Social Responsibility And Community Development - A Case Study Of Reliance Groups

Abstract

Dhirubhai Ambani returns to India in 1957 after a stint with A. Besse & Co., Aden, Yemen. He starts a yarn trading business from a small 500 sq. ft. office in Masjid Bunder, Mumbai, but dreams of establishing India's largest company.Reliance has always made sustainable development the cornerstone of its business strategy to achieve sustainable and profitable growth, creating in its wake thriving eco-systems around all its businesses. To provide impetus to various philanthropic initiatives of RIL, Reliance Foundation (RF) was set up in 2010 as an expression of its vision towards sustainable growth in India. India is a nation of a billion dreams, a billion aspirations and above all great opportunities. To turn these dreams into reality, especially for the vulnerable sections of the society, Reliance Foundation has taken the path of inclusive development to address their basic needs. Reliance Foundation has cumulatively touched the lives of 4 million people in over 5000 villages and various urban locations. Reliance's contribution to the community are in areas of health, education, infrastructure development (drinking water, improving village infrastructure, construction of schools etc.), environment (effluent treatment, tree plantation, treatment of hazardous waste), relief and assistance in the event of a natural disaster, and miscellaneous activities such as contribution to other social development organisations etc. RIL's CSR teams across its manufacturing divisions interact with the neighbouring community on regular basis.

- Morusu Siva Sankar

A network of nine schools caters to 13,251 students spread across geographies in India. CSR teams from RIL's manufacturing divisions and E&P operations work ardently to support the educational requirements of the community and schools in the neighbouring region benefiting thousands of students from the underprivileged section of the society.

More than 8,800 hours have been spent by 35 trained teachers and more than 1,000 hours by RIL volunteers to uplift and bring the dyslexic students from the underprivileged segment into the main stream. RIL employee's spouses are supporting this activity and many teaching aids have been developed. NIOS registration has been initiated for Academic Year ("AY") 2011-12.

Partnership with similar associations across the country and UNESCO / BBC has been initiated to spread awareness and benefit the students with latest training aids. Awareness stall was put up that attracted thousands at the national book fair organized by Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC). Membership of Maharashtra Dyslexia Association and International Dyslexia Association has been taken to make the project more focused with proven scientific practices and to get availability of resourceful experts, sourcing global knowledge / resources and best practices / models in the LD/Dyslexia space. Focus is on early identification of learning disability in child and procuring various screening tests for the same.