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NGOs, corporate houses propose roadmap to benefit masses [Jaipur] [Times of India](Times of India Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) UDAIPUR: Education, livelihood and health have been identified as key areas to work under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) during the national level Inclusive Forum-2014 held at Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur, in collaboration with the Harvard Business School Club of India at IIM-U campus on Saturday. Participants from the Harvard Business alumni along with CRS heads of 25 corporate houses and 25 representatives of NGOs proposed a roadmap for effectively utilizing the corporate houses and NGOs association to benefit the masses. The road map came up after deliberations among the stakeholders. Here the NGOs expressed the need before the corporate world to look into the health sector which requires improvement in several areas. Exploring the different ways for corporate to venture into health sector, Neera Nundy, partner and co-founder DASRA NGO, said, "The CSR can be used in research and development to make medicines and devices cheaper and accessible to masses." A suggestion of collaborating with state governments in providing ambulance service found many takers among the corporate participants. Besides, training of ANM and Asha Sayogini to deliver better services by the NGOs in association with corporate to keep a track on health required pregnant women was shown interest by many stakeholders. But that NGOs cautioned that CSR activities in health should not draw a parallel to the medical facilities the government is providing and role of corporate houses should be complimentary. During the discussion, the participants praised the Rajasthan government 'Bhamashah Yojna' for its transformational work in the field of education. The issue of how to effectively provision of the livelihood to the poor by the corporate houses was also discussed at length by the HBS alumni, CSR heads from companies like Genpact, Hindustan Zinc and the NGO heads. Corporate representatives expressed the desire of hiring workforce from rural areas but they said lack of talent among the rural youths is a major hurdle. The CSR head from Genpact, Mihir Chatterjee, said, "We are ready to employ people from rural areas provided they have the necessary skills and they are ready to migrate to places where the works are taken up." For education, all stakeholders opined that the need to look into the next level from merely eyeing short term goals. The educational institutions supported by CSR should focus on making social leaders. Speaking on the subject, Anshul Arora, Harvard Business School alumni, said, "Progress has been made in the education sector and especially enrolments have increased but a lot needs to be done on early childhood education. The canvass of education is large but we have to priotrize our needs and to work on specific needs." (c) 2014 Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited |