NASSCOM FOUNDATION LAUNCHES ‘IGNITE THE SPARK’

 

Tablet donation drive for underserved children 

·         Collaboration with NGO Literacy India to drive programme

·         Launches Book 'Catalysing Change Through CSR' with Actor-Social activist Nandita Das

·         Hon’ble Minister of Communications & IT – Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad felicitates 11 technology - led social innovations with grants and mentorship

Mumbai, 13^th February, 2015: NASSCOM Foundation has launched the ‘Ignite the Spark’ programme – a Tablet donation drive for the under-served children across the country - at the NASSCOM India Leadership Forum. NGO Literacy India will present the tablets to underprivileged students.

Mr. Shrikant Sinha, CEO, NASSCOM Foundation said, “The Tablet donation drive is a manifestation of NASSCOM Foundation’s commitment to digitally empowering the underserved sections of the society. With tablets becoming the primary vehicle for digital engagement, in villages where power is scarce, we hope to bridge the digital divide and empower the bright sparks in rural India.”

Actor and social activist Nandita Das, R Chandrasekaran – Chairman, NASSCOM; Dr. Ganesh Natarajan, Chairman NASSCOM Foundation; Neeraj Aggarwal, Director, Boston Consulting Group; K. K. Natarajan, CEO and MD, Mindtree, Aruna Jayanti, CEO, Capgemini Amit Agarwal, Senior VP, Genpact and Prof. Amit Lahiri from Centennial College, Toronto released ‘Catalysing Change through CSR’,.

The book is jointly authored by Rumi Mallick Mitra, Vice President, NASSCOM Foundation and Seema Bansal, Head, Social Impact and Development Practice, The Boston Consulting Group.  The book showcases a variety of philosophies and strategies that are already in place inside IT&BPM companies in India and will help CSR practitioners identify the questions that they need to answer as well as provides frameworks that could help answer those questions.

Dr. Ganesh Natarajan, Chairman NASSCOM Foundation and CEO, Zensar Technologies said, “The new CSR legislation requires companies to give focused attention to their efforts in the sector. The book compiled by NASSCOM Foundation is especially relevant today when CSR contribution is slated to grow to US$ 2.5 billion from US$ 0.5-0.6 billion in 2012-13.”

Ms Nandita Das spoke on the need to create an Inclusive India. Prof. Amit Lahiri from the Centennial College, Toronto and Neeraj Agarwal, Senior Partner & Director, of the Boston Consulting Group also spoke on how companies are currently conducting their CSR activities from a global and a local perspective.

The winners of the NASSCOM Foundation Seventh NASSCOM Social Innovation Forum awards were felicitated by the Hon’ble Minister of Communications and IT, Shri. Ravi Shankar Prasad.

The winners chosen from over 1,000 nominees were:   

​​Category	Winner
Catalytic Grants	1.   iGest by Enability Technologies 2.   SkillTrain by SkillTrain Training & Consultancy Pvt Ltd 3.   Kinect based applications for special needs individuals by Tamana
Certificate of Appreciation	Mobile Early Detection and Prevention of Oral Cancer (mEDPOC),Biocon Foundation
​Certificate of Appreciation	​CORE PDS (Centralised Online Real-time Electronic PDS) Sabrang Trust
​ Corporate –Responsible Business Practice	​V 101 Housekeeping and F&B, Lemon Tree Hotels
Students, Individuals and Groups	SOS Device for Personal Safety, Piyush Aggarwal
Not For Profit organization	Knowledge management of Small and Marginal Farmers through ODL Systems, Vidiyal NGO
Social Enterprise	SimplEye, Kriyate Design Solutions Pvt Ltd
Certificate of Appreciation	Solar Prahari – ANDON System, Frontier Markets Consulting Pvt Ltd
Certificate of Appreciation	EasyGas: e-solution for LPG monitoring, District Administration Kanpur Nagar