Corporate Citizenship
OVERVIEW:
The RPG Group firmly believes that to be a socially responsible organization, Corporate Social Responsibility can never be just an added function to the business. It should be ingrained in core business operations. Taking responsibility for the impact of its activities on various stakeholders, CSR activities at RPG cover the workplace, community and environment.
Education, livelihood and environment, are the three broad focus areas for the RPG Group’s CSR initiatives.
EDUCATION & LIVELIHOOD:
It is through education that the foundation of a child gets built. Even though 96% of Indians are enrolled in schools, a very small percentage of those children can actually read or write by the fifth grade. While improving the quality and spread of educational institutes continue to be a key challenge for the Government, the RPG Group believes the corporate sector too needs to step in to help make a difference in its own way.
The Group has undertaken certain initiatives like providing regular tuition classes for wards of employees are conducted on a continuous basis. Companies have started Computer classes for BPL (Below Poverty Line) students at Palej in Gujarat. To promote primary education, especially among the girl child, 32 girls have been adopted. A primary school and a community health centre are being constructed to rehabilitate a local village in Haldia, West Bengal. Free tuitions in subjects like English and Math are being provided for children of local schools sponsored by the some of the group companies. Kitab Korner is a novel concept wherein a library for the underprivileged community has been set up at Karadi, Pune. The Kitab Korner is managed by the students themselves to make it participative in nature.
Apart from primary education, training sessions are provided for women to form self-help groups. The technical training centre at Nagpur is also used to conduct skill building courses for the workers’ wives.
Understanding the vitality of soft skills in our lives, the Group initiated a flagship training programme for adolescents called Saksham. It is an overall grooming and confidence building programme. Saksham is addressed to a population within the age group of 16-20 years of age. The primary objective of Saksham is to help talented individuals gain confidence and face the world with assurance. It is an 8-hour program. Another project called the RPG AKSHAR Programme has been initiated since April ‘2010. This intervention would focus on spoken English proficiency and reading English text among students from the neighborhood community (Adarsh Nagar), near CEAT Mahal.
Group companies also provide assistance for vocational and industrial training for the youth. A unique programme for workmen’s life enrichment (Program: Jeena isi ka naam hai) was entailed, in which more than 270 employees had participated.
ENVIRONMENT
We often tend to take for granted what Nature has gifted us. However, at RPG we realize the importance of the global environmental crisis, and we intend to optimize resources, reduce wastage of paper, power and food. Our aim is to become environmentally responsible.
Towards this end, RPG celebrates the World Environment Day to create awareness about recycling wastes, reduce usage of plastic and initiate action to reduce global warming by planting saplings with the support of the forestry department. At various locations, 3500 trees were planted and green belts in Palej and Mundra were identified.
Our group companies have taken several initiatives in creating awareness about global warming, conservation of trees and recycling of paper and reduce plastic. Effective waste management apart, one of our companies has also initiated a kitchen garden and a bio-sanitisation project.
HEALTH:
Integrated health camps and follow up schemes for villages near our plant sites have been installed. Group companies have also undertaken training of trainers to identify epidemic diseases.