CSR Partnership
World’s literacy rate at 86% (with some countries with 100%) dwarfs India’s literacy at a meager 74%. Poor literacy is one of the biggest factors thwarting the growth of India. We believe that an investment in knowledge pays the biggest interest. So, Progressive India Foundation sets up Non-formal education centers in backward areas where children don’t have access or don’t attend schools. Progressive India Foundation provides free of cost state of the art education to children who can’t afford schools. Our philosophy is Children must be taught how to think, not what to think. Don’t feel like you are too small to make.a change anymore and enroll with our NFE Partnership program because in learning one teaches and in teaching one learns. A corporate can sponsor one or more NFE centers.
There is no feeling more appealing than helping a terminally ill child. Knowing that your donation saved a child’s life and then that child grew up to be a doctor who saves others’ life is truly joyous and tranquilizing. You can get the same feeling as thousands of our donors’, by enrolling in our partnership for health projects. Progressive India Foundation firmly believes that the secret of the care of the patient is in caring for the patient. Progressive India Foundation has so far helped hundreds of children with cancer, tumor and other lethal medical conditions. We don’t only provide financial support, but also give moral support to the family of the patient. We believe that we only have what we give. Corporates can enroll to this partnership in one (or more) of the following 3 ways:
1. Establishing fund: A corporate can establish a fund and as many people as the fund allows will be treated. Details and genuine discharge summary of all the patients will be given to the corporate on an annual basis.
2. Area-wise treatment: Corporate can choose to fund just the patients of a particular region.
3. Disease wise treatment: Corporate can choose to fund patients of just a set of diseases. Corporate can choose the disease whose patients’ treatment will be funded.
A lot of times in life people think that the only way to help destitute is funding money. But one thing the people forget is that a thing useless to one person can be a gift to another. You will be amazed to know how dear your “useless” things can be to poor children. So, corporations can inform its employees that donation boxes will be in the oce for some time and that they can donate anything that they feel is useless. Employees can donate stationary, toys, clothes, medicines etc. For poor children nothing is useless, in fact they will see your donation as a blessing.
In this program employees of the corporation can volunteer to work with us. They can teach in NFE centers on weekends. Employees with technical skills can help us technically. Graphic designers can help us make an appealing poster that attracts donations. Web Developer can help us make a good website that is easy to use and helpful for the person who is using it. We believe that no one can do everything, but everyone can do something. So, everyone has a way to help us and in turn help impoverished children
The Holistic Rural Development Programme (HRDP) is a flagship programme under this area of intervention that attempts to provide rural communities with the tools and means to grow and prosper. This is done through a wide variety of training and institution building programmes, supported by relevant infrastructure.
The vast majority of rural communities depend heavily on rain-fed agriculture for their livelihoods. The availability of water and the quality of soil therefore dictate their economic health. But with the right resource management and agricultural techniques, along with skilling and training, vulnerable communities can be better placed to tackle the vagaries of nature
Within the overarching theme of Sustainable livelihoods are the two sub-themes – Rural Livelihoods and Skill Development. The Rural Livelihoods program reaches out to small and marginal farmers and the landless in dryland regions by working on watershed management, agriculture and horticulture enhancement, livestock development, micro-enterprise development and promoting collectives. The approach is to work in areas that are most challenged and with highly depleted natural resources. Financial literacy and bank linkages are among the key elements of these programs. Women are significant contributors to livelihoods and therefore efforts are made to empower them and connect them to enabling platforms.
The program works with small and marginal farmers and helps farming households that have limited livelihood options. In this socio-economic landscape, progressive India empowers marginal farmers with sustainable livelihood practices. It strives to de-risk farming, minimise external dependencies and improve rural lives and livelihoods. It supports low cost and high output in sustainable agriculture, helping farmers increase their productivity and leverage the market to increase their income. The program also organises farmers in collectives, to leverage the power of unity.
Provide technical skills (training) to rural youths (between 18-35 years) living below the poverty line, to enable them to seek employment in fields of agriculture, industry, services and business activities. As in other schemes of poverty alleviation, in this scheme also, youths belonging to SCs and STs and ex-servicemen, who had passed ninth class, were given priority. One-third seats were reserved for women. The beneficiaries of this scheme after completion of training were absorbed in the IRDP scheme.
The objective is to provide employment to the unemployed/underemployed village persons during the slack season. The wages paid to the workers were in kind, i.e., food grains. The works undertaken were flood protection, maintenance of existing roads, construction of new link roads, improvement of irrigation facilities, construction of school buildings, medical and health centres and Panchayat Ghars (community halls) etc.
After independence, for the development of rural society, particularly to develop the socio-economic life of the rural poor, many schemes and programmes were launched from time to time but unfortunately the fruits of these programmes reached to a very low proportion of these people.
It was estimated about 70 per cent of the rural population was still deprived of the basic necessities of life. For the purpose of extending the benefits to rural people, a new scheme was launched and legislation was enacted under the name ‘National Rural Employment Guarantee Act’ (NREGA).
Pioneered by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Bajpayee, the Sarv Siksha Abhiyan was launched in 2000. It is an attempt to provide an opportunity to all children between 6 and 14 years of age to get free education which is also a basic fundamental right. The state and the central government share the expenses of this project.
National Social Assistance Programme signifies the fulfilment of Directive Principles in Article 41 and 42 of the constitution which states that it is the duty of the state to provide assistance to the citizens in terms of sickness, unemployment, old age in limits of the economic capabilities. It is basically a centrally sponsored scheme of Government of India which provides financial help to widows, elderly, people with disability in form of pensions. The scheme was launched on August 15 in 1995.
PURA is a strategy for Rural Development in India which was proposed by former President APJ Abdul Kalam in his book Target 3 billion. PURA proposes that urban infrastructure and services should be provided in rural areas to create opportunities outside the cities. This will also prevent the migration of youth from the rural areas to urban areas. The Central Government has been running PURA programs in various states since its launch in 2004.
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) is the flagship scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE). The objective of this Skill Certification Scheme is to enable a large number of Indian youth to take up industry-relevant skill training that will help them in securing a better livelihood. Individuals with prior learning experience or skills will also be assessed and certified under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). Under this Scheme, Training and Assessment fees are completely paid by the Government.
The scheme of Development of PVTGs covers 75 identified PVTGs in 18 States and UT of Andaman & Nicobar Islands for the activities like housing, land distribution, land development, agricultural development, animal husbandry, construction of link roads, installation of non-conventional sources of energy for lighting purpose, social security including JanashreeBima Yojana or any other innovative activity meant for the comprehensive socio-economic development of PVTGs. The scheme is flexible as it enables the States to focus on areas that they consider relevant to PVTGs and their socio-cultural environment.