Our India team closed out 2023 and welcomed 2024 by volunteering their time and resources to better their local communities.
Centric Consulting’s India practice’s Mega Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative closed the year by helping provide physical and spiritual healing to people living in rural areas of the Indian subcontinent.
Collaborating with the Hemkunt Foundation — a nonprofit organization that fights inequity, poverty and disease for the economically weaker sections of society — our India team planted trees and cleaned at a public health center. The same day, they attended a children’s carnival at the Welfare Home for Children.
Our India team at the Welfare Home for Children.
After meeting and interacting with the children at the home, the team presented a donation to help renovate one of its buildings, and the organization laid a memorial stone to recognize Centric’s contribution.
“Centric India is always looking for ways to give back to society in whatever way possible,” said Palak Rana, Marketing Lead and CSR core team member for the India team.
Centric India had already worked with both organizations. An earlier blog discussed their work with the Welfare Home for Children, and in 2022, the team collaborated with Hemkunt to distribute hygiene kits for women in slums and sponsored a mobile ambulance for three months.
“We became aware of the Hemkunt Foundation during the pandemic,” explained Rana. “They became well known in 2021 for providing oxygen cylinders to innumerable patients during that distressful period. After the crisis passed, they began spreading care and support to marginalized sections of society in various locations. Centric India became a Hemkunt corporate sponsor because we saw how their work and contribution to society matched our CSR goals.”
Those goals also matched the vision of the Ministry of AYUSH, a department of the Indian government. AYUSH stands for Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa, and Homoeopathy – a combination of traditional and nontraditional forms of healing. Some are practiced in different regions of India, while others are practiced more broadly or even in the West.
“The Ministry of AYUSH is committed to building wellness centers in India to revive the knowledge of ancient systems of medicine,” added Rana. “One of those facilities is the Public Health Center (PHC), Daulatabad in Gurgaon District, state of Haryana.”
With more than 1.5 million people, Gurgaon District is about one hour southwest of New Delhi. Gurgaon city is home to over 250 Fortune 500 companies, but the district also includes over 190 villages. Some of these villages are very poor, with high concentrations of people living in small areas that lack necessary services like clean water and healthcare.
Our India team at the National Health Mission.
“PHC, Daultabad also happens to be one of the PHCs that Humkunt supports with essential items,” said Data Architect Aditya Sharma, Centric India’s other CSR co-lead. “As a Hemkunt sponsor, we created a CSR initiative to support PHC, Daultabad. It is a safe place for local people, with an adequate water supply and good sanitation. But they needed to plant trees for medicinal purposes and a way to spread awareness about the facility.”
Though PHC, Daultabad does provide standard medicines, doctors and other medical supplies, trees are important to spiritual and physical health in India. For Green Harmony, Centric India’s tree-planting initiative, Hemkunt and Centric volunteers planted four species of tree:
- The Parijaat is associated with several sacred and historical stories, and its parts can relieve fever, constipation, pain, and more.
- The Neem tree can treat skin conditions, and some research shows it can lower blood sugar to treat diabetes.
- The Peepal fig tree’s leaves leaves are antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory.
- The Banyan tree, associated with life and fertility, is also antimicrobial, which makes it helpful in treating stomach issues.
Centric’s India practice planting trees with Green Harmony.
Our India team also sponsored beds for students living in Hemkunt Foundation Gurukul, India’s largest nonprofit skill development center. Based in the state of Madhya Pradesh, 14 hours south of Gurgaon, Hemkunt Foundation Gurukul is still under construction. When completed, the two-million-square-foot facility will train 1,000 students over its first three years. Centric’s financial contribution supporting Hemkunt’s campaign to build Hemkunt Foundation Gurukul will help students learn valuable skills, from computer science to textile manufacturing.
“The collaboration between Hemkunt and Centric India has always resulted in an unmatched experience for our employees and the members of the Hemkunt Foundation,” Sharma said. “Spending time at the facility and understanding the requirements of the patients of the rural areas was an eye-opening experience. It gave the employees insights into how medicinal plants can benefit the PHC. Centric India is delighted to be a part of their noble contribution.”
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