CSR opportunity

Corporate Social Responsibility

What is the Companies Act 2013?

A: The Companies Act 2013 has taken a bold step to introduce the culture of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) amidst Indian corporates by giving a minimum expenditure towards social activities.

According to Section 135 of Companies Act 2013, every company with a net worth of INR 500 crores or more or a turnover of INR 1000 crores or more, or a net profit of INR five crores or more, would be mandated to spend at least 2 percent of the net profits (before tax) of the immediately preceding three years on CSR activities.

The accounting firm Ernst & Young estimates that the law would cover over 2,500 companies in India and generate over the U.S. $2 billion of CSR spending in local communities.

Activities eligible for CSR spend are –

Poverty reduction and eradicating hunger
Education
Empowering women and promoting gender equality
Environment Sustainability
Social Business Projects
Reducing child mortality and improving maternal health
Improvement of health
Imparting of vocational skills
Contribution towards Central and State Government funds for socio-economic development

Area of Work	Our Activities
Eradicating Hunger	Many children across the Sundarbans, are depending upon the meal which we provide in our pathshala. Children are encouraged to eat as much as they want, thereby eradicating hunger to a great extent and ensuring that children can focus on their education.
Education	We are now running 20 pathshalas with 380 Children who are getting nutritious food, healthcare service, education, and most important is that an opportunity to nurture their dream. We have a mission to build 70 such PATHSHALAs where up-to 1500 children in Sundarban.
Improvement of Health	The health scenario of the Sundarban offers little to celebrate. A typical resident of the Sundarban carries an extra load of ill-health and health risks compared to others living within the same district. Poverty, coupled with sharp geo-climatic challenges, make him/her especially vulnerable to health shocks caused by environmental and lifestyle-related agents. The islanders are doomed to struggle with both communicable and non-communicable diseases often leading to complete disorder in priorities to tackle the problems. The children are the worst sufferers; most of them are chronically malnourished and, hence, perennially suffer from a disproportionately higher burden of respiratory and gastro-enteric troubles. Women and the poor are especially vulnerable to chronic and acute health conditions. In brief, with 6 million people currently estimated to live in the region, this neglected population has become a major reservoir for a wide spectrum of health conditions that are not always well recognized by the existing formal health sector. People’s response to these challenges is often perplexing primarily due to the complex interface of the social, economic, and geographical barriers to access health care and the perceived severity of the problem. Our health clinics help those deprived ones to stay healthy and get back their confidence. Our awareness program aroused adequate consciousness about health and hygiene among villagers, especially on good sanitation habits, cleanliness, nutrition, etc.
Environment Sustainability	Sundarban is famous for its magnificent mangrove with its habitant ‘Royal Bengal Tiger’. This unique, as well as critical ecosystem, is being over exploited. The increasing population leads to negligible availability of land per family, forcing them to live well below the poverty line. Dire poverty urges them to be frequenters in the forest to collect their daily needs, that this tiger-land is facing a more serious threat which is generated by the worldwide climatic change. The increasing height of sea-levels, due to global warming, has already led to the disappearance of a few islands within the region and threatens to guzzle a large part of the Sundarban in a few decades. It is a challenge to the survival not only of the floral and faunal diversity but also many of the 6 million people of the Sundarban. In viewing that team-Aranyaj has taken an initiative to restore mangrove-vegetation through the extensive plantation and initially has engaged several dedicated islanders. They are collecting mangrove fruits, nurturing them for 3 months, and planting them in the riverside that is the embankment adjacent to mudflats. These committed green warriors are working 24 x 7 relentlessly towards this green mission. We are trying to provide them alternate livelihood like fisheries, animal husbandries, fisheries, production of hygiene products like a sanitary napkin, mask, sanitizer, etc.
Imparting of vocational skills	This initiative is for the benefit of the poor and needy women & girls, widows, abused Women, tiger/crocodile victims unemployed women, and Houses Mothers who living below the poverty line in backward/remote villages of Sundarban. We are providing training for the production and distribution of sanitary napkins to needy women to make them financially independent. We engaged dynamic women in the production of sanitary napkins and the distribution of pads. Each sanitary napkin production cum distribution unit is designed in such a way that the beneficiaries will get livelihood support and the unit can be run in a no-profit-no-loss format so that the local needy women can collect sanitary pads at a lesser price (at least half the price of a leading brand of the same product) compare to the market. Thus more beneficiaries are motivated to use this hygiene product for their better hygiene. We are also providing tailoring training in remote areas of Sundarban. Learning skills and talents in tailoring to make new model dresses to sell them from house to house and shop to shop to earn sufficient Income to meet pressing needs of their family and educate their children and mainly not depending on others in the community and donors for years. And also, some of the Income will use for a social cause in their villages to make a difference.
Empowering women and promoting gender equality	We have initiated many sanitary napkin production & distribution units in Sundarban We trained and engaged needy women for the production & distribution unit of sanitary napkins. There are series of sensitization camps on the KAP program (Knowledge – Attitude – Practice) and “Menstrual Hygiene Management Programme (MHM)” so that women can come to know its importance and lead a dignified life during periods. Besides these, we mobilized the beneficiaries towards good sanitation habits, cleanliness, basic environmental education, etc. Keeping in mind the problems in Solid waste management, we shall use 95% biodegradable raw materials for the production of sanitary napkins and guide the beneficiaries that how to dispose of them in an eco-friendly method to keep the locality clean.

Our CSR Partners

About Us

Aranyaj-“Aranyaj Society For Educational And Environmental Development“ is a non-profit, Voluntary, Tax Exempted, 80G & FCRA registered organization

All our efforts are made possible only because of your support