HCL To Announce Corporate Social Responsibility Grants

CHANDIGARH: The HCL Foundation will announce grants of 5 crore each in the fields of education, health and environment through pan-India symposia on "Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for Nation Building: The HCL Grant".

The HCL Foundation symposia are being held "to drive inclusive development models that are innovative, add equitable value and help NGOs gain better understanding on the CSR law and CSR grants".

The symposia are being conducted by the CSR arm of IT giant HCL Technologies, targetting 10 cities across the country -- Chandigarh, Kolkata, Vijaywada, Mumbai, Bhubneshwar, Guwahati, Imphal, Gandhinagar, Patna and Jaipur.

The second symposium was held in Chandigarh on Tuesday. The first was held in Patna last week.

"These symposiums have been designed to cover everything from section 135-C of the CSR Law, to sectoral gaps, insights and opportunities across education, health and environment to all the details of the HCL Grant application process right from process to proposal to methodology," Ajay Davessar, vice president and head of corporate communications, HCL Technologies, said here on Tuesday.

He said these would enable more awareness for maximum reach into the rural areas, "thus strengthening the fifth estate -- the NGOs and thus contribute to nation-building".

President Pranab Mukherjee and Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Arun Jaitley have complimented HCL on "institutionalisation of a mechanism for CSR through the HCL Grant".

Nidhi Pundir, Director - CSR Lead, HCL Foundation, said: "These capacity building symposiums have been designed to educate and strengthen the NGOs that strive for transformation by doing commendable work in rural India in education, health and environment sectors."

There are an estimated 3.3 million NGOs in India. Many of these are doing work in rural India in various areas, aimed at inclusion and development.

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