In a first of its kind initiative, Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon lok Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) Abhishek Singh-- son of Chief Minister Raman Singh launched ‘Adopt a Block’ and ‘Adopt a Village’ program and welcomed corporate companies to collaborate with the local administrations on various socio-economic development projects.
He was addressing CSR Partnership Roundtable at Constitution Club in New Delhi. The Roundtable conference was organized on Friday by district administration of Kabirdham and Rajnandgaon and India CSR Network, a CSR think tank company.
More than 40 CSR heads of leading corporate 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.
The young MP appealed corporate entities and social development organizations to join the developmental work being initiated by the state government in Rajnandgaon and Kabirdham districts and interacted with corporate and civil organizations’ representatives for possible collaboration for inclusive development of the region.
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 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,” Singh said.
He highlighted the developmental work being undertaken by the state government. 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.
Singh highlighted that on some indicators, Chhattisgarh has shown 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 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, he said.
The forum organized with active supported from leading English Weekly - OPEN, Science Education Company - Stem learning, NGOs - Galway Foundation and Vision India Foundation.