CSR at BILT
 
 
 
 
 
 

STATEMENT OF MR. GAUTAM THAPAR, Chairman, BILT
"As we look at a world larger than our present sphere, we see our role stretching beyond mere business considerations into demonstrating serious corporate social commitment."

"BILT is an organisation with a broad social vision. Being a good corporate citizen encompasses two elements: Transparency and Balancing the needs of stakeholders. Today, society expects corporate to go beyond the statutory compliances and putting something back into society. I believe that as a company, we have social obligations and these obligations are shared by each person in the company. There is a growing realisation that long-term business success can only be achieved by companies that recognise CSR as part of the process of wealth creation and as providing a competitive advantage. CSR is a two-way relationship, in which there are benefits to the society as well as to the companies involved".

 

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

BILT is committed to developing its business towards ecological, social and economic sustainability. All of these are recognized as shared responsibilities within the Group, enabling the continuous improvement of its operations. . The company has initiated a multi-pronged approach to CSR within the organization. Through this, all activities and initiatives are planned specific to the needs of the target stakeholders. The ultimate objective is to see that each business decision takes into account its social impact and accordingly plans an intervention to mitigate the impacts arising out of that decision. It is equally important to ascertain that every activity done under CSR makes a socially responsible business sense. Also inherent to this model is active partnership with NGO’s in helping us fulfill our social responsibility. BILT also has a policy on CSR, which enumerates its commitments to its key stakeholders  

As of now the CSR programs of Bilt are carried out at the following levels 

·         Communities: Integrated Rural & Urban Community Development programmes with communities living in the periphery of our Mills.·         Employee Volunteer Programme: employees are encouraged to volunteer time to work on social issues. ·         Workplace: HIV/AIDS prevention with employees, truckers and transporters·         Support to National Issues:  Support to NGO’s for Universalizing Primary Education and arresting school dropouts

Community Development
Out of all the stakeholders of BILT, the communities living around the manufacturing locations are the most marginalized and thus community development and upliftment of the marginalized have been identified as focus areas for CSR intervention. Today BILT’s development programmes reach more than 2, 00,000 people living in more than 100 villages around the Mills. Over the last six years we have concentrated on improving their life through the process of empowerment. We have created many community based organizations like Self Help Group’s (SHG’s), Youth Groups etc. service providers for Health, Education, and Livestock issues and developed & improved agriculture practices and trained the local youth through vocational courses. Micro entrepreneurship at the village level has been the focus of our intervention. We have active partnerships with 12 NGO’s who implement the projects at the field level. Local governments, banks and funding agencies like UNFPA also participate in the programmes periodically

Employee Volunteer Programme (EVP)
This programme covers employees at all levels and is an extension of the Company’s sustained involvement with the communities at its various locations.  This programme concentrates its efforts on volunteerism, allowing employees to participate in the process of social change. We have more than 300 employee volunteers who regularly volunteer their time for activities.

Prevention of HIV/AIDS
The prevention of HIV/AIDS programme was launched in the year 2005. The focus of the programme has been to create awareness about the disease. We have involved our own employee volunteers to deliver this prevention message. About 200 employees are active in this campaign as volunteers and make time to spread the message amongst their peers and in the community through one on one and one to group sessions and also use innovative methods like street plays. These volunteers are trained by us and their knowledge is periodically refreshed through refresher courses. So far we have reached out to more than 12000 people within the company and about 2000 truck drivers. We have also conducted awareness programmes with more than a 1000 school going adolescent children in the local area. Mass awareness programmes are conducted in the community fairs and any public gatherings. Health clinics have been started for truck drivers who visit Bilt.  All these efforts are to ensure that not only does HIV not spread but also that the stigma associated with the disease is also lessened, so that people feel comfortable to get themselves tested and disclose their HIV positive status. This can ensure better medical treatment for them when required.   Our efforts on awareness have been successful to the extent that more than 300 people have come forward to get themselves tested for HIV. This program has also focused on the overall health of the individual and some support programmes like de-addiction, stress management, family counseling have been introduced and have been successful.  In Aug 2007 BILT started the first Anti Retroviral Therapy Center at Unit Ballarpur. This center will cater to the needs of the HIV+ persons in the community who need treatment and drugs to be able to prolong their life. The center is the second one in the country to be started in Public Private Partnership. It will service the population livingnot only in Chandrapur but also in 4 districts around Chandrapur.

Support Universalization of Primary Education

BILT believes that good quality primary education can be a firm foundation for the bright future of children of our country. We have thus  taken up this issue at the corporate level. We have joined hands with Pratham an NGO which operates at a National level to make good quality primary education accessible to the most marginalized children and have  so far reached out to more than 300,000 children all around the country . We also implement these initiatives at each of our manufacturing locations in partnership with Pratham  .At our units a total of 75000 children have benefitted through the education programmes in the form of bridge courses for school dropouts, community libraries, and classes for children lagging behind in schools.

We have initiated innovative programmes like the Mobile Computer Literacy programmes in Parnership with Vidya Pratishthan and NGO promoting the use of ICT in rural areas.  This programme has taken computer literacy to the child in the remotest villages in the districts of Chandrapur and Baramati and to the most marginalized children living in the slums of Yamunanagar. The programme will reach out to about 6000 children on an annual basis.

Awards and Recognition for CSR Initiatives

 
© Copyright 2004 Ballarpur Industries Limited.