ONGC receiving the award from Narendra Singh Tomar, Hon’ble Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking water & Sanitation (second from left). ONGC CSR team led by Director (HR) D D Misra (third from left) and Wild Life Trust of India represented by Vivek Menon, Founder Trustee & CEO (extreme left) received the award.
India CSR Network
NEW DELHI: ONGC has bagged the prestigious FICCI CSR award under category ‘Environmental Sustainability, 2015-16’ for its Eastern Swamp Deer Conservation Project. The award was received by team CSR and WTI from Narendra Singh Tomar, Hon’ble Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation, in the presence of D D Misra, Director (HR), ONGC during award ceremony held recently in Delhi.
The Eastern Swamp Deer is listed in schedule-I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act (1972). Rapid urbanization and frequent flooding in Assam led to shrinking of its natural habitat which resulted in dwindling of the Eastern Swamp Deer population.
ONGC undertook the Eastern Swamp Deer conservation, in association with Wildlife Trust of India, as one of its flagship CSR initiatives. The project was commissioned in 2010 with an aim to protect the Eastern Swamp Deer species from extinction. The first phase focused on understanding the ecology and conservation of the species, which was completed in 2014.
After the first phase, domain experts were consulted who advised for relocation of the swamp deer. Accordingly, in the second phase, 19 swamp deer were translocated to Manas National Park, about 330 km away from Kaziranga National Park. 20 more swamp deer will be translocated to Manas National Park in third phase of the project.
The translocated Eastern Swamp Deer in Manas National Park
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) annually confers CSR awards under eight different categories to both public and private sector companies for their exemplary work in the field of CSR. The Eastern Swamp Deer Conservation Project of ONGC was chosen by an eminent jury of FICCI through a three tier process which includes, initial paper presentation, followed by field visit carried out by third a party and further detailed presentation by ONGC CSR in front of a panel of experts.
On December 21, FICCI had organized the Annual CSR Award function at Federation House, New Delhi. Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Mines, Steel and Labour & Employment, Government of India was the Chief Guest of the function. The function was presided over by Smt. Rajashree Birla, Chairperson of the FICCI Aditya Birla CSR Centre.
