New Delhi: The 6th edition of the CSR Journal Excellence Awards, which honours creative corporate social responsibility practices, will be held on December 9 at the Bombay Stock Exchange in Mumbai. The chief guest at the event, where ABP News and ABP Majha are the TV partners, is Defence Minister Rajnath Singh while Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will be the guest of honour. 

The event, which will be hosted by radio personality Malishka Mendonsa, will see awards being given to organisations with best CSR practices in six categories — education and skill training, women empowerment and child welfare, environment, agriculture and rural development, health and sanitation and sports.

The audience will also witness a special act by mentalist and performer Suhani Shah and a musical rendition by Rajat Rathor from the Delhi Police. 

Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde said social responsibility was crucial for building a trustworthy and peaceful society but there was also a need to take initiatives to protect the environment.

"For this, individual and collective action needs to take the lead along with welfare initiatives by the government. Through the Excellence Awards, The CSR Journal has been successfully creating a platform where a diverse group of people and organisations come together to understand, learn and reflect on each other’s social sector journeys," Shinde said. 

"The CSR Journal has set a benchmark in bringing to the fore environmental and social welfare initiatives by citizens, NGOs and corporates which inspire and encourage others to follow their footsteps," the CM further said.

Amit Upadhyay, founder and editor-in-chief of The CSR Journal, said the 6th edition of the awards, which started in 2016, marked an important milestone and the year saw the journal completing 10 years of its existence.

"This year, we are proud to partner with School of Skill Education, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, to evaluate a record number of applications for impactful programmes in the corporate social responsibility domain for The CSR Journal Excellence Awards 2023," Upadhyay said.

"The first-of-its-kind gathering at the BSE will continue this journey and build on our vision of creating a repository of best practices and the most transparent and rigorous mechanism for evaluation of social impact in the country," he added.

The top three nominees in each category are as follows:

Category

Organisation

Project Name

Education & Skill Training

 

Sobha Limited

The SOBHA Academy (TSA)

Gland Pharma Limited

Free Breakfast to Government School Children

SRF Limited

Basic Electrician Training Program (BETP)

 

Category

Organisation

Project Name

Agriculture & Rural Development

 

 

United Breweries Limited

Water Conservation Project, Telangana & Karnataka

SBI Foundation

SBI Gram Seva

Hindalco Industries Ltd., Renukoot

Unnati

 

Category

Organisation

Project Name

Environment

 

Coca-Cola India Foundation

“Clean Destination” - Solid waste management project for villages in the Panna National Park buffer zone and gates of the park

Dabur India Limited

My 10 kilogram Plastic

DCB Bank

Climate Mitigation Project – DCB Bank

 

Category

Organisation

Project Name

Health & Sanitation

 

Tata Capital Financial Services Limited

Aarogyatara

BALCO Medical Centre (Vedanta Medical Research Foundation)

Excellence in Patient Service Delivery

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Limited

Niranjali

 

Category

Organisation

Project Name

Women Empowerment & Child Welfare 

IndusInd Bank Limited

Child Welfare and intellectual growth of school children from aspirational districts through nurturing Innovative & Entrepreneurial Mindset

Tata Communications Limited

MPowered - Mobile Connections to Promote Women’s Economic Development

Parexel International (India) Private Limited*

 

GendHer

In the sports category, the award will go to Jindal Steel & Power.

The Special Commendation Award in CSR 2023 will be awarded to Amazon for the Project Amazon Future Engineer (AFE), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation for Project Kashmir Super 50 (Medical), Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd. for Project Swabhimaan, Nayara Energy Limited for Project Tushti, TVS Motor Company Limited for desilting of minor irrigation tanks in Tiruvannamalai, Tiruneveli and Krishnagiri districts, VFS Global for project Future Skills Scholarship Programme and Empowering Women in Tourism and ACG World Wide for Project Skill Development Centre - Shirwal.  

The Social Welfare and Growth Award will go to Sandeep Donde, managing director and CEO of Microscan, Ajeenkya DY Patil University, FUEL Business School, Samson Jesudas, director of PlayboxTV and Aamir Mulani, founder of PlayboxTV, Nexgen Inventive Information Technology, Lord's Mark Industries, KPT Piping System Private Limited, FinNest Group, Ankibai Ghamandiram Gowani Trust, Annamrita Foundation.

Some special categories of awards have also been included this year:

  • The CSR Journal Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to social activists Padma Shri awardees Dr Ravindra and Dr Smita Kolhe, known for their work for tribal welfare in rural Maharashtra. 
  • The Champion of Good Governance Award 2023 will be conferred upon Maharashtra Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar.
  • Kumar Vishwas, poet, motivator and social reformer, will be honoured with The CSR Journal Youth Icon Award 2023.
  • Social entrepreneur and Padma Shri awardee Arunachalam Muruganantham, popularly known as the padman of India, will be given the Menstrual Hygiene Champion of India Award 2023.
  • Lok Sabha MP Dr Shrikant Shinde, founder of the Dr Shrikant Shinde Foundation, will be conferred with the Ambassador for Social Impact Award 2023.
  • Indian cricketers Yuvraj Singh and Mithali Raj will be honoured with The CSR Journal Pride of India Award 2023.
  • Actor Bhumi Pednekar, who is also national advocate of UNDP India for SDGs, will be conferred The CSR Journal Climate Champion of The Year Award.
  • Ira Khan, founder and CEO of Agatsu Foundation, will be recognised with the Inspiring Youth Award 2023.

Evaluation and Jury:

For the final round, the jury members responsible for examining and declaring the winner, first runner-up and second runner-up are:

Education & Skill Training

● Uday Mahurkar, Former Information Commissioner, Central Information Commission, India 
● Prof. Bino Paul, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
● Dr. Bhaskar Chatterjee, IAS (Retd.), Former DG & CEO, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs 

Women Empowerment & Child Welfare

● Vikas Agarwal, IRS, Commissioner, Income Tax, Mumbai 
● Nidhi Chaudhary, IAS, Joint Commissioner, GST, Govt. of Maharashtra 
● Yashasvi Yadav, IPS, Special Inspector General of Police, Cyber, Govt. of Maharashtra

Environment

● JS Saharia, IAS (Retd.), Former State Election Commissioner, Maharashtra & Chairman, ISHAD
● Deepak Sanan, IAS (Retd.), Ex. Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh & Advisor – CPR, IIHS & NCAER 
● Ajit Kumar Jain, IAS (Retd.), Former SIC, Maharashtra and Chairman & MD, ERAF 

Agriculture & Rural Development

● Rajiv Khandekar, Executive Vice President ABP News & ABP Majha
● Sumit Kumar, IRS, Commissioner, Income Tax, Mumbai
● Ruchesh Jaivanshi, IAS, CEO, NRLM, Mumbai

Health & Sanitation

● Reena Jha Tripathi, IRS, Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Pune
● Dr Pradeep Vyas, IAS (Retd.), Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra 
● Biswanath Sinha, Director – Policy and Technical Support, WaterAid India 

You can watch the official promo of The CSR Journal Excellence Awards 2023 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU7zYwt_YWU

Register for the event here:  https://bit.ly/thecsrjournalawardsRSVP2023

The CSR Journal Excellence Awards 2023 is supported by its partners: 

● Microscan Infocommtech Pvt Ltd, Ashoka Buildcon, MIDC, MMRDA & MSRDC – Principal Partners
● Mahagenco, Reliance Industries Ltd, Aaryans Group of Companies - Official Partners
● Adfactors PR – PR Partner
● Tata Institute of Social Sciences, School of Skill Education – Knowledge Partner
● PlayboxTV - Streaming Partner
● ABP News and ABP Majha – TV Partner
● Free Press Journal – Print Partner
● Inshorts & Public App - Hyperlocal Information Partner
● Karma Art Gallery, QuinnsArte, The Shawl Studio – Gift Partners
● Sutraa Creations Pvt Ltd – Event Partner
● Pixburg Creative Agency – Design Partner
● SHV Media – Marketing Partner