Author: Group Communications

Maruti Suzuki conducted its Annual Vendor Conference in Macau on 1st and 2nd May 2019. Mrs. Anjali Singh, Executive Chairperson, ANAND Group and Gabriel India; Mr. Sunil Kaul, Member, ANAND Executive Committee; Mr. Rajeev Gera, Head – Group Business Development, ANAND; Mr. Manoj Kolhatkar, Managing Director, Gabriel India and Mr. Sarabjit Kondal, Chief Operating Officer, Passenger Car Business Unit, Gabriel India attended the vendor meet.

Gabriel India was bestowed with a special category award for ‘Best Support to Maruti Suzuki’. Mr. Kolhatkar made a presentation on ‘Zero Defects’ to the conference attendees. ANAND showcased its best practices in ‘Quality Culture’ and ‘Human Resources’ through two short videos.

Shri J.C. Kandpal, Additional District Commissioner, Udham Singh Nagar District (of which Rudrapur is a block) was the chief guest at the recently held annual prize distribution ceremonies of SNSF partner Government schools. Students of the two schools – Government Primary Schools of Shivnagar and Sanjay Nagar I received awards from the hands of the chief guest for their performances on various parameters, regular attendance, clean uniform and more.

Shri  Kandpal went around the school campuses and witnessed the infrastructure development work that was carried out by SNSF in the course of the last year. Both schools donned a colourful look with all walls painted with items from the school curriculum. The students also presented the chief guest with gifts made by them and displayed their talent through cultural performances.

Needless to say it was a proud moment for the teams of the two schools and SNSF Rudrapur to be able to present their work to senior functionaries of the district administration.

April 18th, 2019 marked the 137th birth anniversary of Sant Nischal Singh, who was born in the year 1882 in District Shahpur of Punjab province (now in Pakistan). The ‘SNS’ in SNS Foundation stands for Sant Nischal Singh. Sant Nischal Singh mastered both Sikh scriptures and Hindu ‘vedas’, earning himself the dual titles of Sant and Pandit.

Pandit Sant Nishchal Singh`s most memorable contribution was in the field of education. He established several schools and colleges, outside the Punjab, which besides general education provided for the teaching of the Punjabi language and Sikh religion. SNSF teams across locations organised various events with beneficiary groups – children, youth, women to share the life of this great soul, the inspiration behind the founding of the Foundation. Carrying on in the footsteps of Sant Nischal Singh, SNSF today is engaged with 85+ government schools reaching out to 21,000 students and trains 2000 youth annually in livelihood skills.

Like in all its partner Government schools, at Rudrapur too, SNSF has positioned additional teachers to support its two partner Government schools to tide over vacant teaching positions and extend additional coaching to students who are unable to cope with regular classroom teaching.

This support has not only enthused the school fraternities struggling with acute manpower shortages but also allowed them the necessary time and mind space to work for the holistic development of the school students. This saw a record performance by students of Government primary School, Shivnagar (Rudrapur) who won prizes in as many as nine inter school competitions held at zonal, district and state levels. The competitions held were of map drawing, maths wizard, spelling genius, extempore and quiz.

SNS Foundation’s MEDHAVI scholarship programme to support matriculate girls to pursue and complete diploma in mechanical/automobile engineering draws support from Mando Automotive India (MAIL) CSR in Chennai. Started in 2017, today MEDHAVI in Chennai has 39 scholars who are pursuing their diploma engineering at Meenakshi Ammal Polytechnic College.

To develop a more informed and practical understanding of their course, the 39 scholars accompanied by their Principal and Administrative Officer visited the MAIL plant in Sriperumbudur. The students visited the shop-floor and were oriented about MAIL’s range of products through a lecture session.

Since 2012, SNSF Gurugram has been an implementing partner of American India Foundation’s (AIF) initiative for skilling and livelihood promotion of persons with disabilities. In 2018-19, SNSF completed the training of 470 youth with speech and hearing impairment and has so far facilitated livelihood options for 65% of those trained. In 2018-19 alone 110 youth have been trained and the graduation ceremony organised on March 25th marked successful course completion of 70 of them. Successful candidates were awarded their course completion certificates by dignitaries present on the occasion – senior members from AIF, Rage Frameworks, Genpact and Dana Anand India Pvt. Limited – sponsors to the programme. The occasion was also graced by representatives from the employer fraternity who have found business case in employing youth with speech and hearing impairment trained at SNSF.

This included Mr. Akshay Deep, Plant Head, Gabriel India, Khandsa and Mr. Prateek, Co-founder, ECHOES Café which runs its F & B operations solely by employing youth with speech and hearing impairment. Both addressed the audience on how employing persons with disabilities made a strong business case for them and was not an act of charity. The event also witnessed a panel discussion involving all stakeholders involved in empowering a person with disability – the individual, the parent, the NGO which conducts skills training and facilitates the employment and finally the employer. The panel discussion was conducted by Mr. Amit Raina from ANAND Corporate HR.

SNS Foundation (SNSF) Gurugram celebrated its Annual Day for the year 2018-19. Batch toppers of the various skill development courses running at Gurugram were felicitated on the occasion. This included students from courses viz. 2-Wheeler Technician, Electrician, Plumbing, Apparel Construction and Designing, Beautician, Computers and Nursery Teachers’ Training. Through the medium of panel discussion students who have successfully completed training courses from SNSF and are gainfully engaged in jobs or enterprises of their own shared their experiences of personal and professional growth. Batch toppers from SNSF’s School Life Skills Programme were awarded and shared how training in life skills had helped them build their self-confidence and improve relationships with family and peers.

Students who been successful in competitive examinations conducted by Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India expressed their gratitude towards the Foundation’s efforts in organising special coaching for them. As the event was centred around children and youth, the life stage wherein we forge the most precious bonds of friendship, a medley of Bollywood songs which celebrate this special relationship was presented by some students. Long serving SNSF staff members received their Long Service Awards from Mr. R.K.Jain, Chief Operating Officer, ANAND CY Myutec (ACYM). This memorable day closed with a ‘Fashion Show’ by the students of Foundation’s Apparel Construction and Designing courses. The students donned costumes designed by themselves and walked down the stage leaving the audience mesmerised. Annual Day 2018-19 became truly unforgettable with the participation of SNSF friends and partners – ANAND Group companies, NGOs, associates from HMSI and Kohler India and the employer fraternity to name a few.

SNS Foundation Rewari which falls under the Foundation’s Gurugram operations has been executing American India Foundation’s (AIF) project named Market Aligned Skills Training (MAST) for last seven years. MAST –Rewari focusses on the skills training of youth, predominantly young girls and women (18-35 years) and facilitates livelihood opportunities through jobs and entrepreneurships.

On 28th March, MAST – Rewari observed its 7th Graduation Ceremony. Since its inception the programme has trained close to 2500 youth and ensured gainful engagement for almost 75% of the trainees. The day’s proceedings were enlivened by encouraging success stories which the graduating students shared in their own words. Joyful songs and dance performances further invigorated the atmosphere. The keynote address was delivered by Mr. Hanumant Rawat, Senior Advisor, Livelihoods, AIF.