Corporate Social Responsibility – The NTPC Way Print

"We value the partnerships we build with the communities around our units. For us Corporate Social Responsibility is Corporate Social Relationship."
-Arup Roy Choudhury, CMD, NTPC Ltd.

 

"CSR in NTPC is a deeply ingrained belief of doing business by adding value to the community and society on a sustainable basis through dedicated policies, institutional setup and engagement process to promote inclusive growth."
-Arup Roy Choudhury, CMD, NTPC Ltd.

 

NTPC’s concept of CSR flows from its Vision, Mission and Corporate Objective statements:

Our Vision
To be the World’s largest and best power producer, powering India’s growth

Our Mission
Develop and provide reliable power, related products and services at competitive prices, integrating multiple energy sources with innovative and eco-friendly technologies and contribute to society.

 

Our CSR Objectives:

  • To contribute to sustainable power development by discharging Corporate Social Responsibilities.
  • To lead the sector in the area of Resettlement & Rehabilitation and Peripheral Development.
  • To lead the sector in Environment Protection.

Corporate Social responsibility has been synonymous with NTPC’s core business of power generation. NTPC aspires to provide access to resources needed for a decent standard of living for the people in its vicinity. NTPC spirit of caring and sharing is embedded in its mission statement.

Community is the most important stakeholder and is a neighbor for lifetime, with whom NTPC has built strong partnerships through a well-conceived basket of community development interventions.

Committed socially since inception, NTPC has a comprehensive Resettlement & Rehabilitation (R&R) policy covering community development (CD) activities. CD activities in green field area are initiated as soon as project is conceived and thereafter extensive peripheral development activities are taken up along with the project development. A separate CSR-Community Development Policy covers a wide range of activities starting from unit level to regional and national level including implementation of key programmes through ‘NTPC Foundation’.

Robust structure, well laid out policies and streamlined process guide our CSR initiatives benefitting more than a million people spread over about 500 villages in neighbourhood of NTPC stations.

Structure
CSR group is a three tiered structure – Corporate, Region and Station with a separate Board level Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility to guide, approve & review CSR activity. Corporate CSR Group’s responsibilities include policies, capacity building and external reporting, Regional CSR Group’s responsibilities include co-ordinating and monitoring; and Station CSR Group’s responsibilities include planning, implementation and reporting.
NTPC has setup a foundation - NTPC Foundation - for national level initiatives which focuses on persons with special abilities

Policies
NTPC has prepared policies for its Community Development Initiatives. These policies set forth guidelines governing the implementation of community development initiatives.
The Initial Community Development (ICD) Policy guides Community Development during project inception, Resettlement & Rehabilitation (R&R) Policy guides envisaging Community Development during project development and CSR-Community Development (CSR-CD) Policy guides envisaging Community Development activities during operational phase.
The policies are revised and updated with the changing business scenario and policies / guidelines from Govt. of India. The CSR-CD policy, issued in July, 2004, was revised in August, 2010 in line with DPE guidelines.

Budget
As per current DPE norms, NTPC Board has approved to incur 0.5% of net profit of the previous year for CSR activities. The allocation against specific activities is approved by Committee of Board for CSR.

Process
The CSR process comprises of four stages i.e. (1) Planning, (2) Implementation, (3) Monitoring & Evaluation and (4) Documentation & Communication.

Planning: NTPC has adopted a Bottom up Approach for planning. Activities are planned based on Need Assessment Survey and Stakeholder consultation - Village Development Advisory Committee (VDAC), Local Administration, Rehabilitation and Periphery Development Advisory Committee (RPDAC), People’s representative etc.

Implementation: All CSR activities are carried out in project mode with defined deliverables & timelines and through specialized agencies and Employee Voluntary Organizations for Initiatives in Community Development (EVOICE).

Monitoring & Evaluation: Effectiveness of programme is assessed through a two-tier monitoring mechanism involving external as well as internal evaluation.
There is regular monitoring at Units, Regions & Corporate Center with monthly & quarterly reporting. Full fledged internal audit is carried out to ensure effective implementation. Transparent Assessment / Evaluation are taken up through reputed agencies for gauging impact of our CSR-CD initiatives.

Documentation & Communication: Communication and feedback is a good basis for measuring effectiveness, paves way for new idea generation as well as planning on what next to be done. Communication and feedback is done by means of annual report, internet, brochures and reports put up to the Committee of Board for CSR.

Employee Volunteering
Community development activities undertaken by ‘EVOICE’ (Employee Voluntary Organizations for Initiatives in Community Development), NGOs formed by NTPC employees at various stations complement NTPC’s CSR initiatives.

Quality Circles (QCs) in villages
As a unique initiative, NTPC has expanded the concept of quality circles (QCs) in villages around stations on basic elements i.e. achievement, team spirit, knowledge acquisition and pursuit of excellence. Presently more than 30 Quality Circles are actively working in different villages around various stations to identify the problems being faced by the community and provide solutions.

CSR Initiatives
NTPC’s Community Development activities, in focus areas of basic infrastructure development, education, community health & sanitation, capacity building and gender empowerment etc are based on specific local requirements and guided by extensive Need Assessment Surveys and consultation through various participative forums like Village Development Advisory Committee, Rehabilitation and Periphery Development Advisory Committee etc. Engagement of community in acceptance of specific CSR initiatives inculcates a sense of ownership among people and plays a vital role in smooth and successful implementation of schemes.

 

Key Initiatives:


Education
Education is the foundation and building block for achieving national objectives for building a more inclusive, equitable and sustainable society. Education is a unique present investment for future. NTPC earmarks 15%-20% of CSR-CD budget for education.

Key Initiatives in education:

  • Running 48 schools at stations out of which 23 schools are predominantly for nearby community benefitting about 20,000 such students.
  • Support to IIIT at Raipur, Engineering Colleges in Chhattisgarh & HP.
  • Support for construction of Engineering College in Korba (Chhattisgarh).
  • Infrastructural support to schools for underprivileged children at Govt. Schools.
  • Supporting to set-up technical polytechnic at Kaladungi, Uttaranchal. Support for Women’s Polytechnic at Gopeshwar, Uttarakhand is committed.
  • Assistance for facilitating education and rehabilitation of child victims of communal, caste, ethnic or terrorist violence.
  • Support for delivery Vehicles for mid-day meal programme for the children of Govt. Schools located in the National Capital Region through Food Relief Foundation of ISKCON.
  • Support for computers for Rath Mahavidyalaya in Distt. Pauri Garhwal.
  • Support for training to village youth in the slums of Badarpur.
  • Support for establishing two named scholarship for pursuing professional courses through Him Jyoti Foundation, Dehradun.
  • Support to M A Laskar Junior College, Silchar, Assam for augmenting its infrastructure.
  • Support to Ramakrishna Mission for conducting various activities under the banner “Awakening India” heralding the 150th Birth Anniversary celebration of swami Vivekananda.
  • Support to Katha, a Non-profit organization, for purchase of equipments and for meeting the specific needs of underprivileged children for their main school, Kathashala, at Govindpuri, New Delhi.
  • Support to District Administration, Visakhapatnam for preparation and development of Audio Study material for Visually Challenged Persons.

On regular basis, stations also take up activities related to development of infrastructure, Female/ Girl Child Education, Adult Education, Coaching and personality development programs, providing Scholarships, Study material & uniforms etc to deserving students from neighborhood village schools benefitting about 30,000 students during 2011-12.

Health
Good health is essential to human welfare and to sustained economic and social development. NTPC strives to provide access to basic infrastructure for health, sanitation and hygiene.

 

Key Initiatives in health:

  • Subsidized medical facilities to surrounding community at project/ station hospitals.
  • Support for three specialized Eye Centres at Bhubneswar Eye Hospital, Odisha.
  • Medical equipments for Uttaranchal Forest Hospital, Alappuzha Medical College Hospital, Kerala and Behala Balchanda Bramchari Hospital & Research Centre, Kolkata.
  • Support for renovation and refurbishment of facilities at Sundargarh district hospital.
  • Directly observed treatment cum designated microscopy centre (DOTs cum DMC) with Mobile ambulance facilities run by 12 NTPC hospitals through NTPC Foundation under Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNCTP) registering about 23000 patients and providing treatment to more than 2400 patients.

In addition stations regularly take up activities like Mobile Health Clinics, Health Camps & Free Operations, Family Planning Programs, De- addiction camps/ Programs, Health related infrastructure in neighborhood villages, benefitting more than 2,00,000 persons during 2011-12.

Capacity Building & Women Empowerment
Capability Building is key to livelihood opportunities. Women empowerment enables women to move from periphery to centre stage in social, political and economic terms. NTPC promotes policies and programmes that focus on enhancing capability, improving equity and increasing social sustainability.

 

Key Initiatives in Capacity Building & Women Empowerment:

  • Adoption of 17 ITIs and setting-up 08 new ITIs. This has added 1398 seats with 24 new trades.
  • Setting-up Solapur Power Training Institute.
  • Sponsorship to villagers for ITI training.
  • Vocational training to BPL candidates at Apparel Training and Design Centre, Chhindwara.
  • Educational and developmental workshop for Kashmiri migrant children and youth in Jammu.
  • School cum Multipurpose Building for Girls in Village Shaulana, Dist Ghaziabad.
  • One floor each in Girls Hostels in two Dist of Ongole and Guntur, AP.

Stations take up Vocational Training programmes like Web page designing, Computer training, Motor rewinding, Motor Driving, General Electrical/ Mobile Repairing, Cutting, Tailoring, Stitching, Dress Designing, Beautician, Embroidery, Food Preservation/ Processing etc. Skill upgradation programs for women, to promote self-employment, include tailoring and providing sewing machines. All these activities have benefitted around 3,000 individuals during 2011-12.

Development of Infrastructure
Certain services and facilities are absolutely essential for life to move on, thus follows infrastructural support for the rural people. Involvement of NTPC stations in rural lives is not just restricted to service provision; but also extended in a more holistic way.

 

Key Initiatives in Development of Infrastructure:

  • Support for infrastructure works like area lighting, water treatment plant and open car parking in and around Shri Jagannath Temple, Puri.
  • Support to the Uttarakhand Govt. for street lighting from Gaurikund to Kedarnath.
  • Support for setting up 3 community information centers at Lakshadweep.
  • In Orissa, construction of about 5 Km road from NH–200 to State Highway-63 in Angul & Talcher subdivision and supply of drinking water through pipeline to 4 Villages in the neighbourhood of Kaniha.
  • Piped water supply to village Kukudula & Bantol and construction of about 3.50 Km Blacktop Jagannathpur bye-pass road by Talcher Thermal Power Station.
  • Kahalgaon station has taken up infrastructure development work like construction of road, sanitation, drinking water and electrical lightning work in 6 villages, 3 villages each in Bhagalpur and Godda District.
  • Installation of High Mast Lights in various locations in Bihar, Jharkhand & West Bengal by NTPC Kahalgaon and NTPC Farakka.
  • Construction of bridge over drain and installation of Solar Power System in three municipal corporations of Raebareli, Bacharvan and Lalganj of Raebareli District by NTPC Unchahar.
  • Support for installation of Electricity Feeder at village Sanjoe Puram near Faridabad by St Joseph Service Society, Faridabad.
  • Construction of cement concrete road in various villages in District Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh.
  • Providing illumination on both banks of Grand Road, Puri with sound system for the benefits of the pilgrim in Orissa- Planned.
  • Installation of 27 hand pumps in District Dhanbad of Jharkhand and installation of 36 solar street lights at different location in the Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh.
  • Financial Support to Government of Andhra Pradesh is committed for activities to be carried out in rehabilitation colonies in six villages of Ramagundam Mandal in Karimnagar District.
  • Support to Arya Sugandh Sansthan for providing Fiber Sheet Shed for their Viklang Ashram at Najibabad, Dist. Bijnor, UP.
  • In order to contribute in the Conservation of selected National Monuments, NTPC has committed financial support to Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and National Culture Fund (NCF) for conservation of 3 identified sites.

Stations also takes up activities related to construction of Community Halls/ Buildings/ Centre, Anganwadis, Local Markets, Panchayat Ghar, Cremation ground, bus shelters, drinking water elated activities like installation of pumps, Piped water system, Over Head Tanks, RO Plants, Drinking Water Tankers, Wells, Construction and Deepening of Ponds, Lakes & Bathing Ghats etc. Sanitation related activities include Surface Drains and Toilets in neighborhood villages. It has benefitted more than 4,00,000 people during 2011-12.

Support during Natural Calamities
To provide relief and assistance during national calamities etc is one of the thrust areas of NTPC CSR-CD policy.

 

Key Initiatives:

  • Construction of 50 houses destroyed by cloudburst in Leh.
  • Financial and material support for flood relief in Odisha, Kerala, AP and WB.
  • Financial support for earthquake relief in Sikkim.
  • Manpower, technical and financial support to Tsunami affected population.

Support for Physically Challenged Persons:
Around 70-80% of the person’s with disability live in rural areas while most of the support systems are in urban areas. Working for the physically challenged persons (PCPs) have been an integral part of the CSR initiatives of NTPC. NTPC Participated for two years in the Abilities Mela, organised by the Business & Community Foundation, Blind Relief Association, a unique platform for giving the differently abled an opportunity to interact with potential employers. NGOs from all over the country participate in the event & showcase products made by the differently abled.


Activities to benefit physically challenged persons like distribution of dress, bags study material, reimbursement of school fees etc., distribution of tricycles and providing medical appliances are undertaken regularly by Stations.


Different stations activities related to Inclusive education, Reimbursement of Fees, Distribution of Aids and Equipment, Blind Relief Work, Camps for PCPs etc have benefitted more than 5,000 PCPs during 2011-12.

NTPC Foundation:
NTPC Foundation, registered in December 2004, is engaged in serving and empowering the physically challenged and economically weaker sections of the society.

 

Key Initiatives by NTPC Foundation:

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Centre set up jointly with University of Delhi, Gauhati University and at existing blind schools in Lucknow, Ajmer, Thiruvanathapuram and Mysore helping physically challenged students. Similar centre is also being setup at Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, Indore.

Disability Rehabilitation Centre (DRC) at Tanda in collaboration with National Institute of Orthopedically Handicap is providing rehabilitation/ restorative surgery to physically challenged persons like medical interventions and surgical corrections, fitting of artificial aids and appliances and therapeutic services etc. Four new DRC are established at NTPC Rihand, Korba, Dadri and Bongaigaon.

Distributed Generation:
NTPC Foundation is supporting the efforts of Distributed Generation (DG) for preparation of feasibility reports, project insurance and bridging the funding gap.
So far 15 Distributed Generation Projects with total capacity of 300 KW are operational in remote villages thus empowering the villages to be self-reliant in electricity.

Awards and Commendations:
NTPC has regularly been conferred various awards and commendations in the area of CSR giving conviction that its CSR initiatives are moving in the right direction and motivates to continue these efforts for the betterment of the community at large. Some of the key awards conferred in various categories in different years include SCOPE Meritorious Award for CSR & Responsiveness, Platts Global Energy Award for Community Development Programme, NCPDP Shell Hellen Keller Award, CII - ITC Sustainability Award, Business World – FICCI SEDF CSR Award, TERI’s CoRE- BCSD CSR Award, Golden Peacock National/Global Award for CSR, Mother Teresa Award for Corporate Citizen and Greentech Corporate Social Responsibility Award etc.

 

Click here to know about the CSR CD Policy

Participation by NTPC in UN Global Compact