Noida, February 28, 2020: HCL Foundation (HCLF), the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of HCL Technologies, announced the recipients of the fifth edition of HCL Grant in the presence of Padma Bhushan, Kapil Dev, a legend in the global world of cricket and former captain of the Indian Cricket team.
HCL Grant is one of the biggest and most coveted institutionalised CSR grants in India that aims to recognise the rise of the Fifth Estate – the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) – and support their breakthrough projects reaching out to the rural communities in the country.
The evening was also graced by Shiv Nadar, Founder & Chairman, HCL, Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Vice Chairperson of HCL Technologies and the Chairperson of its CSR Committee, and Prateek Aggarwal, Chief Financial Officer, HCL Technologies, along with senior dignitaries, officials, NGO-partners and HCL leadership.
HCL Grant 2020 witnessed three NGOs across the categories of Education, Healthcare and Environment receiving a grant of ₹Five crores each. The remaining six finalists across the three categories also received ₹25 lakhs each, taking the overall Grant to ₹16.5 crores.
The finalists and the winners were selected by an eminent jury, which was chaired by Robin Abrams, Member of the Board, HCL Technologies.
Recipients of HCL Grant 2020:
- Environment – ‘Under The Mango Tree Society’: Initiated in 2009, the organisation is promoting bee-keeping with locally-available indigenous bees to improve its presence.
Project Title: To raise awareness about the role of indigenous bees for agriculture and biodiversity in tribal communities.
Project Location: Four districts in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
- Healthcare – ‘Operation ASHA’: Established in 2006, the organisation is working with National Tuberculosis (TB) programmes, providing detection, treatment, education, awareness and advocacy about TB through various technology applications.
Project Title: To detect and provide full treatment to every tuberculosis patient.
Project Location: Kullu (Himachal Pradesh)
- Education – ‘Bal Raksha Bhara’: Established in 2004, the organisation is working with a motto of leaving no child behind to ensure that children get the right start to achieve their full potential.
Project Title: To promote a culture of peace and harmony and a safe school environment for the most marginalised children of J&K and Ladakh.
Project Location: Leh (Ladakh) and Budgam (J&K)
“It is extremely important to bring equal opportunities to people coming from every strata of society. Health, Education, and Environment are some of the most important pillars towards India’s development goals and I am highly impressed with the kind of impact these NGOs are bringing in the rural communities. The robustness of the identification process is something I have not witnessed before. I congratulate both HCL as well as the winners and finalists for the phenomenal work they are doing in their respective fields,” Kapil Dev said while addressing the audience at the event.
HCL Grant began its journey in 2015 and over the years witnessed some remarkable work being done by the supported NGOs to strengthen grass root and sustainable development. Excluding the current grant, HCL Grant has already disbursed ₹51.5 crores (US$ 7.4Mn) to benefit nearly 500,000 people and its supported projects aim to cover over a million people spread across 7,500 villages across 13 States and one Union Territory in the country.
“HCL Foundation is our long-term commitment to social development, and today, it has improved over 1.5 million lives across our country. Our collaborative model allows us to support communities with critical concerns needing immediate attention and HCL Grant is a prime example of the same. I am proud to say that today the improvements we have been able to drive together with the HCL Grant partner NGOs are not just in terms of immediate impact on the beneficiaries’ lives, but also about ensuring long-term sustainable change by influencing State and government policies,” said Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Vice-Chairperson, HCL Technologies, and Chairperson, CSR Committee, HCL Technologies.
Speaking on the occasion, Nidhi Pundhir, Director HCL Foundation, said, “This is a very special year for us as we complete half a decade of empowering the NGOs that are committed to ushering change. This annual HCL Grant event is a culmination of our year-long efforts to identify partners who have the potential to achieve the maximum impact through their social development projects. We are truly honoured to have received applications from all parts of the country and my heartiest congratulations to the winning NGOs for giving us the opportunity to partner with them and support their ideas for impactful positive change.”
During the event, HCL Foundation also released the compendium of the previous year’s finalists and winning NGOs, named “Fifth Estate – NGOs Transforming Rural India in Environment, Health, and Education.”
