'We don't adopt villages, we partner them'

Q&A/ Pearl Tiwari

Pearl Tiwari, assistant vice president, CSR, Ambuja Cement, says the company does not believe in creating parallel development structures.

What was the purpose of the meet on CSR you organised with Assocham?

When Assocham proposed the conference, we decided to partner it, rather than just send some participants. The goal is to create business forums in which we would also like to be part of, for the social, environmental and economical good of people.

What are the main activities of the CSR foundation of the company?

We are involved with almost every department of the company, including mining, human resources. So the mining department is brought to account on reclamation of land to the benefit of the community. We discuss whether to make a reservoir or to hand it to the people for plantation.

In Gujarat, we created reservoirs. We have also created fodder crops and given the area back to panchayats.

How old is your foundation?

We started in 1993. Today, sustainable development is the new trend. But we used to call it responsibility to the community and so on. We grew our company on the premise of investment in the community.

What strategy do you have to multiply impact of the work you do?

We have plants in ten states and our work is in 670 villages. The models are being replicated.

What is your model of development?

We do 'need assessment' and believe in the wisdom of community, We just provide resources to our partners which are either the government or NGOs.

In places like Chandrapore in Maharashtra, where there was a water crisis, we looked at land development, and provided skilling. We have created health functionaries who have completed high school and are trained to handle health issues.

Aren't you creating parallel systems?

No, we don't build parallel structures. We try to empower existing structures. For instance, we activated village education committees in 12 villages in Maharashtra and 30 in Himachal Pradesh. We created water shed committees to look at conservation issues.

How many of the villages have you adopted?

None of the 670 villages have been adopted by us. We don't believe in adoption, It has a connotation of dependency. We believe in partnership.

How do you rehabilitate people who lose land?

We never had issues of displacement. Only agricultural land was lost. We gave marketable skills to impacted people. Our skilling courses run for three to six months in Jaitaran in Rajasthan and Solan in Himachal Pradesh.

How do you manage your finances?

We don't have a percentage of the company's budget, but are given funds on the basis of our needs.

Besides, we get funds not just from the company but from state governments, and international funding agencies. Ours is a bottoms up approach. We work with communities and we decide the work and calculate the cost and budget for the coming year.

That is presented to the board of the foundation and then to the company. Because we work in tandem with the company, most of the plans of action are already being discussed with it and hence, what is asked is by and large given.

What was your budget this year?

It is Rs 40 crore. Half of it came from Ambuja and the other half from various government and non-governmental agencies like Unicef, USAID, Ratan Tata Trust, Nabard and state governments.