Gujarat CSR Authority today rolled out an exhaustive GCSRA Knowledge Portal on the second day of the National CSR Conclave, aimed at playing the role of a facilitator armed with key information on corporate social responsibility. This has been collated for the
benefit of corporate houses and civil society and houses a database of
case studies of successful and innovative implementation of CSR ideas.
GCSRA has made a move to list all reputed monitoring agencies on the portal, entrusted with the task of monitoring the progress of work. An explicit survey around Ahmedabad and Baroda has been done to identify approximately 12,000 trainees willing to take the benefit of skill upgradation programs.
The day also saw the first edition of a state-level CSR Awards where 6 Gujarat-based companies clinched trophies. A team of 5 jury members classified their contribution in 3 categories to identify and
recognize the exemplary work of companies in integrating and
internalizing Corporate Social Responsibility.
Shri O. P. Kohli, Honourable Governorshri of Gujarat graced the occasion and unveiled a coffee table book that compiles and details
successful CSR project models as a ready reckoner for guidance and
inspiration.
“It gives me a great pleasure in speaking to you at this Gujarat CSR
National Conclave, 2017. While starting off initially as a corporate
philanthropy, the Indian approach has now evolved to become more of a ‘strategic engagement’, and has gradually moved from institution building to community development through various projects. GCSRA is a unique initiative of the State of Gujarat to foster a creative & collaborative model for Corporates to work closely with the state & district administration as well as the Civil Society, with a dedicated focus to improve the social & economic conditions of its population.” said Shri O. P. Kohli, Honourable Governorshri of Gujarat.
For Sustainable & Impactful CSR Project category, GHCL’s project on ‘Agriculture based Livelihood Project’ took the winners’ trophy in the large company segment while VIVEC by Transpek Industries Ltd. focusing on tribal populations, for livelihood support, won in the Small & Medium Company segment.
In the Cohesive & Strategic CSR Partnership Project category, Deepak Nitrite emerged winner among large companies for providing healthcare facilities to the tribal community through a PPP model- based project, implemented in partnership with the Department of Family Health and Welfare. Gujarat Microwax Pvt. Ltd. was declared a winner among Small & Medium Companies.
For the category on Innovative Model for CSR Implementation, Arvind Ltd. took away the trophy in the large company segment for a CSR project providing educational, financial, motivational and long term handholding support to help underprivileged children in the age group 8—12 years from economically backward sections of society. Meril Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd. was the winner in the Small & Medium Companies segment for a project providing career guidance and counselling support to the urban and rural students of 9 to 12th standards through an online psychometric test based on Personal Response Test.
“When the Gujarat CSR Authority was formed, the government took a conscious decision to make it a facilitator and not a regulator. In the first year of the implementation of the CSR law, there were ambiguities. In the second year we tried to build an ecosystem and did a demand-gap analysis. We decided to pilot a number of good projects and do an impact assessment. So far, we have piloted a dozen such projects. It is also the first edition of the awards and we received 44 nominations, of which 21 were shortlisted. Finally, our jury selected 6 companies based on the merit of their projects,” said Shri Maheswar Sahu, IAS (retd), Chairman, GCSRA.
On Friday, a number of sessions focusing on various themes like malnutrition, innovation and entrepreneurship were held.
The winning projects of the CSR Awardees were also showcased through short videos during the session.
