NL Corresspondent
Jammu Tawi: HCL Foundation has announced the NGOs selected for the 2023 edition of its flagship program HCL Grant – which supports pioneering work in sustainable rural development in India. HCL Foundation delivers the corporate social responsibility agenda of HCLTech.
Three NGOs – Planatearth, Innovators in Health (IIH) India and Meghshala Trust will receive ₹5 crore each for their projects under the HCL Grant endowment. This year's winners were chosen from submissions from more than 15,000 entities, an increase of 80% versus last year.
According to Robin Ann Abrams, Chairperson of the HCL Grant Jury and Board Member, HCLTech; “These organizations and their projects – aligned to the HCL Foundation's core areas of focus in environment, health and education – will bring a visible and inclusive change to the ‘last mile.' We believe their work will provide an important lifeline to rural communities by bridging inequality in healthcare, helping in freshwater conservation and more readily bringing education to underserved populations.” Dr. Nidhi Pundhir, Vice President, Global CSR, HCL Foundation, bestowed the recipients with their awards in a virtual ceremony attended by representatives of NGOs, HCL, HCLTech and the media fraternity. The ceremony was the culmination of a thorough, Grant Thornton-audited process, which earlier in the year involved a series of pan-India symposiums bringing together more than 2,000 representatives from NGOs, government and corporates.
“We are delighted at the volume of applications received for this year's selection process.HCL Grant partners with these NGOs to strengthen their governance and help scale their innovative ideas for sustainable rural development. We look forward to working with this year's selected NGO partners to scale innovative interventions that will supercharge progress for rural communities,” Dr. Pundhir said.
Recipient NGOs were selected after screening and review of applications by an eminent jury, monitored and audited by HCL Grant governance partner Grant Thornton. Jury members include: Robin Ann Abrams, Chairperson of the Jury, Board Member, HCLTech; Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and Managing Director, Nestle India Limited; B. S. Baswan, Former Director, Indian Institute of Public Administration and Former Secretary, Human Resource Development Ministry; Pallavi Shroff, Managing Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co; Dr. Richard Lariviere, Sanskrit Scholar & President Emeritus, Field Museum (Chicago); and Shiv Nadar, Founder, HCL Group and Chairman Emeritus, HCLTech.
