Awards, honors and promotional activities by foundations - around the world and in India

The well known Tata Group has of expresses always believed strongly in sharing the wealth accumulated by its founders instituted a number of philanthropic Trusts to support economic, social and community causes, apart from programmes for the uplift of the underprivileged.

Among the premier organisations of this genre in India are the Trusts set up by the Tata Sons, the holding Tata Company. Among these are the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Allied Trusts, the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and the Allied Trusts and the JN Tata Endowment.

With its headquarters in New York, the Aga Khan foundation (AKF), is a private non – profit body set up in 1967 by Prince Shah Al Hassaini Aga Khan IV. AKF has a worldwide presence and provides support to efforts aimed at eliminating poverty and hunger, apart from assisting programmes in the literacy and health sectors in the most backward regions of Asia, Africa and the Middle East-working in tandem with local, national and international partners in addressing concerns related to sustainable growth and development in the 19 countries in which it works.

The K.K. Birla Foundation was established in 1991 by Krishna Kumar Birla with a view to promoting education, social work and literature (particularly Hindi literature).

The IFFCO Foundation was established as a Public Trust by the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) in the year 2003 to focus on strengthening village level primary cooperatives in accordance with the Cooperative Principles and in harmony with the law and culture of the country. The Foundation aims to provide a special to sustainable agricultue and economic development as well as social and cultural development of the members along with empowerment of women and youth.

The Infosys Foundation is a non-profit organisation based in Karnataka, India, established in 1996 by Infosys to support the underprivileged sections of society. The Foundation supports programs in the areas of education, rural development, healthcare, arts and culture and destitute care. Its mission is to work in remote regions of several states in India. The Foundation is solely funded by Infosys, and no external donations are accepted. The Foundation is headed by Sudha Murty, the wife of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy.

The Bharti Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises, an Indian business conglomerate. It conducts free programs in both primary and higher education for underprivileged children, with particular focus on girls. The Satya Bharti School Program, started in 2006, is its flagship program.

Another notable not-for - profit organisation in the Azim Premji Foundation which has been working for more than a decade now towards making a deep, large scale and institutionalised impact on the quality and equity of education in India, and in related fields of development. The Foundation has established more than 3,50,000 schools in 8 states of India.

The Dr. Reddy’s Foundation (DRF) is a not-for-profit organization committed to enabling economically and socially vulnerable groups to take control of their lives.

Its vision and mission are to enable sustainable social impact at scale and empower communities through improved education, livelihood and health outcomes.

It develops and tests innovative solutions to address adaptive social problems and support scaling up of impact by leveraging the power of partnerships. It works with Children, Youth (including Persons with Disabilities) Women and Households in 20 States in India.

GMR Varalakshmi Foundation (GMRVF), is the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of the GMR Group. It’s objectives are to develop social infrastructure and enhance the quality of life of communities around the locations that has the Group’s presence. This non-profit (Section 25) company has its own professional staff selected from top academic and social work institutions, is governed by a Board chaired by Group Chairman, GMR Group, Education, Health, Hygiene & Sanitation, Empowerment & Livelihoods and Community Development.

In the preceding part and this one we have looked it only the tip of the iceberg, in the sense that only a few of the institutions with which the writer of this column is familiar have been mentioned.

The human race owes a debt of gratitude to those whose determination to pay back to society, at least in part to measure, what day received from it in plenty usually leads to the constitution of trusts, organisations, Prizes and Awards.