Reliance Foundation (RF), established in 2010, is an umbrella organisation for the Company’s social development initiatives. Most of the CSR activities of the Company are carried out under the aegis of the Reliance Foundation. These initiatives are aligned with the objectives defined by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), outlined in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Reliance has undertaken initiatives in compliance with Schedule VII of Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013. In order to streamline its developmental initiatives, Reliance has identified the following focus areas: Rural Transformation, Health, Education, Sports for Development, Disaster Response, Arts, Culture and Heritage and Urban Renewal. As stated in its CSR Policy, the Company focuses on these areas through direct engagement and partnering with organisations having relevant expertise and experience. Reliance aims to scale up further for better reach, more effective engagement and greater impact.

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A PANORAMIC VIEW ON THE CSR ACTIVITIES
CONDUCTED BY RELIANCE INDUSTRIES LIMITED
VARUN KESAVAN, RESEARCH SCHOLAR, E – MAIL ID –
varunkesavan@yahoo.com
INTRODUCTION
Reliance Foundation (RF), established in 2010, is an umbrella organisation for
the Company’s social development initiatives. Most of the CSR activities of the
Company are carried out under the aegis of the Reliance Foundation. These
initiatives are aligned with the objectives defined by the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), outlined in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development.
Reliance has undertaken initiatives in compliance with Schedule VII of Section
135 of the Companies Act, 2013. In order to streamline its developmental
initiatives, Reliance has identified the following focus areas: Rural
Transformation, Health, Education, Sports for Development, Disaster
Response, Arts, Culture and Heritage and Urban Renewal.
As stated in its CSR Policy, the Company focuses on these areas through
direct engagement and partnering with organisations having relevant expertise
and experience. Reliance aims to scale up further for better reach, more
effective engagement and greater impact.

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RURAL TRANSFORMATION
 Livelihoods of more than 8 lakh farmers, fisher folks and livestock owners
enhanced (over 28 lakh since inception).
 Over 2,200 Ha of land was brought under improved cultivation (over
56,000 Ha since inception).
 Water harvesting and conservation efforts resulted in bringing over 2,900
Ha land under irrigation (over 23,500 Ha since inception).
 Water harvesting structures created to collect over 32 lakh cubic metres of
rainwater (over 5.86 crore cubic metres since inception), securing 131
villages from a drinking water perspective.
 Over 12 lakh saplings were planted (Over 1.38 crore since inception).
HEALTH
 Over 5 lakh health consultations provided to patients through Reliance
managed hospitals, mobile and static medical units and various health
camps (over 40 lakh since inception).
 Over 33,900 women were screened for anaemia, of which 8,000 women
were diagnosed and received treatment for it (over 45,900 women
screened, of which more than 12,000 women were treated since inception).

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 Over 29,700 children were screened for malnutrition and of these more
than 2,000 children were found malnourished and followed up for treatment
(over 42,500 children screened and more than 3,500 received follow-up
treatment since inception). Over 1,000 severely malnourished children
were linked to rehabilitation centres for treatment.
 The eye care services supported 1,096 corneal transplants under the
Drishti Programme (more than 15,500 transplants since inception).
 Over 400 HIV affected children were provided care and support along with
nutrition supplementations.
EDUCATION
 528 meritorious students were given scholarships to pursue higher studies
(over 13,100 scholarships since inception).
 Under Education for All initiative, quality education was provided to about 1
lakh underprivileged children. This year, the initiative supported 12 partner
NGOs for this noble cause.
 Launched a Digital Learning Van that will provide access to digital learning
to thousands of underprivileged children across Mumbai.

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SPORTS AND DEVELOPMENT
 Engaged with about 6 lakh students across 18 cities who were encouraged
to adopt healthy and active lifestyle by integrating basketball into their
physical education curriculum through the RF Jr. NBA programme (about
34 lakh students since inception).
 18 children were awarded scholarships under Young Champs programme
for developing football abilities (41 scholarships since inception).
 The rural sports initiative, aimed at empowering communities to improve
education, health, gender and leadership qualities, has reached out to
more than 1,500 rural youth (about 4,000 youth since inception).
DISASTER RESPONSE
 Supported more than 100 drought affected villages across 4 districts of
Maharashtra by providing over 60 million litres of drinking water.
 Sona river in Aurangabad rejuvenated, ensuring drinking water security for
more than 14,000 people.
 Provided support through technology enabled solutions to the flood
affected areas in Madhya Pradesh. Under this, timely information on the
disaster related compensations, procedures for availing it and disease
management of crops was disseminated to the affected people.

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URBAN RENEWAL
 A cable suspension bridge “Sudama Setu” that connects River Gomati
and Panchkui area is constructed by Reliance. It is now facilitating the
pilgrims to visit the Panchnad and Panchkui area.
EXPENDITURE ON CSR INITIATIVES
During FY 2016-17, Reliance contributed `674 crore towards Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR). The developmental initiatives of Reliance have so far
touched the lives of more than 12 million people across India in more than
12,500 villages and 74 urban locations. This year, Reliance has undertaken
several significant interventions aimed at improving lives of the marginal and
underprivileged communities. The following sections provide details of the
Company's key initiatives undertaken in this year.

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RURAL TRANSFORMATION
Reliance works towards bridging the developmental gap between rural
'Bharat' and urban India by improving rural livelihood, addressing poverty,
hunger and malnutrition. Key initiatives in this area include supporting farm
and non-farm livelihoods. Towards creating holistic self-reliant and sustainable
models of rural transformation, the organisation works to improve productivity
of the farm lands, ensuring water security by water conservation and rain-
water harvesting. We help rural communities in organising themselves to form
Village Associations (VA's) and producer companies. In doing so, technology
is used as an enabler for delivering need based information to improve the
quality of life. These initiatives focus on improving food security, enhancing
nutrition and developing community infrastructure. Since inception, the
programme has reached out to over 52,000 families across 500 villages.
INSTITUTION BUILDING
Reliance works to establish its rural transformation model in building community
institutions that are based on values of democracy, inclusiveness and transparency to
achieve holistic village development. The primary outcome of the engagement is an
empowered and self-reliant community based organisation with robust membership
base and strong leadership. The uniqueness in design lies in the co-creation and co-
design of solutions contextualised as per social, economic and ecological situations.
Till date, more than 52,000 rural households have joined hands to form 529 Village
Associations to drive village transformation.

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WATER SECURITY
Under its rural transformation initiatives, Reliance has contributed towards
conserving rainwater in all its programme villages. Various harvesting
structures including new and renovated earthen check dams, masonry check
dams, farm ponds and open wells, temporary structures such as boribandhan,
tanks etc. have been constructed. Through these structures, over 5.86 crore
cubic metres of rain water has been harvested since inception. Through these
initiatives, over 2,900 hectares of land has been brought under water efficient
irrigation system this year and over 23,500 hectares brought under irrigation
since inception.
Reliance Foundation used ferro-cement technology for overcoming the
challenges in construction of conventional water storage tanks especially in
the hilly terrain of Uttarakhand where construction in itself was a challenge.
These tanks reduce the cost of water storage by almost three-times. Over 100
ferro-cement structures were constructed last year across the villages. As a
result of these water security measures, 131 villages achieved drinking water
security and 51 villages were secured for irrigation. For effective use of water
resources, water budgeting has been done in 354 villages.

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586 lakh cubic metres of water storage capacity created
FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY
Reliance has adopted integrated sustainable crop management practices to
enhance crop productivity and availability of food grains in every household
throughout the year. At the same time, Reliance ensured reduction in cost of
production to enhance farm incomes. Till date, over 56,000 Ha of land has
been brought under sustainable agriculture with nearly 5,000 Ha of private
wasted land brought under cultivation. This has ensured food security for over
20,000 households.

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To improve nutritional food intake, Reliance has been setting up nutrition
gardens. As on date nearly 8,000 Reliance Nutrition Gardens (RNGs) have
been developed. Reliance’s RNG model has been highly praised by various
Government and Non-Government organisations on different platforms.
Several organisations have adopted the Reliance model of nutrition garden
(RNG) and have scaled it up in their project areas with technical support from
the implementing team of Reliance Foundation. For instance, Government of
Maharashtra (GoM) has adopted the nutrition garden model to scale it up in 8
districts. Under this initiative, Reliance has trained 1,066 master trainers from
various line departments on design, layout and maintenance of RNG. This has
resulted in establishment of 3,035 nutrition gardens benefitting over 62,000
children across these districts. The content developed by Reliance on nutrition
garden is used in a newly developed application titled “WCD” in the section of
nutrition garden by Department of Women and Child Development, GoM.

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ECOLOGICAL SECURITY
This year, Reliance has conserved over 2,200 hectares of unproductive land
and converted it into cultivable land (more than 56,000 hectares since
inception). More than 80% of this land has been used for food production
while rest of it has been used for activities such as cultivation of fodder and
other commercial crops etc. Furthermore, in an effort to promote bio-diversity
and preserve the ecology, over 12 lakh saplings were planted this year (over
1.38 crore saplings planted since inception).
PRODUCER COMPANIES
A significant downside for marginal farmers is the marketability of farm
produce. Several challenges which influence the marketing of agriculture
produce such as smaller land holdings, smaller volumes of produce make it a
difficult and unviable business proposition. Risks such as climatic variability,
monsoon failure, price fluctuations and lack of market access negatively
impact the sustenance of farming as a primary occupation. As a sustainable
solution for farm and non-farm livelihoods and making agriculture a productive
business, Reliance has been supporting marginal and small farmers in
establishing producer companies. Reliance works towards creating market
linkages of the products for better price realisation. So far, 17 producer
companies have been established benefitting over 20,000 families. These
companies have transacted over 4,500 metric tonnes of farm and non-farm
produce, with a business turnover of over `10 crore.

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1.38 crore saplings have been planted since inception
PRODUCER COMPANIES
A significant downside for marginal farmers is the marketability of farm
produce. Several challenges which influence the marketing of agriculture
produce such as smaller land holdings, smaller volumes of produce make it a
difficult and unviable business proposition. Risks such as climatic variability,
monsoon failure, price fluctuations and lack of market access negatively
impact the sustenance of farming as a primary occupation. As a sustainable
solution for farm and non-farm livelihoods and making agriculture a productive
business, Reliance has been supporting marginal and small farmers in
establishing producer companies. Reliance works towards creating market
linkages of the products for better price realisation. So far, 17 producer
companies have been established benefitting over 20,000 families. These
companies have transacted over 4,500 metric tonnes of farm and non-farm
produce, with a business turnover of over `10 crore.
USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN ENHANCING
AGRICULTURAL OUTPUT
Reliance has been developing technological solutions for improved
agricultural productivity. Technologies which are lower in cost and could yield
higher returns are being introduced in rural areas for producing Azolla,

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A green manure for paddy that has an immense potential to meet the growing
demand of fodder among small and marginal farmers. Over 800 such farmers
in Andhra Pradesh have benefitted from these technologies. Technologies like
Banana bunch covers are being used by farmers of banana plantations to
protect fruits from pests and birds, thus yielding a good market value with
increased returns. Till date, Reliance has distributed over 50,000 banana
covers to over 450 farmers. This low cost technology is a simple solution that
can be replicated and scaled up.
50,000
Banana covers distributed to farmers

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In order to get high yield from cost effective farming, Reliance has supported
in conducting soil health activities such as workshops, soil testing, application
of nutrients etc. This year, essential nutrients were applied to about 797
hectares of agricultural land. Additionally, in collaboration with different
knowledge partners, over 3,500 soil health tests were conducted this year
(over 10,371 tests since inception) based on which relevant advisories were
disseminated at village level.
56,000
hectares of land brought under improved cultivation inception
INFORMATION SERVICES FOR LIVELIHOOD ENHANCEMENT
Reliance is empowering communities by providing reliable and robust
information tailored to the local needs of farmers, fisher folks and livestock
owners. This information is disseminated through digital technology and direct
community level interventions. The mobile based advisories have reached out
to about 8 lakh individuals this year. Together, the technology embedded
information has reached out to about 28 lakh individuals since inception. As a
part of direct interventions, interactive programmes are being conducted at
community level on various issues such as health, agriculture, livelihood,
livestock etc.

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This year, over 3,700 interactive programmes (over 10,000 programmes since
inception) were conducted that reached out to over 1.4 lakh individuals (over
3.4 lakh individuals since inception).
28 lakh farmers, fisher folks and livestock owners exposed to
technology embedded information
Reliance has been collaborating with like-minded organisations including
research institutions, line departments, NGOs and knowledge providers. So
far, it has partnered with over 619 information providers and 284 grassroots
organisations. Through these partners, the information services reach out to
the most needy population subgroups.
SWACHH BHARAT ABHIYAN
Since the launch of Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission, Reliance
has been conducting several activities to improve health outcomes in its
programme villages. This year, awareness campaigns were carried out
through posters, kalajathas and rallies in each of the programme villages to
sensitise them on the importance of toilet construction. Additionally, using
technological platform, people were also informed about the procedures
through teleconferencing and toll free helplines to avail the benefits of
schemes such as Sardar Awas Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas
Yojana, Vriddha Pension Yojana, Animal Loan Yojana etc.

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The villages are also collaborating with different Government schemes for
leveraging their fund to achieve the Open Defecation Free (ODF) status. As a
result of these efforts, over 15,000 toilets have been constructed in about 263
villages and 48 villages were declared to be ODF by the Government.
DEVELOPING MODEL VILLAGES
Reliance will work in 53 villages of Parbhani and Yavatmal districts of
Maharashtra supporting the state government in their quest for sustainable
development in villages through ‘Mission Village Transformation’.
3,000 - Thrift groups of women are formed to enhance financial decision
making
28 lakh farmers, fisher folks and livestock owners exposed to
technology embedded information
48 - villages declared to be open defecation free

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REFERENCES
 http://www.ril.com/ar2016-17/report-on-corporate-social-
responsibility.html
 http://www.ril.com/ar2014-15/corporate-responsibility.html
 http://www.ril.com/OurCompany/CSR.aspx