Catalyst of Change: Times Now panel discussion with Optum India

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.