engineering / Projects,
Construction / Cement / Metal / Steel Iron.
• Location: Mumbai (Maharashtra)
• Key Skills: Statutory compliance, Hr
administration, Tarining, hr, Corporate
Social responsibility, welfare, performance
Management system, msw, talent acquisition,
recruitment, Onboarding, hr policies, ir, he
head, employe engagement, Hr processes,
compensation.
• Job Function: HR / PM / IR / Training.
• Specialization: Recruitment.
• Qualification: MBA / PGDM Any Graduate.
Job Description:
• Design HR Policies and Procedures for Joint
Venture
• Implementation of key HR Processes (Talent
Acquisition, Onboarding and Integration,
Training, Performance Management System,
Employee Engagement, Compensation etc)
• Create and report HR and Admin Dashboard
for all the stakeholders
• Implementation of Administration Procedures
w.r.t Project Office, Guest House, Employee
Accommodation, Labour Camp, Travel Desk,
Canteen, Vehicles, Security etc
• Implementation of innovative welfare plans
for Labour Camps
• Implementation of continuous recreational
activities at project sites
• Implementation of Corporate Social
Responsibility Plans
• Liaison with Government Authorities
• Developing Positive Relations with all stake
holders
• Salary: INR 40,00,000 - 60,00,000 P.A.
• Industry: Construction / Engineering /
Cement / Metals
• Functional Area: HR, Recruitment,
Administration, IR
• Role Category: Senior Management
• Role: Head/VP/GM-HR
• Employment Type: Permanent Job, Full Time
• Keyskills: HR Policies Employee Engagement
Onboarding Compensation Performance
Management System HR Processes Talent
Acquisition HR Administration Training Welfare
Desired Candidate Profile
• The candidate should have a proven track
record in the HR and Admin Function for a
large value Project in Infrastructure Industry.
The candidate must have MBA-HR/ MSW/
MLS/ PGD-HR (Full Time) with 20 25 Years of
Experience in HR and Admin
• The Personal Attributes include:
• Strong process orientation
• High energy, High Integrity & Work Ethics
• Strong interpersonal skills, ability to
communicate and manage well at all levels of
the organization
• Strong problem solving and creative skills and
the ability to exercise sound judgment and
make decisions based on accurate and timely
analysis.
• High level of dependability with a strong
sense of urgency and results-orientation.
• PG - MBA/PGDM - Any Specialization
• Company Profile: Tata Projects Limited,
www.tataprojects.com
Our Leasing Partners
 Postal Regn. No. MCW/328/2018-20. Posted at Mumbai Patrika Channel Sorting Office
Mumbai 400 001 on 7th & 8th of Every month. Published on 1st of Every Month.

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