Noida: Contributing to the educational development of rural children, India’s leading piping solutions provider, APL Apollo has elevated the vision of its CSR initiative PAHAL 2.0. India has successfully established the world’s largest education system. However, in parts of the country, quality educational facilities and the conviction of stakeholders remain unaddressed. To inculcate the importance of education by laying its foundation in rural areas, APL Apollo’s PAHAL 2.0 team had distributed more than 15,000 school bags and stationery items like pencil boxes across PAN India in a short span of three months starting from January to March 2022. The States covered for this project were Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Punjab, West Bengal, Delhi, and Bihar.
Access to education is essential for investing in innovative possibilities that arise from economic prosperity. Several NGOs, social workers, and institutions make enormous efforts to provide basic education to underprivileged kids. But owing to a lack of funding, they are under-equipped to cover necessities such as bags, books, and stationery. During the preparation stage, the CSR wing of the company approached multiple schools and NGOs to understand the educational requirements of these children.
Sameer Gupta, Managing Director, Apollo Pipes Limited, remarked, “Education and good health are often regarded as existential problems of rural areas. People in such regions appear to invest little or no money and time in education and are primarily involved in labour activities. One of the prime reasons is the lack of resources and unawareness of its long-term benefits. With PAHAL 2.0, APL Apollo has attempted to put its best foot forward by laying the groundwork today, for a better tomorrow.”
Coming from an industry-linked with water solutions, APL Apollo has already added a new project ‘Jal Shakti’ to its CSR portfolio. Earlier, the Company was also part of Kumbh Mela 2021 of Haridwar, where they provided clean and safe water for free to all the devotees in times of COVID-19. This year, they started with Free Water Tank Installation in Uttar Pradesh, where everyone can access clean drinking water without caste or religious discrimination. So far, under Jal Shakti, the company has managed to install water tanks across Noida and Dadri. They aim to place as many water tanks as possible in places of worship such as mandirs, masjids, gurudwaras, or churches.