In the trade of giving

Some business, great fun and oodles of affection, Diwali is the moment for
India Inc to connect to the socially disadvantaged

Jyoti Verma

COME Tuesday and Delhities will head for their most celebrated mela at the
Blind Relief Association. Though the annual exuberance - on since the late
1970s - can be mapped by the ever-increasing footfalls (the association made
Rs 30 lakh at the stall last year, which worked out to a whopping 85% of the
organisation's annual sales through candles alone!), for Kailash Chandra
Pande, the incharge of the mela scheduled from October 30 to November 7 this
year, this is the time for business and hard work.
"Making gift items begins six months before Diwali, with people working
overtime. This is followed by the merriment of the mela, where one has to
sell these products and meet various orders placed. Though we close before
Diwali, the mela doesn't leave any energy in us to enjoy. For us, Diwali now
comes early and goes on till the mela lasts," he says.
Harmanjit Singh, general manager, Godfrey Phillips India, is set for some
serious shopping. Part of a company that has sourced its corporate gifting
from NGOs, he says: "Gifting something luxurious from X and Y is gone. It
would be a sensible move to gift to both those you give and those who you
buy from. Over-the-shelf-goods can never be humane, no matter how luxurious
they are," he says.
A bunch of Xansa employees couldn't agree more, who, besides shopping for
the family are also making up their minds on what they should buy as gifts
for the children they mentor round the year. Xansa's various NGO partners
(where these children are taken care of), will also be invited for the
Diwali Mela organised at its campuses across the country. "The festival is
also the occasion to express our affection towards our extended staff
(outsourced services) like security guards, housekeeping officials, peons,
etc, and their families. Besides, there are interesting skits and
performances by the poor children at the office and visits to these NGOs by
our employees," says Gayathri Mohan, head of CSR at the company.
If there is good work happening at Xansa and Godfrey Phillips, HSBC India
too is doing its bit. HSBC would, in fact, like to invite people to shop at
its Helping Hands Mela - a festive platform to make the haves contribute to
the betterment of the have-nots. DuPont India has something else lined up.
The company plans to celebrate Diwali and November 14 with street and
working children. The idea is to conduct a paint ing competition for them.
"The winning entries at the competition will be selected as the designs for
our corporate New Year's cards. These cards would be sent to our key
customers, business associates and others. We hope this will nurture and
promote the talents of the children and make them understand the happy
spirit of Diwali," says Balvinder Kalsi, president, DuPont India.
In a country of festivals, both national and regional, Diwali wears the
crown for being the most celebrated. Spirits are high and people are in a
"giving" mood. So can welfare organisations be far behind? "Diwali is the
time when people want to celebrate and do something for those who are less
fortunate. Philanthropists and charitable organisations like us channel this
spirit of giving to those who have no one or nothing to bank on. We send out
Diwali mailers to existing and potential donors encouraging them to donate
for those older people who might not have anything to celebrate," says
Mathew Cherian, CEO, HelpAge India.
Another NGO, Child Rights and You (CRY), acknowledges the interesting time
to reach out to a lot of people with the message on child rights. "Be it via
the CRY cards or activities like Bal Natya Utsav in Delhi around children's
day that follows the Diwali week or the surge in demand we see for our
products - very popular as return gifts there is so much to Diwali for us,"
says Amita Puri, GM, resource generation, CRY.
At Give India, this is the time to cater to a handful of interesting
requests. "We have a campaign with a company (name cannot be disclosed) that
is planning to use donations as gift vouchers to employees and other
associates. These vouchers can then be redeemed for any of the causes we
work for," says Venkat Krishnan of Give India.
Not denying the spike in donations around the festive season, the
organisations - both corporate and welfare don't believe in putting the
figures down. The bigger corporate houses, say sources, still give out money
to feed poor kids. The change, however, is with the young generation, which
believes more in impact and less in washing away sins. Or if one goes by
euphemism, social responsibility is the way to go. Philanthropy is
old-fashioned and can't be sustained, feel many. Mohan of Xansa India
explains. "Feeding poor children or cutting a cheque can never make an
impact as freaking out with these children can. Also, these activities only
create a bigger void between us. The festival is for being together and
having a good time."
Puri agrees wholeheartedly.
"Sometime we do have people approaching us to spend time with children - to
feed them or gift them something. But given that CRY does not run
orphanages, we encourage them (people) to advocate the cause of child rights
and support the movement in other ways," she says.
As far as business is concerned, welfare organisations look forward to
Diwali as this is the time when people are generous in India and this in
turn helps them earn larger sums of money. " The business of NGOs is
mounting year on year. Today we have around 100 designs in candles alone. We
keep on reading what's new with candles, the trends if any, and how our
workforce can make them. This has made us nothing but more talented and
competitive," says Pande of Blind Relief.
So, here is society's real Diwali gift to the underprivileged. Happy Diwali!

Publication : FE; Section : Citizen; Pg : 15; Date : 28/10/07
URL :
http://70.86.150.130/financialexpress/ArticleText.aspx?article=28_10_2007_015_001