Gayatri Paul, CEO, DLF Foundation, discusses with Rusen Kumar, Editor, India CSR how the Foundation plans to make philanthropic investments in the years to come and how it plans to contribute to society in a way that fosters inclusive, uplifting, and holistic growth. DLF Foundation, the philanthropic wing of DLF Ltd, is known for its outstanding work in Corporate Social Responsibility. Founded in 2008, the DLF Foundation has consistently implemented myriad thoughtful initiatives to improve the quality of life and uplift the communities it serves. She says, “We believe kindness, compassion and humanity are immeasurable.”
Excerpts of an interview:
What initiatives were taken by the DLF Foundation during the Covid-19 pandemic? Any new interventions that have been taken amidst the third wave?
In the wake of the disruptions caused due the unprecedented pandemic, our continued commitment towards Covid relief has driven and led our CSR initiatives this year. The first two waves, had left many communities and families specially the daily wage earners shattered with no means of livelihood and depriving them of necessities. Hence, our rehabilitation efforts took flight with multi-pronged strategies ensuring relentless on-ground efforts to face the challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis. The DLF Foundation committed monetary support of INR 5 crores to the Government of Haryana Covid Relief fund. Our commitment also saw us donate over 10,000 oximeters, ventilators to the Haryana Government for the welfare of the frontline volunteers and the poor. Further, the DLF COVID volunteers took the initiative of distributing over 64 lakh cooked meals to the poor daily wage earners and migrant workers across Delhi NCR.
Medical relief and safety equipment were provided to district administrations of Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Chennai, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Panchkula and Indore. These included 5 lakhs face masks, 4 lakh examination gloves, PPE kits, sanitizers, multiple diagnostic machines, Covid testing kits, hospital beds and oxygen cylinders. Our resolve and responsibility to provide for our society did not cease there, as we reorganized our community centers at various locations and revamped them to function as COVID Centres in partnership with the Narayana (NH) Hospital and Care India. We equipped these facilities with oxygen generation plants ensuring piped oxygen, doffing stations, electric beds, bedside cabinets, nebulizers, emergency hydraulic trolleys, wheelchairs, intravenous therapy stands and nursing stations.
One of our major COVID activities in Gurugram in view of the rising number of Omicron cases in the city has been to establish Covid care facilities in the DLF Community Centres in Gurugram and support the vaccination of poor migrants through a series of vaccination camps for the public for which DLF Foundation has partnered with leading hospitals like Manipal, Fortis and Narayana. We are proud to have vaccinated over 26,000 people across 5 states and one union territory. The span of our relief efforts also reached Mussoorie, where a CT scan machine, has been donated to the Civil Hospital.
What is the DLF’s flagship program DLF CARES all about?
DLF CARES, our flagship program is an educational initiative launched in the year 2011 with the focussed vision of nurturing and supporting the education of children from underprivileged communities. The program endeavours to educate, empower and evolve students from the disadvantaged and deprived sections of society. We believe that every child in our wing is special. Merely providing them with education would not alleviate them from poverty. Hence, we not only provide for our wards’ primary and higher education, we continue to support and guide them up until they attain gainful employment. We aim that every individual in our DLF CARES program not only receive higher education, but also go onto lead respectable lives as contributing citizens of the nation.
Over the years, this programme has benefitted nearly 1,690 children, with more than 400 who have completed their schooling in the last 4 years. Nearly 500 students were supported in their aspirations to attain higher college education, out of which 479 students are currently employed with Multinational Corporations (MNCs). In the last two years, these students have secured employment with prestigious organisations with compensations ranging from INR 2-30 lakhs per annum. The inimitable holistic development method of the DLF CARES program involves a dedicated team of counsellors providing sustained monthly one-on-one counselling to parents and students, providing them with financial support, while also facilitating and guiding their admissions in DLF’s wide network of partner schools. In addition, the learning gaps of students are also reduced with remedial classes. To equip students to make the right career choice after class X and class XII, various value cum skill-enhancement webinars and workshops are also organised, wherein expert mentoring is provided individually to every student.
The impact of the DLF CARES program has been significant, with the average percentage of students completing and graduating from class XII increasing from 68.4% to 76.6%. We are immensely proud to note that 25% of our graduate students got enrolled in professional courses like B.Tech., CA, BA, LLB, BPT, BBA and B. Pharma. In addition to this, about 56% of pupils got admitted in degree programmes like B.Sc. (Hon), B.Com. (Hons), BA, while 19% opted for vocational courses like Diploma in Automobile Engineering, Diploma in Office Management and Polytechnic education.
In the panoramic scheme of things, we have already witnessed 251 engineers, 74 MBAs, 34 doctors and 6 chartered accountants who have come up through the direct support provided by various DLF CARES programmes.
We are also proud to announce that students supported by DLF CARES initiative are today part of some of the best colleges and universities, like Venkateshwara College (DU), Kirori Mal College (DU), Kamla Nehru College (DU), Ramjas College (DU), Indraprastha University, Symbiosis College, DPG Degree ITM College, Amity University, Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) and NIMS Jaipur.
What inspired you to launch 24*7 mental health counselling and support helpline ‘iWillCare’? How does that work?
In the wake of the unprecedented pandemic, the importance of mental wellbeing came to the forefront of all our welfare programs. Inaugurated by the Deputy Commissioner of Gurugram, Dr. Yash Garg, iWillCARE is an artificial intelligence-based application system developed and operated by iWill. In addition to being a free self-assessment application, it also provides 24*7 mental health counselling free of cost to the people of Gurugram. Mental health has traditionally been a taboo subject in Indian societies. With so much misinformation around mental health, even the most educated communities are hesitant to seek professional help. Thus, this platform is primed to offer much needed support for the people of Gurugram who are exposed to high levels of anxiety and stress dailydaily. Due to the stigma around seeking mental health support, countless individuals undergo various degrees of depression in their day-to-day lives yet are never diagnosed. In most cases mental health remains a subject that is widely misunderstood and individuals in need of help never seek it due to a combination of factors like fear, shame, ridicule or societal pressure. To address this underlying problem rooted in our societal upbringing, DLF Foundation has launched a joint initiative with the District Administration of Gurugram for the implementation of ePsyclinic.
This application, which can be downloaded for both Apple and Android devices, includes a telephone helpline service with the number 011-41219298 that is operational 24*7 for instant and dedicated call sessions with mental health experts. The helpline was earlier used to reach out to critical Covid-19 patients and their immediate family members whose mental health was impacted due to the pandemic. Currently, the helpline is manned by counsellors helping anonymous callers to deal with their immediate mental health concerns. As of November 2021, the application has benefitted as many as 19,828 people.
CGS Hospital is a unique veterinary care initiative of the DLF Foundation. Please elaborate on its key features and what makes it stand apart?
CGS Hospital, Gurugram was founded in 2010. It was envisaged with a mission of providing comprehensive and quality veterinary care to domestic pets, as well as street dogs and cats. Spread across 1.25 acres of land, this hospital provides state-of-the-art provisions aligned with the latest advancements in veterinary medicine and diagnostics such as computerized radiography, ultrasonography, endoscopy, laparoscopy, and minimally invasive orthopaedic surgeries. In addition to the aforementioned facilities, CGS Hospital also provides cutting edge high-end services like ultrasound and echocardiography, laser surgery, computed radiography and fibre optic endoscopy. CGS Hospital has a modern laboratory as well as a fully stocked in-house pharmacy.
Over the years, the hospital’s veterinarians have actively participated in numerous national and international veterinary training workshops and conferences. Through their tireless dedication and commitment they have been bestowed with innumerable appreciation awards. Furthermore, CGS Hospital has also received the award for the Best Multi-Speciality Hospital of the Year by the World Health Care Achievers Ltd in the year 2019.
The CGS Hospital also provides vaccination and sterilization drives at highly concessional prices. These initiatives are conducted to ensure a cordial existence between street animals and humans. To strengthen this coexistence, the CGS Hospital runs awareness and educational programs wherein pet parents, school children as well as the general community at large are sensitised on issues like pet care and zoonotic diseases. Since the beginning of the lockdown, the hospital has provided over 1 lakh fresh meals to stray dogs across the city. A free tele-OPD for pet lovers was also installed to help them with vital information during medical emergencies.
In 2019, CGS Hospital received over 22,000 cases, out of which 15% involved helpless street dogs and cats who had nobody to care for them. This inspired the creation of a committed space titled “Pasha Wing” (named in memory of a beloved soul who found care and support at our hospital). The initiative was launched in November 2019, wherein the hospital offered free out-patient treatment and free surgeries for every abandoned or helpless stray dog and cat brought to our facilities.
Today, the CGS Hospital functions 24×7 with a dedicated night emergency unit and ambulance facilities. Boarding facilities for dogs and cats are provided for pet owners. Furthermore, the availability of all pet supplies, medicines and accessories under a single roof make this an inimitable veterinary care unit in India. In February 2022, the hospital plans to commission a swimming pool for physiotherapy of animals undergoing muscular and orthopaedic treatments. We believe kindness, compassion and humanity are immeasurable. Our greatest accolades are not the awards we garner, but the joy in the eyes of the animals who have find love and care at CGS Hospital. To this end, we have vowed to launch a second facility in South Delhi, which is scheduled to commence operations before April 2022.
For the year ahead, what would be the focus of the DLF Foundation?
As we look towards future horizons, we continue steadfast in our resolve to provide the highest levels of excellence in all our endeavours. As we brace for uncertainties that the pandemic will bring, we have established that our prime focus will be on the importance of health and wellness enveloping every strata of society. To this end, the first of our objectives is to continue our initiative to organize free health screening camps at various locations of Gurugram. In 2021, this initiative had served more than 8068 beneficiaries including labourers, daily wage earners as well as frontline workers. We aim to further expand the scope and facilities offered in this program by providing entire communities with complete body screenings, which will be performed under the supervision of trained medical officers. Beneficiaries of this program will be diagnosed, given medical prescriptions and will also be provided with the facility to undergo further diagnostic tests, as and when required. Committed to expanding the outreach of the ongoing programs, the DLF Foundation aims to donate a CT scan machine to the Civil Hospital in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand. This initiative will help the populace of Mussoorie obtain specialized medical care in their hometown without the need to venture to larger metropolitan cities.
The DLF Foundation will be taking up plantation drives across Gurugram and help in the creation and maintenance of green belts in and around the cycling paths of sector 93, Gurugram. The fallout of the last wave of the pandemic saw horrific scenes where human corpses were being burned in mass-cremations due to lack of space and adequate crematorium facilities. To ensure dignity for those who are no longer with us, the DLF Foundation has also taken an initiative to develop environment-friendly crematoriums in partnership with the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP). Spanning across a span of 6.26 acres of land in Sector 72A of Gurugram, these crematoriums will accommodate 30 CNG pyres, digital urn lockers, waiting-cum-prayer halls, preparatory pavilions, dedicated administrative blocks, residential quarters and multiple parking bays. The project has been fast-tracked for completion in 2022, and upon its launch will be the largest crematorium in Gurugram.
(India CSR)
