NEW DELHI: In a first of its kind initiative by Shri Abhishek Singh, young Member of Parliament, from Chhattisgarh State representing Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha launched ‘Adopt a Block’ and ‘Adopt a Village’ program.
District Administration of Kabirdham and Rajnandgaon, Govt. of Chhattisgarh and India CSR Network, a CSR think tank company on Friday, January 5, 2018 organized a CSR Partnership Roundtable at Constitution Club in New Delhi.
More than 40 CSR heads of leading corporates such as LG Electronics, Airtel, HCL Technologies , Jindal Power, Wockhardt Foundation, IDFC Bank, Jubilant Life Sciences, Vedanta – Bharat Aluminium Company, IICA, Jhpiego, EY and more than 50 leaders from NGOs and Civil Society organizations, professional advisory firms and CSR think tank participated in the forum.
Hon’ble MP addressed the august gathering and appealed corporate entities and social development organizations to join the developmental work being initiated by the Govt. in Rajnandgaon and Kabirdham districts. He interacted with corporates and civil organizations’ representatives for possible collaboration for inclusive development of the region.
Shri Singh mentioned that he intends to get rank 1st in the ease of doing CSR by working sincerely with concerted efforts of all the stakeholders.
Shri Singh talked on the need for knowledge, planning, process, good practices, and technology to address the socio-economic issues and lead the development works in the region. He discussed the initiatives which have been implemented by the state government like geomapping of the different areas where the groundwater recharging can be effective or the ponds can be made with MNREGA funds. The government has taken initiatives to capture the ground level data using the smartphones, which can be further analysed in the background by administration.
Mr. Singh also showed interest in the innovative solutions to enhance the lives of people in the remote areas. Eradication of malaria, watersheds, education, health and skill development, financial inclusion etc. domains could further be taken by the government with the partnership / support from the corporate. Around 10 initial ideas were shortlisted for further discussion and exploring the opportunities of collaboration in the Kabirdham and Rajnandgaon district.
He further added, “We are really keen to work with the corporates and public sector enterprises in the domain of CSR. We will provide all possible support and eco-system to plan and implement time bound and result oriented CSR projects. Development works for block and village development, education, health, agriculture, women empowerment, watershed development, sports, livelihood, sanitation, skill development and other initiatives can be done through the corporate social responsibility (CSR) fund of companies.”
Concluding his address, Mr. Singh said, “We extend a red carpet welcome to the business organizations to collaborate with the local administrations on various socio-economic development projects.”
He also highlighted the developmental work being undertaken by the Government of Chhattisgarh.
Kundan Kumar, CEO, Zila Panchayat Kabirdham and Additional charge of MD, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, Cooperative Sugar Factory, gave detailed overview of socio-economic indicators and initiatives undertaken by the administration for development in the districts of Kabirdham and Rajnandgaon. He highlighted that on some indicators, Chhattisgarh has shown great progress, still education, health and some more areas need participation of corporate for enhancing the impact. He said that the state has 1074 gender ratio and in the 18 years since its inception, the state has achieved great progress.
He said that district administration has identified areas of work and blocks and villages where additional development work is required.
Dr. Niraj Seth, Associate Partner, EY chaired a three member panel discussion on ‘Effective Partnership for inclusive Development’. The panel was comprised of Kundan Kumar, IAS, CEO, Zila Panchayat Kabirdham; Rusen Kumar, Founder India CSR Network and Shobhit Mathur, Executive Director Vision India Foundation.
Dr. Rana Singh, CEO of India CSR Network delivered welcome note. He emphasized the opportunity to become a part of the development process of the state of Chhattisgarh.
Speaking on the occasion Rusen Kumar, Founder of India CSR Network said that the forum has been designed to invite corporate to start projects under corporate social responsibility programme in two districts of Chhattisgarh. He also highlighted the various developmental initiatives undertaken by the various organizations and public service undertakings in Chattisgarh. He said that corporate sector should identify those projects and programmes that have potential to address poverty directly and enhance skills. CSR should be an effective tool to address the problem faced by the poorest of the poor living in the remotest of the remote region.
These would help enable more awareness for maximum reach and deeper penetration into the rural areas, thus strengthening the fifth estate – the NGOs and thus contribute to nation building.
The Forum organized with active supported from Leading English Weekly – OPEN, Science Education Company – Stem Learning, NGOs – Galway Foundation and Vision India Foundation.
The main objective of partnership roundtable is to support such CSR and NGOs that reach out to marginalized, poverty-struck, isolated and underdeveloped rural communities, and achieve sustainable socio-economic development.
