Care for the society has been an intrinsic value for the promoters of the Lalbhai group. We have a long tradition of reaching out to the society through planned interventions. We strongly believe that a company can improve its own functioning by influencing the environment in which it operates. And to ensure this, business leaders must positively impact the society. The responsibility of undertaking development initiatives is jointly shared by Arvind Foundation (AF), Strategic Help Alliance for Relief to Distressed Areas (SHARDA) Trust and Narottam Lalbhai Rural Development Fund (NLRDF). Our key development initiatives include-
Gyanda is an ongoing supplementary education program designed for primary, secondary and higher secondary school going children. More than 5,000 students from lower socio- economic strata have benefitted so far. At present, Gyanda has enrolment of more than 1,100 students.
Improvement in education environment by upgrading infrastructure, improving farm productivity by providing multiple trainings, organising health camps across 9 villages. The main objective is to improve the delivery mechanism of government programs by becoming a link between the government and the rural populace.
As part of our Rural Transformation program, we carried out a Home Stay Project in villages in Garudeshwar Taluka in Narmada District. With the aim of increasing the income of tribal families, quality home stay facilities were created for tourist at rural homes.
We work with our civil society partners to help girls join our Women Empowerment program, acquire industry specific vocational skills (Apparel Manufacturing), get employed in Arvind’s manufacturing units and stay in company managed dormitories. The women are enrolled in Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University to further their educational qualification, acquire different life skills and nurture their aspirations of creating a secure future for themselves.
The project named Promotion of Indology is creating a comprehensive, research-oriented digital repository of paper/palm-leaf manuscripts housed in Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology (LDII). These digital grabs will initially be accessible on low resolution digital media (hard disks, compact disks), leaving open the possibility of uploading the material onto a website. Around 32 lacs pages of such Manuscripts are available at LDII.
Arvind plans to set up an Indigo Museum to capture the story of indigo and associated materials and capture broader narratives around the story of the colour, cloth, trade, revolutionary struggles, design thinking and artistic collaborations. India’s cultural connection to Indigo is unique. India was the Indigo capital of the world. Indigo owes its name to the country – “Indikon” in Greek which means “from India”. This is our way to pay respect to our heritage.
Heartfulness Meditation programs are being conducted in a planned and structured manner. This program is based on the Sahaj Marg system of Raja Yoga meditation. In 2019-20, we conducted sessions in close to 200 places in rural Gujarat and Rajasthan and reached out to around 15,000 people.
The project “Walking Hand-in-Hand - Taking Unnamed Artisans to the World Stage” is being implemented by CDS Art Foundation. Through this project we support artisans who work on exquisite textiles but largely remain unnoticed and unsupported. The initiative identifies, engages, encourages and supports such artisans who have unique ability and potential to go far.