Paresh Parasnis Head, Piramal Foundation |
Paresh Parasnis, Head- Piramal Foundation, says, “Piramal Foundation strongly believes that there are untapped innovative solutions that can address India’s most pressing problems. Each social project that is chosen to be funded and nurtured by the Piramal Foundation lies within one of the four broad areas -healthcare, education, livelihood creation and youth empowerment. The Foundation believes in developing innovative solutions to issues that are critical roadblocks towards unlocking India’s economic potential.”
CSR initiatives of Piramal Foundation:
- Piramal Swasthya: It is a unique model that is built on the backbone of telecom. A healthcare helpline supported by clinical expertise (servicing over 26 million callers across six states), mobile health units (providing access to primary healthcare to remote villages) and telemedicine centres servicing remote tribal locations by linking to specialists are services offered through this initiative. Piramal Swasthya works in partnership with state governments under the NRHM and has, so far, serviced 40 million patients in seven states over the last six years and saved 250,000 doctor days.
- Piramal Sarvajal: It is engaged in alleviating issues around access to safe drinking water which has led to a large incidence of water borne diseases and consequent loss of 73 million working days. Sarvajal is a social enterprise implementing an innovative and technology-centric solution for decentralised filtration and distribution. Working with rural entrepreneurs, Sarvajal is creating a self sustaining solution which uses remote sensing, solar power and RFID technology to ensure quality, transparency and accountability. Sarvajal currently serves 1,20,000 people daily and has been a key partner working with Delhi Jal Board.
- Piramal Foundation for Education Leadership (PFEL): It aims to build a world class university for education in Rajasthan. PFEL is currently focused on creating leadership capacity in government schools. The Principal Leadership Development Programme works with headmasters in 1,200 government schools in Rajasthan, Surat and Mumbai covering about 1,50,000 children. This is a three year part time programme for head masters covering four aspects of leadership. The programme is implemented through Piramal fellows, young graduates who have the urge to contribute to grass root change in society. Creating socially conscious leaders who can contribute to the nation building effort is the focus on the fellowship.
The foundation has recently set up a Piramal School of Leadership, a 44,000 sq ft facility in Bagar, Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan, combining the best of technology and open design principles to foster group learning. The School of Leadership will, over the next couple of years, offer accredited courses for young students keen on actively addressing specific issues in the development sector. - Piramal Udgam: It is a rural BPO which provides employment opportunities for women in rural areas around Jhunjhunu. Over 400 women and men have worked, learned and earned a dignified living through this centre. The centre empowers them with an employable skill set which helps build their confidence whereas the money earned is invested back in the family, particularly encouraging their children’s education.
- Gopikrishna Piramal Memorial Hospital: It was established in 1983, to focus on major issues of delivery of child healthcare and welfare to the underprivileged segment of the society. Free medical services are offered on out-patient basis like extended immunisation programme, medical check-up camps, paediatric consultation, camps for detection of diabetes and hypertension in economically socially backward areas along with free medicines, DOT programme in collaboration with BMC, DGHS and WHO. The hospital also provides nephrology consultation and haemodialysis therapy service for patients with end stage renal disease with nominal charges.
- Pratham: It was established in 1994 to provide pre-school education to the children in the slums of Mumbai city, now the largest NGO working to provide quality education to the underprivileged children of India. Ajay Piramal is the current Chairman of Pratham. Pratham launched the Read India campaign, currently implemented in 350 districts across 19 states in the country, reaching 33 million children. More than 450,000 volunteers have been mobilised and 600,000 teachers and government officials have been trained in accelerated learning methodologies developed by Pratham.
Piramal Foundation’s CSR initiatives span across many fields. Schemes like Piramal Sarvajal hold a lot of importance in a country like India where water scarcity is a major issue. Foundation’s work in health and education sector is also widely appreciated. If other companies would also decide to follow the the footsteps of Piramal Foundation, many social issues that Government couldn’t address can be resolved.