In a world where noise drowns out
0:17
impact, true change is built quietly.
0:20
The better India celebrated those
0:22
transforming lives with courage and
0:24
commitment.
0:26
As India marches towards Vikshit Bharat at
0:29
2047, CSR emerges as a true catalyst of
0:33
change.
0:35
Join us for a thought-provoking panel on
0:37
its pivotal role in shaping the nation's
0:40
future.
0:42
Vikshit Bharat 2047 is more than just
0:45
numbers. It's about dignity and
0:46
opportunity for every Yuva, Garib,
0:49
Mahila and Annadata. Big change often
0:51
starts small. A teacher opening a
0:53
library, a farmer saving water, a woman
0:56
breaking barriers, and a youth
0:58
innovating for his village. The question
1:00
is, how do we help these sparks grow
1:03
into larger movements and what role can
1:05
corporates play? Hello and welcome to
1:08
the special edition. I'm Shria and it is
1:10
my pleasure to introduce our panel of
1:12
guests for this special discussion. We
1:14
have with us Mr. Dr. Dhim Parik founder
1:16
the better India Miss Uma Ratnam Krishnan MD
1:19
Optum India and Miss Joti Sharma CEO
1:22
NASCOM Foundation Dim can I first begin
1:24
by asking you know you have seen uh
1:27
one person's courage change bring in
1:30
change and an impactful change can you
1:33
give us examples such as these where a
1:36
small idea has sparked a larger impact
1:39
at the better India we are constantly
1:41
reporting stories of individuals going
1:44
out there and making very large scale
1:46
impact. Uh a very recent story we
1:49
covered is of u a man named Chetan
1:52
Pradesh is in Maharashtra and uh you
1:55
know he saw this whole state of lack of
1:58
access of books to government schools.
1:59
It just I'm not talking about curriculum
2:01
books but just reading which you
2:03
and I get access to and he
2:07
single-handedly started a movement
2:09
putting a mobile library together by
2:12
donated books. So just a community
2:14
movement donated books does a whole
2:16
round and today 150 schools are covered
2:19
by just this mobile library. 50 books is
2:21
all it took. Now we have 150 schools
2:25
you know and thousands of students
2:27
getting access to it. And I'm talking
2:28
about the power of actually just one to
2:31
think about it. Of course there are
2:32
people who kind of enable this to
2:34
happen. So you know this is an example
2:36
where we can clearly see there is a lot
2:39
of agency
2:41
there is a lot of will all it needs is
2:44
not even a lot of resources right the
2:46
idea and the will is starting to create
2:48
this change and which is where I believe
2:50
that even with the smallest of
2:52
interventions imagine the kind of scale
2:54
we can achieve when you have
2:56
these kind of initiatives happening I
2:57
mean this is just one but you know there
2:59
like hundreds that we report every month
3:01
Uma Ratnam Krishnan you know Optum India
3:03
calls it CSR are a force for good in
3:06
India for India. Now understanding these
3:09
challenges as you know uh has been
3:12
talked about how Optum is meaningfully
3:15
touching lives beyond funding. Can you
3:17
help elaborate on that?
3:19
In Optum India we actually uh clearly
3:22
work with specific priorities in mind.
3:25
Let me give you a couple of examples and
3:27
how we've actually made a difference at
3:29
a much wider scale. So our CSR program
3:32
focuses on four pillars uh health access
3:36
um skill development, capacity building
3:38
and environmental sustainability. And
3:41
our approach is to actually touch as
3:43
many lives directly and indirectly as we
3:46
can. We've actually touched about
3:48
422,000
3:49
lives directly and about a million
3:52
indirectly. And going back to how we can
3:54
actually help scale right how we can
3:57
make impact at larger levels I think the
4:00
digital platform and technology make a
4:02
huge difference I'll give you one more
4:04
example we partner with a NGO called
4:06
Arman right and Arman using uh a digital
4:10
platform and technology uh their mobile
4:14
academy as well as Kilkari
4:17
uh they've actually managed to touch uh
4:20
and train over half a million pregnant
4:22
women. Uh right and uh additionally
4:25
they've also trained 5,000 Asha workers.
4:28
Now all of this is an how to use
4:31
technology to actually scale. Um there's
4:34
another um uh organization we work with
4:37
called Echo who actually trained over a
4:40
thousand nurses using a tele mentoring
4:42
approach and they've actually trained a
4:44
thousand nurses on breast and cervical
4:46
cancer. Um so there are many ways in
4:49
which corporates can actually help scale
4:51
using technology and digital platforms.
4:53
Two other things I'll call out where we
4:56
can act we've actually helped to make a
4:58
difference and how we can help scale.
5:00
One of them is that to make sure that we
5:02
have real impact uh we need to make sure
5:05
that we can actually replicate and
5:08
replication needs um capacity building.
5:12
we need to work with organizations that
5:14
can monitor uh understand impact assess
5:17
impact. So we work quite closely with
5:19
many organization to help build that
5:21
capacity. Um and the other thing is I
5:24
think uh calling ourselves a force for
5:26
good. Uh we really mean that and how is
5:29
actually using the corporate talent
5:31
workforce as a force for good. Uh we
5:34
spend a lot of time and effort in
5:36
helping convert our corporate talent
5:39
into a force for good by using them as
5:41
mentors, as trainers, as volunteers to
5:45
actually go and help organizations with
5:47
their operations, with their data, with
5:49
their technology. And we have a
5:51
program called Give, which is
5:52
geographically inclusive volunteer
5:54
events. And we've spent thousands of
5:56
hours actually um with our employees
6:00
volunteering uh to make a real
6:02
difference to healthcare access. Joti,
6:04
can I understand from you? India has
6:06
seen 34,99
6:09
cr rupees spent on CSR in fiscal year
6:12
2324. Yet many change makers still
6:15
remain hyper locale, unable to scale
6:18
beyond their villages or districts. From
6:20
your vantage point at NASCOM Foundation,
6:22
what systemic gaps do you think are
6:25
preventing these change makers from
6:27
scaling and how can we bridge these
6:30
gaps?
6:30
Absolutely. And here I would say it's
6:33
not about the money, it's about the
6:35
ecosystem.
6:37
uh I believe if corporates can build uh
6:40
you know bring in uh tech talent and
6:43
trust amongst change makers I think it
6:46
will really change the entire game and
6:49
especially if you align that with
6:52
national development goals I think
6:54
that's where you hit the nail on the
6:56
head and that's where change makers are
6:58
then elevated to making transformative
7:02
change uh at scale now I do want to say
7:06
that Why then change is not happening?
7:08
Why then there is this paradox? Firstly,
7:10
CSR funds are short-term. It's from one
7:13
year to another. We NASCOM foundation
7:16
have been working for tech for good for
7:18
25 years. Even today, I can only boast
7:21
of a handful of CSR donors who have been
7:24
working with us who give us multi-year
7:26
funding.
7:27
So that is the fact that it's
7:29
short-term. So you can't talk about
7:30
impact. You can only talk about
7:32
outreach. The second thing is the CSR
7:35
fund even in our report is very
7:37
disproportionate in just four states
7:40
largely in south and west India. You
7:42
wonder why then you have this whole
7:45
thing happening where that the central
7:47
India, east India, northeast India is
7:50
kind of neglected. There's really
7:51
nothing that reaches there. You know you
7:53
can't talk about vikshit Bharat if you do not
7:56
look at that layer. This bottom 10% is
7:58
what's really pulling down your national
8:00
development goals. So somewhere even in
8:03
our report we absolutely appeal to CSR
8:07
corporates that you know let's look over
8:10
and above and beyond your backyard let's
8:12
look at where we really need to make the
8:14
change in the rural areas in the rural
8:17
communities and these are some of the
8:19
things where you have amazing change
8:21
makers
8:22
they need technology they need scale and
8:25
they need the CSR corporates to be
8:28
invested in the national development
8:30
that's Absolutely. And you know change
8:32
makers often have the ideas and the
8:34
passion but what they lack is perhaps
8:36
scale and this is something that we have
8:38
been talking about. How can corporates
8:40
become true partners in that journey
8:42
helping them move from solving problems
8:44
for 100 people to solving them for a
8:47
million? Neiman you know would you like
8:49
to explain to us how these ideas and
8:52
passions are then converted into helping
8:54
millions of people not just a few
8:55
hundred. See the first barrier to scale
8:59
anything is to know what's working on
9:02
the ground right. So the biggest first
9:05
step to take is that of awareness.
9:08
Firstly we need enough awareness on what
9:12
are the solutions that are working on
9:13
the ground. I think that's the core
9:16
base. The second part is that we as
9:19
corporates right we need to be clear
9:21
that the solutions are not going to
9:23
emerge from our corporate boardrooms.
9:26
The solutions are there. All that is
9:28
needed is for us to get in and eliminate
9:31
roadblocks that exist at the grassroot
9:34
level for these people to kind of
9:36
you know scale up. You know it reminds
9:37
me of a very interesting story recently.
9:39
Um there's a there was a lady there is a
9:41
lady Ma Dvi in Muzaffarpur in UP you know
9:44
and she had a mobility issue but had
9:47
a great idea of making ice creams um and
9:50
then uh there's an agency called
9:52
development alternatives who came in and
9:53
you know gave an iris
10:03
is one of the most sold ice cream in
10:04
that district
10:05
I love it
10:06
you know and all it took was that
10:07
one intervention It wasn't even capital
10:10
right this is such a small intervention
10:12
so to me I don't think the onus on
10:15
solutions how are we going to scale
10:16
should be taken by corporates I think
10:18
the solutions are there because they are
10:20
the ones who live and breathe the
10:21
problems every single day
10:23
we just need to figure out how do we
10:25
intervene and remove what roadblocks
10:27
exist because agency is very high and
10:29
today we can clearly see that
10:30
entrepreneurship is not only visible
10:32
it's become more local people are saying
10:34
we will take the resources available at
10:36
our disposal we will solve our
10:38
problems.
10:38
Yeah.
10:39
But we're not going to wait for being
10:41
beneficiaries and for development to be
10:43
brought to us, which I think is a great
10:45
move, mindset shift that has happened
10:47
and that's the I think that's the angle
10:49
that we really need to bring the new
10:51
lens on CSR saying that this is how
10:53
we'll be able to kind of help scale
10:55
scalability solutions are not with us.
10:56
They're there. We just need to go there
10:58
and apply our sort of frameworks to
11:00
eliminate roadblocks. Can I quickly
11:02
Diman then I also understand from you um
11:04
mentioned tech and how the digital
11:06
platforms are really helping in all of
11:07
this. Do you also see that aiding change
11:10
makers in what they want to do because
11:12
obviously through digital platforms
11:14
you're reaching more people.
11:15
Absolutely. I mean I think today's world
11:18
everyone is using all your like digital
11:21
media platforms. I mean it's the easiest
11:23
tools that are available for people to
11:25
talk about what they're doing for
11:26
mobilizing people. um that's something
11:30
inherently part of every solution that
11:32
we are seeing that's coming out there
11:33
right we're not talking about advanced
11:35
technologies in uh in say rural
11:37
communities but we are seeing advanced
11:39
communities in cases like in Hana
11:41
there is a there's a story of a of a
11:43
young girl who figured out drones and
11:45
you know how to use them and helped her
11:47
farmer father to use it to you
11:50
know drop seeds and that became so
11:52
popular that she now has about 500
11:55
farmers in the district you know coming
11:56
to her and kind of doing And so you know
11:59
here we're thinking you know what's
12:00
going to be the future of tech and all
12:01
of that and here you have in our farms
12:04
solutions are kind of emerging. So
12:06
technology is intrinsic. I think we're
12:08
seeing some fantastic work happening. We
12:10
just need to kind of there are these
12:11
sparks. We just need to figure out how
12:12
we're going to scale these up.
12:13
If I may just add on and build on
12:16
further to what my colleagues have said
12:18
over here. See CSR is indeed a true
12:21
partner in all of this Vikshit Bharat.
12:24
But like you rightly said just before me
12:27
that it is the local solution. So what
12:29
CSR has to do, corporates have to do is
12:31
actually co-create, co-create with the
12:34
communities, co-create with the
12:36
government, co-create with organizations
12:38
like NASCOM Foundation, the not
12:40
for profits and CSR giving once it's
12:43
aligned with the local needs as you've
12:45
rightly said and government programs CSR
12:49
and then also looks forward into more
12:52
long-term investment and capacity
12:55
building then definitely you know this
12:58
this whole amalgamation of uh you know
13:00
support really transforms to something
13:02
that we are looking to see together with
13:04
the government in 2047. So definitely
13:08
the thing that will bring about change
13:09
is that investing in uh you know
13:11
building the local capacity. I can give
13:13
you so many more examples to add on to
13:15
yours like for example one of the social
13:17
startups that we uh work to build it's
13:20
called save mom. It's pretty much like
13:22
your iPhone watch is a device that you
13:25
put on. uh pregnant women can wear it
13:27
and it's a real life uh tracking to see
13:30
early you know risk pregnancies you know
13:34
and uh we invested in that social
13:37
startup and today that startup is
13:40
actually reaching out to working with
13:42
public health centers the PHC's in rural
13:45
areas that's how you reach scale that's
13:47
how you use technology and it's very
13:49
intrinsic the key takeaway here is when
13:52
you co-create for a local problem
13:55
with the right kind of funding and it's
13:56
not short-term you can definitely bring
13:59
scale and accountability with tech data
14:02
and building capacities where you need
14:04
to yeah um you know at optimum India how
14:07
do you then think that corporates can
14:09
become partners in their true journey
14:10
you know which was something that we
14:13
have been focusing on how corporates can
14:15
help and how this change can go about in
14:17
the country also change makers getting
14:20
their recognition and spreading the
14:22
impact further I've heard a lot of local
14:25
solutions. To me, uh I think this is
14:28
about localized solutions but the
14:32
ability to actually create ownership for
14:34
the local solution because impact
14:37
actually happens when you create that
14:39
ownership. Now how do you create that
14:40
ownership? You either you know you
14:42
create the resources there. You create
14:44
the capacity there. You get the local
14:46
leaders involved and that is something
14:49
that the corporates can actually help do
14:51
uh to support the change makers. And
14:53
interestingly the change makers the
14:54
ideas are there like Diman said right
14:57
what they don't need is just funding
15:00
what they need is belief partnership and
15:03
helping them spread their work and in
15:05
terms of moving from a local to a much
15:08
more national impact right uh that to me
15:12
is really around taking something that
15:14
works but uh replicating it somewhere
15:18
else but with the right local context.
15:21
You can't just one size fits-all doesn't
15:23
work here, right? So, how do you
15:25
actually make it work? Uh you need to
15:27
take into account the local community
15:29
dynamics, the local cultural nuances and
15:31
all of that. And the corporates can
15:33
actually help with some of that as well
15:35
to help the change makers move this
15:38
forward. I think uh the mission of Vikshit
15:40
Bharat is deeply inspiring. Atman
15:43
Bharat which is you know both of the
15:46
the pillars on which we are driving some
15:48
of our initiatives. I think the
15:50
government can also work along with the
15:52
corporates uh which they're doing. Uh
15:54
it's kind of creating the foundation for
15:57
uh amplifying the impact of uh CSR
16:00
initiatives and I think CSR is no longer
16:03
for corporates is not just project
16:05
funding. It's not just transactional
16:07
giving, right? It's not it's a
16:09
transformational and it's an it's to be
16:11
looked at as a strategic engine for
16:13
change and that's how I think corporates
16:15
need to approach it for uh wider impact.
16:20
So you know viewers from stories to
16:22
movements that's the shift that
16:23
corporates can lead which brings us to
16:25
the bigger question how does all this
16:26
align with the vision of Vikshit Bharat
16:29
2047. Now the government has said this
16:32
vision that by 2047 India will be a
16:35
developed nation. But remember this
16:37
isn't just about GDP. It's about
16:39
dignity. It's about opportunity for
16:41
every Yuva Garib Mahila as well as
16:44
Anadata. Now how can the government and
16:46
corporations work together in this
16:49
mission? That ladies and gentlemen is
16:51
the bigger question. Dim you want to
16:53
come in on this? How can the two work
16:55
together? We've been talking about it,
16:56
but as far as concrete solutions are
16:58
concerned, how can we proceed with that?
17:01
Look, I I think there's no doubt that
17:03
these are the two largest stakeholders
17:05
in order to create impact. Right? I
17:07
truly believe that the true economic
17:09
growth will happen if we put
17:12
entrepreneurs, change makers at the
17:14
center of our growth story, not as an
17:17
afterthought. Right? If we start truly
17:20
believing that the next growth the large
17:24
next growth stories are going to emerge
17:26
not from our corporate boardrooms but
17:28
from our villages from our classrooms
17:29
from our communities you know from our
17:31
farms.
17:32
I think that's when you're going to see
17:34
a lot more alignment come in because I
17:36
think first step is the belief that this
17:37
is where it's going to emerge from and
17:39
not only from corporate India. So that's
17:41
the first part. Uh the second part is
17:43
that in order to kind of really meet the
17:45
you know the goals that you said there
17:47
has to be a collective action not just
17:48
from corporate government but also from
17:50
the citizens at large right and so how
17:52
do we sensitize citizens towards not
17:54
everyone's a change maker right there
17:56
are lots of day-to-day challenges so how
17:58
do we sensitize everyone and that's
18:00
where you know highlighting the work
18:02
that you know OPTIM India is doing the
18:04
work that NASCOM foundation is doing the
18:05
stories that we are reporting I think
18:07
they are all kind of working towards
18:08
driving that collective action it's a
18:10
very interesting line that Honorable
18:12
prime minister sent us as a as a as a
18:14
congratulatory message for the better
18:16
India showcase event that we're doing
18:18
where he said that every when 140
18:20
cr people and everyone takes a single
18:23
step it's effectively 140 cr steps that
18:26
have moved forward I think while we have
18:28
the vision the alignment of getting all
18:31
the stakeholders moving in the right
18:32
direction will truly be the
18:34
transformation and for that we just need
18:36
to have that focus very clear that this
18:38
is where the next growth stories are
18:39
going to come from
18:40
so I a couple of things from me right uh
18:44
one is the government government's
18:47
vision is deeply inspiring they've set
18:49
the foundation right I think what is
18:52
really important for maximizing and
18:54
amplifying impact uh I'll call out a
18:57
couple of things one is uh the entire
18:59
public private collaboration you know
19:02
how do we create that framework for
19:04
public private collaboration now CSR
19:06
rules um over a period of time have
19:08
started evolving the you know the
19:10
companies fact requirements have
19:12
changed, CSR um requirements have
19:15
changed as well. But I think one thing
19:16
is very clear. We've moved away from
19:19
just compliance to actually saying
19:21
impact and you can see that really
19:23
clearly right I mean of the top 100
19:26
listed companies more than 50% of them
19:28
are spending more than their 2%. So it's
19:31
no longer about compliance, it's about
19:33
actually creating impact and I think for
19:35
unlocking that full impact that public
19:38
private partnership is really important
19:40
and I think we need to the government
19:42
could also start thinking about um
19:45
outcome linked models for CSR which is
19:49
rather than just funding a project or
19:51
doing one thing to say how do we
19:53
incentivize CSR and go towards a CSR
19:56
model
19:56
uh which will actually um incentivize
19:59
outcomes.
20:00
uh early days but it's a good uh good
20:03
thing to think about. Um right at OPTIM
20:06
I think we align a lot of our CSR
20:08
efforts towards our national priorities.
20:11
Uh clearly healthcare is a big one.
20:14
There's another interesting example of a
20:15
public private partnership. We've
20:17
partnered with I am Gurugram uh and we
20:20
actually managing uh the Sikanderpur
20:23
forest area for environment and
20:25
sustainability and I think it's a great
20:27
example of public private partnership
20:29
small one but it's a start
20:31
and much needed
20:32
yeah much needed public health
20:34
environment so uh let's see uh we're
20:36
excited about that opportunity so I
20:39
think u the government has set the
20:41
vision which is fantastic but I think
20:44
it'll take all of us um civil society
20:47
corporates, community, NOS's uh to
20:50
partner together to actually make Vix
20:52
Bharat a lived reality.
20:54
Absolutely. And you know, I love the
20:56
fact that look here is a country which
20:58
is so vibrant in its diversity. We've
21:01
got, you know, different languages,
21:03
cultures, people, habits all coming
21:05
together. While that may have its
21:07
challenges, Joti, it also gives us that
21:10
motivation, that encouragement to bring
21:12
about change which is very customized.
21:15
You know we were talking about this that
21:16
you need to consider the fact that there
21:18
are different cultures existing in this
21:21
particular country and you work as per
21:24
them isn't it?
21:24
Yeah. When we talk about wider impact
21:27
and when we talk about the country as a
21:29
whole and when you talk about Vikshit Bharat we
21:31
definitely not talking about just GDP
21:34
right it's about the people that make
21:35
it. It's about inclusive growth and it's
21:38
about really development of the entire
21:42
you know the diversity that we have.
21:44
Yes. So I think that that's why we
21:46
believe like it's been said before that
21:48
it's the partnership with the
21:50
government, the corporates and the
21:52
communities and organizations like for
21:54
nonprofits that can really stitch
21:56
everything together and take us uh
21:59
forward on that. Viewers, every act of
22:01
change begins with one person. But with
22:03
the strength of corporate India behind
22:05
them, one can become many and small
22:07
ideas can become movements. And it is
22:09
the bridge to Vikshit Bharat 2047 where
22:13
every Yuva, Gurib, Mahila and Anadata
22:16
has the chance to rise. We wrap up the
22:18
special edition here. Thank you very
22:20
much to all my panelists for joining us
22:22
and sharing your perspective. Viewers,
22:24
thank you very much for joining us as
22:25
well. Bye-bye.
