India Inc on a profitable route to social responsibility

Retired senior citizens with modest incomes are awarded ATM housekeeping contracts depending upon their ability.

Dispensing corporate social responsibility would have never been so interesting and interactive but for the innovative pitch made by Mumbai-headquarterd NGO, Dignity Foundation.

The NGO, which has been popularising the principles of productive ageing and helping senior citizens, has entered into a housekeeping contract for the maintenance of 21 ICICI ATMs. As per the arrangement, retired senior citizens with modest incomes are awarded ATM housekeeping contracts depending upon their ability.

They are paid Rs 800 per ATM, per month, and they in turn employ their own helps to take care of the cleanliness, lighting, etc.

"Our member senior citizens make personal visits to these ATMs on a daily basis to see if the job is being done properly by their own employees," said Sheilu Sreenivasan, president, Dignity Foundation.

As of now the foundation is testing the idea in Mumbai and would extend it to the rest of Maharashtra and beyond later.

"Before ICICI Bank, we had a tie up with HSBC who paid 6us Rs 2,500 per ATM and gave us 17 of them. However, a change in their policy where all the services went to a single agency, meant we could not participate with them," she said.

The foundation has a successful working relationship with the Mahanagar Gas, where 300 `dignitarians' (Senior citizens who are the permanent members of the foundation), regularly patrol the CNG pipelines put out through the city.

The foundation is also coming up with Dignity Lifestyle, the country's first full-fledged retirement township spread over 25-acre for the senior citizens located just 90 km from Mumbai at Neral. This will be equipped with all facilities, including a geriatric hospital.

''Our idea is to make lives meaningful and we are planning to approach HDFC bank for micro-credit scheme where the members who eventually reside here will undertake responsibility for promoting rural welfare by identifying and appraising projects that can be funded in the surrounding areas. We are also in talks with Tata Consultancy," said Sreenivasan.

According to her, TCS has developed a software to aid literacy and if this were to be used then its senior citizens could also be involved in spreading literacy mission in the villages surrounding the housing project.