Begins with the walkathon today, followed by a cricket match between ONGC & Air India.
There will be hope for 100 children suffering from Thalassemia and 28 children who are Cancer and HiV patients, thanks to an Oil and Natural Gas Company (ONGC) Corporate Social Responsibility initiative led by their Mahila Samitis.
Called the ‘asha’ campaign, sports luminaries and celebrities will also participate in it.
The two-day asha campaign involves a walkathon from Bandra Reclamation to Vasudhara, the ONGC building. The cricket match between ONGC and Air India will take place on March 2, at Brabourne Stadium.
“The asha campaign includes jeevan asha and abhilasha. It is an all-inclusive initiative, as we believe that children below the poverty line deserve encouragement. By bringing together children from different strata, we are trying to bring about social equality,” said AK Balyan, director, human resources.
The campaign is aimed at helping children below the poverty line, with special focus on the girl child. It is aimed at changing people’s mindsets and helping them understand the importance of a healthy girl child. “We want to help these children fulfill their aspirations. We have taken on more girls because we want people to realise that a healthy girl child is the equivalent of a male child,” said Rashmi Sharma, the chief patron.
The event is expected to attract celebrities and big names in the cricketing fraternity, given that leading cricketers are employed by both ONGC and Air India. The cricket match will take place between ONGC and Air India. Interestingly, 35 other companies have made contributions to this event.
“This event is to spread awareness and we hope the companies involved will adopt this campaign as their own. We hope to lead the way by example. We want everybody to become a part of this, because there are many children who are deprived and need medical attention,” said RS Sharma, chairman of ONGC.
Regarding the whole CSR initiative, Sharma said, “We have taken new initiatives of good governance, ethics and inclusive growth. We have just been awarded by the FICCI for CSR, jointly with SAIL, and we are really proud of the work undertaken by the women.”
The ONGC had initiated a campaign to educate girl children in 2009. They got detailed data from gram panchayats and eventually 600 girl children were given bags, books, uniforms and medical treatment, and have been promised scholarship based on performance.
“We get quarterly feedback on these girl students. We are committed to give scholarships based on performance — they should score at least 50 percent. We will also help them in their higher education,” said Rashmi.
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