AP corporates focus on literacy for the underprivileged

Srinivasa Rao Dasari / Hyderabad

A growing awareness of social responsibility is motivating a new generation of business leaders who want to make a difference to the society. Many IT companies have started initiating welfare activities in their region. Literacy for the underprivileged is the key focus of most corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Hyderabad.

The literacy initiatives range from free and subsidised courses to donation of computers to career counselling, et al. “We believe in giving back to the society in the form of providing education and other welfare activities. Our company Pinexe Limited (formerly Portal Player) has adopted a school for poor children and provides them uniform, books and lab equipment, etc. Every employee contributes some amount towards these welfare activities,” says J A Chowdary, president, American Chambers of Commerce (Amcham) and former president of Hyderabad Software Exporters’ Association (Hysea).

Shakti Sagar, managing director of Hyderabad-based ADP Limited adds, “The first aim is to bridge the digital divide. We are motivating all IT companies to actively participate in spreading the IT revolution across Andhra Pradesh. Poor students, who study in government schools are unable to keep pace with modern industry requirements, be it communication skills or the quality of education. We are talking with the state government on various issues and trying to work out the initiatives we can take. We have prepared a blueprint on improving communication and English language skills in government schools.”

Microsoft India and the Andhra Pradesh government have signed an MoU to take up ‘Project Shiksha—Empowering the Future’ in the state. The objective of the MoU is providing IT education to all and accelerating IT literacy in the state. The target is reaching more than four lakh students (classes from III to XII) and two lakh teachers in government schools in Andhra Pradesh over a five-year period. “Microsoft’s Content Design and Development Group (CDDG) is working with local government officials to ensure that the curriculum developed meets local standards. This should be ready to deploy for the session commencing June 2004. The curriculum is based on NCERT guidelines,” infor-ms Rajiv Kaul, managing director of Microsoft Cor-poration India.

Microsoft hopes that this MoU will add a new dimension to the company’s relationship with the state government. The company is in the process of setting up academies to run and facilitate teacher training in the state.

Targeting rural areas

Hysea is currently chalking out various options to spread the IT revolution and its benefits to rural areas, with active participation from member companies. “Taking the fruits of the IT revolution to the common man is very important in order to bridge the digital divide. Currently, we are working on this. We are actively participating in the Livelyhood Advancement Business School (LABS) project for school dropouts. By providing necessary training and communication skills, we try to place orphans and school dropouts in many companies and other retailing business ventures,” says Kedarnath Udiyavar, president of Hysea.

Focus on children and youth

Dr Reddy’s Foundation for Human and Social Development focuses on fostering, developing and promoting sustainable development initiatives at individual, group and organisation levels. “Our special focus is on children and youth at risk and urban poverty,” explains foundation executive director Nalini Gangadharan. The core support for the foundation’s administration and staff expenses come from Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. Its major initiatives include the Child and Police (CAP) and the Livelihood Advancement Business School (LABS). The CAP was started as a joint venture with the Hyderabad City Police to offer full-time quality education to needy children. Initially it was limited to children in hazardous working conditions. Then it was expanded to all children at risk, comprising all out-of-school children like working, exploited, poor and marginalised minority children.

The initiative includes designing of special learning programmes, setting up bridge schools for young children, launching after-schools programmes and reinforcement/remedial programmes. LABS helps young adults from economically weak backgrounds get skills in an environment of learning and mentoring so that they get a fair opportunity to assimilate into the competitive job market. By now over 5,000 young men and women, between 18-25, have passed out of the school and are working in leading companies. The programme is also operational in Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai. The programme’s success has helped it rope in 32 small, large and multinational companies as partners. “Getting other corporates involved in our work was not difficult. Generating sustainable livelihoods is a win-win situation for all. In fact, the programme has moved much beyond our direct intervention,” says Gangadharan.

Naandi Foundation

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has co-founded a non-profit organisation called Naandi Foundation with Dr K Anji Reddy as the founding chairman. Satyam Computers, Global Trust Bank and the Nagarjuna Group are the other co-founders. “Naandi” means “the beginning.” “The foundation works in areas as diverse as the education of underprivileged children, provision of water to drought-hit farmers and support to marginalised tribals,” elaborates foundation chief executive officer, Manoj Kumar.

The foundation is running a primary school in the tribal area of Paderu, providing quality education to children attending government schools in Hyderabad and managing rural creches for children of poor, daily wagers in Vizianagaram. The foundation has also launched income generation projects for the tribal poor in Araku.

“While 50-60 percent of the funding comes from the Andhra Pradesh government, 10-20 percent comes through an innovative concept called ‘The Power of 10’,” adds Kumar. Conceived by Dr Reddy himself, the scheme shows how a contribution of Rs 10 by employees— from factory workers to the CEO— can make a difference to the society. The company matches the contribution made by the employees.

Naandi is also being supported by ABN Amro, Airtel, Gen-eral Electric, Ernst & Young and Microsoft and others. ‘The Po-wer of 10’ scheme has also enab-led Naandi to enlist employees from these institutions, who are volunteering their time and skills to further its social initiatives.

Social responsibility or tax benefit?

What motivates corporates to take up CSR activities—welfare of people or tax benefits in the guise of helping the needy? There are rumours in industry circles that in many cases no welfare project was undertaken and companies took the advantage of tax benefits.

Narender Surana, managing director of Surana Telecom, rubbishes these rumours. His company is involved in many activities in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. The Surana Group has built a community hall and dispensary at Bolaram in Secunderabad. The dispensary treats about 150 patients per day free of cost. The company also runs a boarding school in Rajasthan for poor children. “I don’t agree on this. No corporate takes up social responsibility just to take advantage of tax relief. However, tax benefits for expenditure on social responsibility will certainly encourage companies to go ahead with their plans. We are working on different welfare schemes in areas like health, education and sports. We have formed a cricket club and that encourages youngsters irrespective of their financial background.”

Other initiatives

The Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI), basically a traders’ organisation, is motivating its members to participate in welfare initiatives.

“So far, we have not been much involved in such activities, but now our members are very interested in serving the society. The awareness is gradually picking up. The management of FAPCCI is also educating its members to focus on rural development. We have decided to adopt a village and transform it into a model village. We are looking for a village located somewhere around Hyderabad. Once we have successfully develop the identified village, we will focus on other villages,” informs SSR Koteshwara Rao, president of FAPCCI.

The objective of the Bharatiya Yuvashakthi Trust (BYST), a programme of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), aims at providing self-employment opportunities to unemployed youth, who are under 35 years of age.

“Under the BYST programme, we provide soft loans upto Rs 50,000 and the success rate is more than 85 percent. So far, this programme has benefited 120 unemployed youth, 30 percent of whom happen to be women. Each entrepreneur is entrusted to a mentor, who is an industrialist. The mentor will monitor and guide the unemployed youth to become a successful entrepreneur,” says DV Manohar, chairman of Shri Shakthi Group. He is heading the BYST programme of the CII.

Citing the problems being faced by unemployed youth seeking self-employment, Man-ohar points out: “Though the programme has been quite encouraging, we find that banking and marketing problems continue to create obstacles for small entrepreneurs. If a person calls four or five banks enquiring about car loans, every banker will rush to him offering flexible loans at attractive interest rates, in some cases the interest rate is as low as 4 percent. If the same person calls up a banker for expansion of his existing business or setting up a new business unit, the response is seldom encouraging. Furthermore, the interest rate is as high as 14 percent. In many cases, bankers make entrepreneurs run from the pillar to the post post and finally the proposal is not approved.”

The BYST acts as a catalyst by helping unemployed youth become successful entrepreneurs. It provides necessary support to identify suitable ventures, financing from financial institutions and give marketing support. Clearly, focus on specific needs and making it a success is more important than just releasing funds towards welfare programmes.