Friday, November 01, 2013: Panasonic India, a global leader in consumer electronics and a responsible corporate citizen, today announced its roadmap for upliftment and development of the community in and around the area of the Panasonic Technopark in Jhajjar. The event took place in benign presence of chief guest Dr. (Mrs.) Surina Rajan, Principal Secretary cum Finance Commissioner, Govt. of Haryana, Mr. D. Suresh, Director General Education, Govt. of Haryana, Mr. Ajit Balaji Joshi, Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Pramod, Senior. Program Officer -SSA, Jhajjar, Mr. Rohilla, District Education Officer, Jhajjar.
Present at the occasion were Mr. Hisao Yamane – Divisional Managing Director, APIN, Panasonic India, Mr. Toshi Takahashi – Divisional Managing Director, Panasonic Welding India and Ms. Radhika Kalia – Head Corporate Public Relations & CSR.
The CSR roadmap outlined by Panasonic aims at offering a holistic community development program targeted to primarily benefit the immediate community surrounding Panasonic’s manufacturing location and to develop mutual trust and cordial relationship with community members. The villages in radius of 5 kilometres of the Technopark will be a part of this project.
With the objective to foster an all-round development of the immediate community surrounding our manufacturing locations, Panasonic initiated the following key programmes focusing on sectors like Education and Environment, Livelihood and Women Empowerment:
Panasonic Ecoskool – Panasonic Ecoskool Program is a nationwide environment sensitization programme which is being run across the country in different schools since 2010 to encourage and engage young minds to contribute towards a greener tomorrow. With an objective of achieving universal primary education, Panasonic has partnered Society for All Round Development (SARD), to extend this noble initiative to Jhajjar, Haryana to inspire children and people here to take strong individual and collective steps towards saving the environment. SARD works towards empowering deprived sections of the society. This Ecoskool project would benefit 10 Govt schools and almost 5,000 students in the project area in its first year of operation i.e. FY 13-14. Thereafter, 15 schools and almost 7,500 students would be benefitted annually through this initiative. The objectives of the project would be- to strengthen Govt rural primary education system in the area, develop models to toughen parent-teacher association, improve educational system in project villages with public private partnership, mend infrastructure in the school, enhance teaching AIDS/Library and educational events.
Panasonic Swabhimaan and Shakti – To provide opportunities for socio-economic development of communities around its manufacturing locations, Panasonic India in association with Labournet Services has set-up a Vocational Training Institute in close proximity of its new manufacturing location at Jhajjar, Haryana. Labournet is a social enterprise that creates sustainable benefits for workers in the informal sector by taking an end to end solution that is focused on plugging gaps in the eco-system. Under the Panasonic Swabhimaan programme skills and livelihood opportunities will be provided to minimum of 525 youth from adjacent areas every year in trades like basic computers, electrical & electronics, repair and maintenance of A.C, Fridge and other electrical appliances. With this initiative Panasonic is aiming to train 250 youths in FY 13-14, 525 youths in FY 14-15 and 575 youths in FY 15-16 taking the count to a total of 1,350 skilled youths by end of March’16. Almost 50% of the youth who will be trained under this initiative through Panasonic Shakti program would be females. This programme has been introduced to promote gender equality and women empowerment so as to enable them to share and shoulder equal opportunities with men. This particular programme will also be executed in association with Labournet Services, would provide vocational training to girls and women in workplace computer skills, sewing and embroidery, beautician course and many more. This would equip them with basic skills to help them take advantage of the many opportunities in our growing Indian economy to ensure equal participation and objectives of women empowerment.
Commenting on the occasion Dr. (Mrs.) Surina Rajan, Principal Secretary cum Finance Commissioner, Govt. of Haryana commented, “It is a moment of great pleasure that Panasonic- a responsible corporate entity has developed these plans keeping in mind the needs of people of this zone. It is a praiseworthy step that Panasonic has taken for the community and I am assured that these initiatives will make a constructive difference to the lives of the people here. I am very thankful to Panasonic for their relentless support and cooperation in contributing towards the growth of our state.”
Mr. Hisao Yamane – Divisional Managing Director, APIN, Panasonic India, said, “We believe that while India has witnessed a tremendous growth in the past decade and will continue with its successful run, it is important that the citizens and the communities grow along and be a part of the shining India. We at Panasonic will continue to strengthen efforts towards achieving sustainable development in the country through undertaking various activities across education, health and environment and help the disadvantaged sections live a better life. We are confident that our initiatives will make a difference in building the country’s future.”
Panasonic’s basic management philosophy emphasises on the concept of “company as a public entity of society”. This management philosophy has formed the foundation of all business activities of the company. Panasonic is committed to creating a better life and a better world, continuously contributing to the evolution of society and to the happiness and wellbeing of people across the country.
