ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth (ICICI Foundation), the CSR arm of ICICI Group, is converting 125 acres of wasteland into orchards and forests. The project was initiated in August 2020. The Foundation has undertaken various initiative towards environment conservation with community participation.
ICICI Foundation has planted 775,000 trees during the last 3 financial years. In fiscal 2021, the Foundation planted 350,000 trees.
During fiscal 2021, ICICI Foundation Rural Livelihood Programme initiated a large afforestation project, ‘Parijat Udyan’ (flower garden) at Fatehpura Basa village in Jaipur district of Rajasthan. The project aims to convert 125 acres of wasteland into orchards and forests.
The project is expected to provide sustainable livelihoods to 3,500 landless and marginalized villagers through multiple initiatives such as creating a forest comprising native tree varieties, grasslands for grazing, organic farming, plant nursery, fruit, and herbal-medicinal farming, honeybee for pollination and honey.
The Foundation has undertaken this initiative along with the Panchayat Samiti of the village.
ICICI Foundation provided 11,000 saplings of native varieties of plants and trees, while the land preparation was carried out under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) by the Gram Panchayat.
ICICI Foundation Rural Livelihood Programme implemented other environment-friendly Beneficiaries at a ‘Custard Apple Plantation’ drive at ICICI RSETI, Udaipur Afforestation drive at Parijat Udyan at Fatehpura village in Jaipur district, Rajasthan at better prices. Further, it set up processing centers to expand the shelf life of the fruit.
Large ice-cream and squash brands have started sourcing pulp from these centers which are operated by tribal women. Similar value chains have been set up for other locally available produce like Indian Gooseberry (Amla) and Java Plum (Jamun).
Jagat Janani Mahila Swayam Sahayata Bachat Gat is a public trust, which is managed by women members, in Mansudhawadi, a tribal village in Amaravati district in Maharashtra. The foundation has assisted the trust with a financial grant for the implementation of sustainable agriculture and livelihood, and empowerment in 20 villages of the taluka. The activities of the trust are expected to lead to environment-friendly, socio-economic upliftment of the people in these villages and also reduce migration of villagers during the dry season to urban areas in search of livelihood.
Maharashtra addresses the livelihood issues of the tribal community. The foundation sanctioned grant assistance for the development of watersheds and plantations in four villages of the Maregaon block of Yavatmal district in Maharashtra. This project will benefit about 300 tribal farmers of four villages. An area of 200 hectares of land will be brought under protective irrigation and treated for water and soil erosion. This intervention is expected to usher in long-term ecological benefits by increasing water levels, reducing soil erosion, enhancing crop production, and positively impacting the income of the farmers.
