Par Gaon – The Model Village

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a form of corporate self regulation that allows a company to fulfill its responsibility towards all its stakeholders, which not only includes their employees, clients and vendors but also the society and the environment surrounding it. The society and the natural environment were once not even considered as stakeholders but the realization that businesses should be more responsible has grown overtime. It is a form of payback for the resources extracted and the social and environmental damage caused by the establishment and operations of businesses. This responsibility has now become a law, to ensure that all companies share a part of their profit with the local communities from which it gets its labour and resources. CSR has now been included under section 135 of New Companies Act of 2013, effective from 1st April 2014.

Bharat Oman Refinery Limted (BORL), a refinery located in the town of Bina, Madhya Pradesh is engaged in creating a model village, which can be used as an example for other village communities to follow and for the company to replicate. BORL chose ‘Par Gaon’ as its model village which was a little above the surrounding villages in terms of prosperity but had similar challenges in terms of education, employment and agriculture. Another reason for choosing Par, was that it was close to the refinery and its quarters, which enabled the management to regularly communicate with the community. Regular interaction with the village community is very important to win the confidence of the community members and check on the NGOs that are engaged in the implementation of the CSR activities. BORL chose a Delhi based social enterprise called TARA (A Social Enterprise of the Development Alternatives Group) that specializes in such work and has its operations all over the country. The development alternatives with its experience in the field of sustainability and development has successfully delivered many such projects but since every village has different demographics, culture, religious identity and political climate, the challenges are unique and have to be dealt differently. What works in Rajasthan, might not work in Madhya Pradesh, as the two states are very different in their characteristics. Such challenges make the process of intervention difficult as the communities often view the city dwellers with suspicion. This is why the need for experienced organizations arrives. The team from TARA designed and shortlisted a few intervention programs based on its surveys. The most significant finding of the survey was that the literacy rate of the women of the village was very low even when compared to the surrounding areas.

Women Literacy

Women Empowerment can only happen if women are educated or are at least made literate. The TARA team understands this fact and thus they selected a group 60 women who were able and willing to go through a training program called TARA Akshar+. The objective of this program was to bring these women out of illiteracy in 50 days by teaching them reading, writing and basic math. Once the program was over, the women were awarded certificates in an event held in the village by BORL. Almost all women had positive news to give and felt more confident and empowered than before. “I am very happy now as I can fill a cheque and even teach my children which was not possible before the training program”, says Rashmi, a student of TARA Akshar+. Another woman named Sunita Ahirwar says that the shopkeeper cannot fool them anymore because they have basic knowledge of maths and can do basic calculations. The benefits derived from the program extend beyond their personal confidence. Now they are able to contribute to the household work in a better manner.

Employability and Empowerment

Once, these women became literate, they wanted to continue the same at home but wanted to learn a new skill at the same time so that they could contribute to the income of the house and also gain financial independence. For this TARA initiated a commercial stitching and tailoring program, as this was a specific community need. The best part about this program is that one can learn these skills sitting at home as a village woman often has to take permission from the father, brother or husband to go to another place. The trainees felt more confident after completing this training program, which enabled them to earn money from home. The same program had also provided employment to the female trainer who had faced many odds to become what she is today. She wishes to train and inspire other village women to take up such work so they get more respect in their house and the society. The lady trainer even got emotional while narrating her story of how she was taunted by her in-laws, specifically sister in laws for being uneducated. She says that she feels more positive and has high self-esteem and is also appreciated by the same family members who once looked down upon her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glrVQNT1DWU

Lighting Rural India

The state of Madhya Pradesh faces frequent power cuts even in its urban localities, which gets worse as one moves towards the rural belt, where the power is available only at specific times of the day. Such a situation creates a significant demand for candles and becomes an obvious choice for the next program that enables the community women to make candles and support their financial needs while simultaneously solving the lighting problem of the village. “Our teacher trained us for 15 days and now it’s been more than a month that we have been working independently, he is also helping us to connect with the market, so that we can sell our products easily and regularly” says Kalpana Srivastava, a trainee in the candle-making program. TARA after forming such candle making groups, helped in registering them with the local authorities, so that they could avail loans if they wished to expand their businesses in future.

Breaking Social Norms

The younger girls of the village are interested in the beauty and wellness domain and thus a beauty parlour was set up to encourage the trainers as well as the girls with similar professional interests. The conservative rural environment does not allow women to enter such professions but those who are determined enough cannot be stopped from reaching their goal. “I am not only trying to teach make-up and beauty skills to the girls but I am also trying make them financial independent by ensuring that they are market ready”, says Sohini Joshi, a trained make up artist who is also the trainer herself. She firmly believes that the job of a make-up artist is in no way less respectable than any other profession, contrary to the beliefs of the village elders.

Haryali, Udyamita aur Sampannata

The two business entities are running a three-point program that takes care of most of the concerns of a village community under the CSR project. If these issues are looked after in a wholesome manner, almost all primary challenges will be met. “TARA has initiated a project under the banner of ‘Haryali, Udyamita aur Sampannata’ (Environment, Entrepreneurship and Prosperity), which extends to the complete catchment area of BORL, says Dr. Arun Kumar, the President of Development Alternatives Group. Any CSR project demands a positive intervention in the domain of environment, which has been done here by providing agricultural information to the famers and installing water filters for the people. Entrepreneurship is not only being encouraged through training programs but also through imparting education. All of which are leading to the prosperity of the local populace. Such programs have inculcated a new self-belief in the villagers.

Youth Empowerment

Water filters were installed near the school and the main village area to encourage safe drinking habits but some narrow-minded individuals despite the iron cage protection have damaged some of these filters. Apart from water facilities, a toilet has also been built which allows students in general and girl students in particular to complete school, which was not the case earlier. Many students would go home early because there were no toilet facilities at school, naturally affecting their studies and ultimately their career progress. The village children have also been given the facility of a youth club that houses a small library and provides sports equipment to the youngsters to play at no cost. The supervision of the club is in the hands of the students who stay back after school to look after the daily affairs of the club. The Bajrangi Youth Club also has computer equipment apart from books, charts and indoor game facilities. The idea is to inculcate the spirit of sportsmanship among the children of the village who often get involved in unlawful activities if not directed responsibly. Harsh Chaddar who is an active volunteer for TARA is also involved in supervision of the club. He has participated in the street plays that the enterprise conducts to popularize Fly Ash Bricks in the Bina town that happens to be another project of BORL.

Buildings from Coal Dust

Fly Ash brick project is also one of the ventures of BORL that helps in encouraging sustainable technologies in the areas surrounding its factory premises. The Fly Ash Brick project is very important for the refinery as BORL is legally bound to supply ‘Fly Ash’ from its factory to the potential entrepreneurs at zero cost, to encourage them to establish brick making units. This is not a choice but the law, which needs to be, followed by all refineries and thermal power plants that produce fly ash as a waste material. This also helps corporations, which otherwise have to find places to dump the waste fly ash that could lead to heavy penalties by the government. The free fly ash from the industry encourages entrepreneurship and establishment of brick making units that eventually provide employment to the community members making the local economy self sustainable. The Fly Ash Bricks helps to avoid dumping of fly ash in grounds that would have led to air and land pollution. Secondly, the fly ash bricks pose a competitive challenge to the production of clay bricks that cause air pollution thus discouraging an unsustainable technology. “Fly Ash bricks are very strong and soak less water as compared to other bricks, the water can be used in agriculture and many other purposes, also the fly ash ground blocs allow water to seep through the cavity thus increasing the water table”, says an engineer from BORL. Apart from this the Fly Ash brick production does not cause any smoke pollution, which is one of the biggest disadvantage of the clay or red bricks as far as the environment is concerned. It is very important to handle the fly ash well, if any kind of pollution is to be avoided as mishandling can lead to dust pollution in the local area.

No CSR activity can ever ignore agriculture as farmers are the backbone of the country and they definitely cannot be left behind. For the benefit of the farmers, several Vermi Composting units have been installed around the Bina town that help to increase the fertility of the soil leading to better food production. The farmers are also trained to use the methods of Vermi-Composting. They are also encouraged to engage in organic farming by sharing with them vital information about the benefits of organic fertilizers and pesticides.

It is imperative that such projects are encouraged by all large corporations that earn in billions but do little to promote sustainability, employment and progress in the communities that pay a very heavy price for allowing the factories to be set up in their towns. In most cases, the environmental or social impact assessment is not done which not only leads to destruction of land, soil and environment but also uproots communities from their land, disturbing their lives forever. BORL now plans to replicate the Par model in the surrounding areas of the Bina town to achieve their CSR aims and fulfill its moral responsibility.