The prime minister's Independence Day speech exhorted India Inc to adopt the mission of providing modern sanitation facilities nationwide. Just as the IDay weekend got over, India Inc promised to spend big money to clean up India. TCS, Bharti, HUL, Aditya Birla Group, ITC, Adani and Dabur are among major companies that announced big CSR spends or promised to upgrade existing programmes for building sanitation facilities, especially for girl students and women in rural India.
These announcements and promises look substantial. TCS, India's largest software services firm, said it will spend Rs.100 crore building sanitation facilities for girl students in 10,000 schools.
Bharti promised a Rs.100-crore budget, too, but kept the focus on Ludhiana. The Punjab district of Ludhiana is the home base for Bharti's founders, the Mittals. The company has named its CSR initiative, which will be run by the Bharti Foundation, `Satya Bharti Abhiyan'.
Gujarat-headquartered Adani Group said its already existing CSR project on sanitation in Gujarat will be extended to states where the group is present -Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. It also said Adani Foundation will look at new states for this CSR project.
The Aditya Birla Group's CSR arm -Aditya Birla Centre -plans to build 10,000 facilities this year, the centre's head Rajashree Birla said. States in focus are MP, UP, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.
FMCG major HUL plans to construct 24,000 facilities by 2015, the company said. This is a branded CSR activity -the initiative is being powered by the Domex Toilet Academy launched nine months ago; Domex is HUL's toilet cleaner brand.
ITC also plans to build 10,000 facilities, hoping to hit this target by next year. It is strengthening its current CSR activity in this area, ITC said, adding 800-plus facilities for low-income households had been built in the last financial year in areas adjoining ITC factories in several states.
Dabur's CSR arm Subdesh, the company said, already has rural sanitation as one of its priorities.The focus will be stronger. Fifty facilities in five villages have been made the first target. Dabur said its goal is to build 80-100 facilities a year.
India's record in providing proper sanitation is abysmal. According to census data, almost 70%-plus rural households lack any facility. Even in India's cities, one out of five households does not have in-house sanitation facility. Narendra Modi, as the Gujarat chief minister, had launched Nirmal Gujarat, a sanitation provision campaign that had received good response from the state's companies.
The PM's stress on clean public spaces is well known. His `toilets before temples' remark as chief minister had made headlines and his speeches frequently make equate prosperity and progress with clean public spaces.
These announcements and promises look substantial. TCS, India's largest software services firm, said it will spend Rs.100 crore building sanitation facilities for girl students in 10,000 schools.
Bharti promised a Rs.100-crore budget, too, but kept the focus on Ludhiana. The Punjab district of Ludhiana is the home base for Bharti's founders, the Mittals. The company has named its CSR initiative, which will be run by the Bharti Foundation, `Satya Bharti Abhiyan'.
Gujarat-headquartered Adani Group said its already existing CSR project on sanitation in Gujarat will be extended to states where the group is present -Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. It also said Adani Foundation will look at new states for this CSR project.
The Aditya Birla Group's CSR arm -Aditya Birla Centre -plans to build 10,000 facilities this year, the centre's head Rajashree Birla said. States in focus are MP, UP, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.
FMCG major HUL plans to construct 24,000 facilities by 2015, the company said. This is a branded CSR activity -the initiative is being powered by the Domex Toilet Academy launched nine months ago; Domex is HUL's toilet cleaner brand.
ITC also plans to build 10,000 facilities, hoping to hit this target by next year. It is strengthening its current CSR activity in this area, ITC said, adding 800-plus facilities for low-income households had been built in the last financial year in areas adjoining ITC factories in several states.
Dabur's CSR arm Subdesh, the company said, already has rural sanitation as one of its priorities.The focus will be stronger. Fifty facilities in five villages have been made the first target. Dabur said its goal is to build 80-100 facilities a year.
India's record in providing proper sanitation is abysmal. According to census data, almost 70%-plus rural households lack any facility. Even in India's cities, one out of five households does not have in-house sanitation facility. Narendra Modi, as the Gujarat chief minister, had launched Nirmal Gujarat, a sanitation provision campaign that had received good response from the state's companies.
The PM's stress on clean public spaces is well known. His `toilets before temples' remark as chief minister had made headlines and his speeches frequently make equate prosperity and progress with clean public spaces.
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