A conference entitled ‘Corporate Social Responsibility: Empowering Poor Widows in India’ being held in Mumbai on Saturday.
Mumbai, November 16, 2014: The Loomba Foundation, a UN accredited global NGO working for the cause of poor widows and their children, and BSE Ltd. (formerly known as Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd.), Asia’s first and India’s fastest Stock Exchange with response time of 200 microseconds, on Saturday hosted a conference entitled ‘Corporate Social Responsibility: Empowering Poor Widows in India’. The event encouraged corporate India to channelize their mandatory 2% Corporate Social Responsibility provision in the new Companies Act for the benefit of impoverished widows.
In his message, Devendra Fadnavis, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, who has earlier also served as Nagpur’s youngest municipal corporator and India’s second-youngest mayor, and has been the recipient of the Best Commonwealth Parliamentarian Award, said, “My government is committed to improve socio-economic status of those who are downtrodden and poor. Especially we are planning to roll out development initiatives for empowering destitute, widows, and single women by setting up support centers. I am touched by the work The Loomba Foundation has been doing in empowering poor widows and their children. I am sure, with the help social organizations and institutions we will take up this challenge of building social infrastructure. My best wishes to your social endeavor.”
The Chief Guest from UK, Rt. Hon. Dr. Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and President of the Board of Trade, UK, said, “Besides Veena Loomba, who needs no introduction, others such as educationist Asha Khemka, entrepreneur Priya Lakhani, Ranjana Bell of Northumbria Police and artistic director Bisakha Sarker are just few women of Indian-origin who are very well regarded in the UK for their immense contributions. Women in India are breaking the glass ceiling across banking, petroleum, technology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, FMCG, and other industries which is amazing. India’s new Company Law will further help restore this balance in gender diversity by mandating appointment of a woman director. Why then, in a world of meritocracy, should a woman be bereaved of the wonderful opportunities of growth merely because she lost a husband? I am encouraged to see so many corporate leaders here today – I hope you will come forward to join hands with The Loomba Foundation in their crusade to provide equal opportunities and basic human rights to widows and their children. I also wish luck to Chris Parsons for his walk marathons in India early January to raise funds for the cause of widows.”
Welcoming the guests, S. Ramadorai, Chairman, BSE Ltd., said, “India has one of the oldest traditions of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) where doing charity, or ‘daan’, is an integral part of our culture and way of life. Similarly, CSR at BSE is also aligned with its tradition of creating wealth in the community. In the last 140 years, BSE has helped India create a market capitalization of over $1.5 trillion and this year the S&P BSE Sensex has emerged as the world champion in performance among the world’s top ten stock markets. I am sure that as stakeholders of BSE, our contributions can make a significant impact on the lives of widows and children, giving them an opportunity to secure a better future.” During the International Widows Day gala at the House of Lords in London on June 23, Mr. Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD & CEO, BSE Ltd., and a patron of The Loomba Foundation, had announced that BSE will host this joint conference in Mumbai to help create awareness for the cause of widows.
Lord Raj Loomba CBE, Founder and Chairman Trustee of The Loomba Foundation, who was recently conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award by the United Nations Association of New York, said, “Our Foundation has held several events to create global awareness on the plight and unmet needs of the widows, but this is perhaps the biggest contingent of business leaders I have ever seen at a single place to show solidarity for the cause. I am deeply indebted to the BSE for making this possible. In January, The Loomba Foundation’s goodwill ambassador, and internationally renowned corporate finance lawyer, Chris Parsons, will be back in Mumbai to walk 30 marathons in 30 days covering a distance of 1260km from The Gateway of India to Bangalore via Goa, Mangalore and Mysore. He has already raised over 10% of his targeted $1million funds for empowering poor widows in India through this walk. I request each one of you to spare a few hours to join and encourage Chris in at least one of his 30 marathons.” The event honored donors, supporters and organizations that have already pledged their support to Chris Parsons’ Walk For Widows including Tata Consultancy Services, Apollo Hospitals’ Billion Hearts Beating and PepsiCo’s Gatorade.
A highlight of the conference was the launch of a project of 500 sewing machines in Mumbai jointly by The Loomba Foundation’s trustee Shamin Lalji, and patron Padamshri Sh. Vikramjit Singh Sahni, to help widows become self-sufficient by giving them a means of earning income. Members of Parliament from the Indian and British governments including Rt. Hon. Lord Dholakia PC OBE DL, Trustee of the Loomba Foundation and Liberal Democrats Deputy Leader, House of Lords, and benefactors and dignitaries from both countries were also present at the event, alongside Mr. Pankaj Modi from Gandhinagar, and Jaykumar Parekh, member of the Advisory Council of The Loomba Foundation. Senior representatives of hundreds of BSE-listed companies, mutual funds, brokers, investment bankers, insurance companies, analysts, underwriters, and regulators were also invited for the event. Harjiv Singh, trustee of The Loomba Foundation, and Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Gutenberg Communications, delivered the vote of thanks.
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