Brainstorming by CSR professionals for Socio-Economic Development of Bihar & Jharkhand

A BIJ CSR e-Conclave 2020 was organized on September 30, 2020 amidst a plethora of CSR/Development Sector Professionals from across globe, belonging to Bihar and Jharkhand. Academia and Experts from industries, banking sector, Cyber Security experts, Livelihood experts, media representatives and others from all walks of life.

BIJ is a forum to take initiatives for the socio-economic development of Bihar & Jharkhand (BIJ) by its own people. The BIJ CSR e-Conclave 2020 was organised by DNR Foundation and India CSR.

The webinar was attended by India’s leading corporate professionals and academicians in their effort to pull resources for socio-economic development of Bihar and Jharkhand and create a single-window system for development projects in these regions.

The objectives of the forum are to make a common platform for all the organizations or individuals across the globe who are putting their efforts into Bihar and Jharkhand’s development, making an advisory group for the different sectors to collaborate with government and non-government organizations, pull resources for socio-economic development of BIJ and create a CSR and NGO hub in association with the government for a single-window support system for development projects.

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Setting the tone for the elaborated discussion for the webinar, Abhishek Ranjan, Director, Brillio Technologies and Co-convener, BIJ began the event and welcomed all the dignitaries, speakers and other attendees. He shared the agenda of the event clearly stating that this brainstorming session will bring ideas on one platform for all to discuss and take the decisions for implementing socio-economic development activities across Bihar and Jharkhand.

Abhishek Kumar, Co-Convener, BIJ, talked about how BIJ was formed, they named it BIJ as it correlated with the Hindi meaning of word seed which is beej and discussed the objectives of the forum. Kamal Singh, Executive Director – United Nations Global Compact Network India put light on the importance of CSR activities and how they are aligned with Sustainable Development Goals and mentioned that this platform can be a place where organizations can invest their CSR budget to work for the development of Bihar and Jharkhand.

Saurabh Singh, President, ICICI Foundation brought attention towards the disparity in per capita income among different states and called for reallocation of CSR funds towards more needy states such as Bihar, Jharkhand and the North-Eastern states.

Professor Sapna Narula, Dean, Nalanda University talked about the newly introduced MBA program in Sustainable Management in Nalanda University. K. P.S Keshri, Former President, BIA suggested to seek help from institutes such as XISS and IIMs which can provide valuable inputs for various development projects.

Neeraj Lal, Head CSR, Arvind Mills, talked about residential factories, a unique CSR activity undertaken by his organization, under which women workers work for 6 to 8 hours at the textile mills and are also enrolled in Open Universities to pursue their graduation.

Brig. Mrigendra Kumar, SM, Commander, NCC GP HQ Bhagalpur Bihar, in his speech highlighted the assistance NCC provided in times of COVID crisis and the focus on improving educational infrastructure in remote areas and providing social security for community development. Neelesh Verma, Head of sales and operations, Genesystel, Australia presented the “campaigning strategy” that should entail a proper objective, destination source and a dedicated means to implement any idea.

Indrabhushan Kumar, Senior correspondent, Dainik Bhaskar underscored the need of investment in agro-processing industries and tourism sector. He also shared the need of understanding the value of our produces before developing a good market for it. Jalpa Ratna, Chief of Field Services, UNICEF emphasized the much-needed collaborative approach to serve the vulnerable groups of children and women. She highlighted on three ways of working together for a bigger impact, pulling all resources together and staying focused via geography for better reach.

Vivek Prakash, VP, and Head-CSR, Jubilant life sciences asked citizens to reciprocate to society. He advised to develop a more Individual social responsibility agenda before to gather resources and ideas as a step before moving ahead.

Vijay Kumar Singh, Head CSR, PI Industries Ltd. voiced for a collaborative approach and underscored the immense potential Bihar and Jharkhand possess in agriculture and the industrial sector. Praveen Karn, Group Head CSR, Minda Corporation, mentioned several thrust areas like the revival of sugar-mills and said that Bihari produces and cuisines such as Malda mango, litti chokha, foxnuts have the potential to compete with their international counterparts.

Kamal Sanghvi, Director Rotary International, stated that in order for the planning of the society, education, women empowerment and environmental concerns must be adhered to. Sanjay Sahay, IPS, Cyber Security Guru, presented his ideas through a three-point strategy of creation of an action group, leveraging technical potential and measuring achievements for the socio-economic development of BIJ.

Ritesh Sinha, Head CSR Projects, HDFC bank, pitched the idea of holistic development of villages via need-based identification. Dinesh Kumar Singh, SBI stated that we are already doing many activities, but through BIJ platform we all together can do wonders in Bihar and Jharkhand.  

Dr. Amar E. Tigga, Professor XISS Ranchi, shared his thought on being indebted to both the states for the life and career shaping roles that they have played. He highlighted on increasing good facilities for health, education and livelihood in these states whilst reminding of XISS’s commitment to social development sector which is proven with the vast committed alumni and student’s base of the institute who wish to work for their native. He appreciated the efforts of CSR for undertaking socio-economic development at a mass scale. He underscored the vital role of mutual respect, the existence of peace and harmony for the upliftment of society.

N N Sharma, Ex-Director NALCO and Chairperson of CSC, BIMTECH, presented the vision of coming together, keeping together, and working together as a means of achieving sustainable development. Arvind Salampuria, industrialist, focused on the creation of task force, industrial cluster, and increasing the per capita income of both the states.

Manish Prakash Sahu, COO RPG Foundation, emphasized on the creation of safe migrant corridors along with the social security schemes that need to be provided to the migrant workers.

Concluding remark given by Abhishek Kumar, Co-Convener, BIJ, expressed his gratitude towards everyone for their presence and making the session a success and concluded by saying that there should be proper agenda formulations and one to one meetings in the future for keeping the project on track. He further said that, this think tank will be game changer in the development of Bihar and Jharkhand.

The conclave concluded on a positive note with the preliminary discussion of agendas completed and a strategy which will be developed for moving on to the next stage of policy formation.

Knowledge partners: UNICEF, UN Global Compact and Rotary; Industry Association Partners: BIA and Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce & Industries; Academic Partner: Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS), Ranchi. Digital Partner: Cymatic