In yet another major corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme, J&K Bank announced launch of a major initiative “KOSHISH” for meeting the health, educational and nutritional needs of underprivileged children of the state. In the first phase, 40 villages in three districts – Srinagar, Budgam & Ganderbal would be covered under the programme covering 5100 household and 9224 children.According to a statement issued to KNS, announcement to this effect was made by the J&K Bank Chairman, Mushtaq Ahmad, at a glittering function here today where the State Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather, launched a joint Corporate Social Responsibility programme of J&K Bank & PNB Metlife in the state. Christopher Townsend, President Asia, MetLife Inc,. Tarun Chugh, MD & CEO, PNB MetLife, Parvez, Ahmad, Executive President, J&K Bank, Abdul Rauf Bhat, Sr. President, J&K Bank and Ms. Puja Marwaha, CEO, Child Rights & You (CRY). Notably, CRY would be implementing agency of the projects.
The CSR programme will focus on education and development of underprivileged children in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The two identified projects are with CRY - Child Rights and You, through project partners Jammu & Kashmir Association of Social Worker (JKASW) and KOSHISH.JKASW works across 1,823 households in the districts of Baramullah, Bandipora and Srinagar impacting 4,800 children. KOSHISH will work with 9200 children in 5100 households across 25 villages in the district of Budgam. In addition, 15 more villages are being evaluated for this programme.The State Finance Minister, Abdul Rahim Rather, speaking on the occasion, was all praise for J&K Bank for its crucial to the financial security and development of inpiduals, families and societies at large in the state of Jammu & Kashmir. “During the last two decades, I think there must be very few success stories that could rival the meteoric rise of J&K Bank in the country. Throughout the state, 8 out of 10 success stories in businesses would have this bank at their back,” he said and further stated that the bank has been at the forefront of socio-economic upliftment of the people while pushing the limits of entrepreneurship and enterprise for a deeper and sustainable economic development. The bank plays a key role in providing indirect employment to considerable number of entrepreneurs. Going beyond its core business and profit-making, J&K Bank renders great service to the people of J&K through its growing CSR activities, he said.
The bank has been forthcoming in modernization of education by providing computer systems generously to various schools and trusts. Likewise the bank has been financially taking care of education of scores of special children at various institutes across the state.He said, “This bank has made all its share holders proud not only in the state but across the country. I wish these welfare projects under CSR reach all the poor and needy in the state as it means our collective welfare and success in the longer run.”Mushtaq Ahmad, Chairman & CEO, Jammu & Kashmir Bank said, “We are delighted to announce the launch of the CSR programme through this platform along with PNB MetLife, our bancassurance partner for last 13 years. United in spirit, today we jointly announce our programmes to work towards education and development of underprivileged children in J&K.”
He added, “From matters of health care, heritage preservation to poverty alleviation, promotion of education to eco-conservation; our CSR policy has been to instill a sense of relief and protection among the most vulnerable sections of society. Now that the scope of such policy has widened immensely we have also broadened our CSR agenda for deeper impact in the societies we operate in. This is just one of the initiatives that we are launching in the state under the agenda”, he added.Mushtaq expressed his optimism that “KOSHISH” would bring smiles on the faces on crying underprivileged children.
Speaking on the initiatives, Mr. Christopher Townsend, President Asia, MetLife Inc said, “MetLife has always had a strong global focus on Corporate Social Responsibility. We have many projects across the globe focused on supporting and empowering local communities via the MetLife Foundation in areas like Financial Inclusion. Continuing our proud history of community development and support, I am excited to be here today to launch PNB MetLife’s the CSR programme in the state of Jammu & Kashmir with our long-standing partner JKB supporting education and development of underprivileged children.”
Talking about the programme, Mr. Tarun Chugh, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, PNB MetLife, said “This is indeed an exciting day for us as we leverage the local expertise of JKB to launch our CSR programme in the state. This is the first step and we are evaluating projects across the country on education and development of underprivileged children. We arrived at the agenda of child education after researching and evaluating the need of the local communities we were setting up projects in. We hope to make a sustainable difference to the society with our projects with CRY in J&K.”He added, “We have had a successful relationship with JKB over the last 13 years and we have secured lives of over 200,000 customers and settled close to 1100 claims worth Rs 24 cr.”Talking about CRY’s experience in the state, Puja Marwaha, CEO, CRY – Child Rights and You said, “Working in J&K has its set of unique challenges. However, working with our local partner since 2005 we have gathered a deep understanding of the on-ground realties that are barriers to children’s rights, especially education. Lack of access to schools and discrimination of girl children are few of the issues faced by children here. We work on mobilizing the communities, its leaders and in tandem with government systems to bring about positive and lasting change in the lives of these children.” (KNS)