DBCL having 5,869 employees, is focused on inclusive growth and therefore steadfastly follows a proactive approach towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

By Rusen Kumar

NEW DELHI (India CSR): During the financial year 2021-22, the D. B. Corp Ltd. (DBCL), a leading media conglomerate with a strong presence across print, radio, and digital segments, has spent Rs. 6.99 crores toward CSR activities which are approximately 4.91% of its current year Net Profit.

The Company headquartered in Bhopal has spent a total amount of Rs. 6.99 Crore during the year under review, out of which Rs 4.29 Crore has been spent through implementing agency and Rs. 2.70 Crore has been spent directly. All the CSR activities are aligned with the requirements of Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 and the Company complies with the statutory requirements in this regard.

CSR Policy

As per the CSR Policy of the Company, the CSR Projects are undertaken based on the annual action plan formulated and recommended by the CSR Committee and approved by the Board. The CSR Committee reviews the progress of CSR initiatives undertaken regularly or as and when required.

Leader in Print Media

DBCL publishes 5 newspapers, namely, Dainik Bhaskar, Divya Bhaskar, Divya Marathi, Saurashtra Samachar and DB Star in 3 languages, i.e., Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi. DBCL is present across 12 states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Bihar.

CSR Focus Areas

DBCL having 5,869 employees, is focused on inclusive growth and therefore steadfastly follows a proactive approach towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The Company has chosen various areas of interest for its CSR projects, which may be carried out by way of direct participation or through an implementation agency.

Serving Society

The CSR activities undertaken by DBCL are guided by the CSR Policy which has been formulated in line with the Company’s vision for the welfare of society and following the regulatory provisions.

The Company’s CSR initiatives are meant to inform, educate and engage the readers to care for nature, the environment, and underprivileged sections of society. While such initiatives may not show immediate results, in the long run, have great potential to sensitize people and make them more humane.

DBCL believes that society plays a pivotal role in the success of an organization. Unknowingly, society is serving the benefit of everyone and therefore we believe that it is our responsibility to make every possible endeavour to serve society as a whole. The Company wishes to make it a mass social movement and with this purpose in mind, the Company’s management has tweaked its strategy on CSR and now, it mostly adheres to the advocacy model, the company said.

Impact assessments

The CSR team of the Company has been voluntarily conducting impact assessments in-house through a structured mechanism to screen and evaluate select CSR programs. Program performance concerning output and outcome indicators is shared as part of regular programme monitoring.

CSR – a focus approach

The Company through various CSR initiatives and programmes continues to invest in addressing the most persistent needs of the community. All CSR interventions are conceived and implemented through a focussed approach toward target beneficiaries for generating maximum impact. Operating in the field of newspaper publication, the company actively carried out mass movements through its editorial and on-ground campaigns on various social issues like ‘Ek Ped Ek Jindagi’, ‘Mission Shiksha’, etc. The Company’s focus areas are concentrated on increasing access to health, education, environmental sustainability, betterment of underprivileged people, nature conservation, national heritage, etc.

During the Financial Year 2021-22, the Company has undertaken CSR initiatives in the fields of animal welfare, eradicating hunger, poverty and malnutrition, promoting education, promoting preventive health care, army welfare, promoting sports, art and culture, protection of flora and fauna and protection of national heritage thereby helping in the upliftment of the underprivileged sections of society and focus on social issues.

Improving the quality of lives

D. B. Corp Limited is committed to improving the quality of lives of people in the community it serves through long-term stakeholder value creation. It pledges itself to care for and serve the community by designing a sustainable development model that leads to socio-economic development and ecological development in its area of influence.

A responsible corporate citizen

The Dainik Bhaskar Group is always keen to recognise and reward talent in keeping with its ethos of being a responsible corporate citizen and is keenly aware of its duty not just to its readers, but also to the environment and society. The Company wishes to make it a mass social movement and with this purpose in mind, the Company’s Management has tweaked its strategy on CSR and now, it mostly adheres to the advocacy model.

A few of the CSR programmes regularly undertaken by the Company are featured here:

Ek Ped Ek Zindagi

Ek Ped Ek Zindagi for the last many years has been sensitizing people towards the environment and the importance of planting saplings. It has had a profound impact on society and the thinking of the people. The initiative encourages the kids in school and colleges, people in offices and societies and police stations to plant more and more trees.

Mitti ke Ganesh

On the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi, we appeal to people to bring home Ganesh idols made of clay (‘Mitti Ke Ganesh’), instead of the ones made of Plaster of Paris (POP). The core purpose of the drive is to motivate people not to bring idols made of PoP. We encourage people to do idol immersion (visarjan) at home in a pot / earthen pot and then plant the sapling in sacred mud, not to immerse Ganesh idol (Mitti Ke Ganesh) in water bodies like lakes, ponds, rivers, etc.

Save The Birds

Dainik Bhaskar’s ‘Save The Birds’ initiative is a campaign to help birds in distress. Dainik Bhaskar Group encourages its readers to place Sakroras (earthen birdbaths) filled with water and grains on the roof or window, to help these birds survive.

Dene Ka Sukh

The objective of this campaign is to make people realize that there is more to the meaning of giving than just donating money or materialistic things and encourage them to donate food to the needy ones.

Abeer Gulaal Ke Saath Holi

This campaign promotes the dry celebration of Holi, thereby motivating citizens to refrain from playing Holi with water and channel their festive spirit in an eco-friendly manner.