SOCIAL INITIATIVES

It is an SCMHRD initiative to explore problems across the social, economic and geographical canvas of the country with a firm belief that the hardship and challenges of natural surroundings are prime motivators of creativity and innovations. SAMADHAN aims at unearthing such traditional knowledge and grassroots innovations and a journey of mutual exchange and sharing of knowledge. SAMADHAN is to undertake a journey searching for knowledge, creativity, innovations, issues, and problems at the grassroots. The significant problems that have been identified in many rural and urban areas are poverty, unemployment, homelessness, crime, social evils, lower living standards, gender bias and lack of facilities, services, and health. SAMADHAN will identify such problems in these areas and seek to provide solutions to mitigate these problems.

Objectives of SAMADHAN

SAMADHAN, as effective scouting, networking, and dissemination program of SCMHRD, will be carried out with the following (indicative) objectives:

1. To identity, learn and understand present issues and problems faced at the grassroots
2. To provide solutions to them by applying management education.
3. To showcase/document your engagement, innovation and impact in this activity

Intended areas of contribution:

1. Revival of traditional art/craft and bring forth these art forms to a broader audience with an intention of making them sustainable and scalable.
2. To learn about the experiences and challenges of the farmers engaged in organic and zero budget natural farming and inform other farmers about the same
3. To engage/connect with the NGOs and other Organizations who are working to support underprivileged communities.
4. To meet the people (those who are local representatives of the community, administrators, welfare Organizations, Social workers and others of the same kind) who solve their problems through their presence of mind, their knowledge, and celebrate them.
5. Giving support to local communities to strengthen their area of work/existence

INSPIRIT is a year-round evening tutoring programme that serves more than 50 kids from regions near the campus who cannot afford quality tuition classes. It emphasizes quality education and instilling moral principles, with a special emphasis on developing their overall personality. INSPIRIT provides children with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in life. This includes academic tutoring, as well as life skills training. Overall, INSPIRIT is a comprehensive program that provides disadvantaged children with the tools they need to succeed in their careers.

Team Samatva successfully conducted its tree plantation drive -“Vrikshak “ .We believe in starting a ripple of inspiration, uniting others in our efforts to raise environmental awareness.

Samatva believes in the message of 'You Matter'. The Happiness Project serves as a platform which enables students to start a conversation on Mental Health and share their unabridged stories online and on campus.

With the rigor and stress of MBA life, the project is aimed at raising awareness that Every Story is Important. Hence, the goal is to reach out to our friends, peers or colleagues who may be under tremendous pressure, dealing with anxiety and depression, or are even survivors!

At the heart of The Happiness Project, lies the importance of being emotionally and mentally healthy!

In addition, as a platform, it also offers anonymity should the student need it, and the stories are posted on a weekly basis.

Overall, a moment of courage will go a long way in inspiring the student community and in building bridges.

The students of Samatva (the social responsibility cell of SCMHRD) organized a heritage site visit to Herostone in Nere Village, near Pune for the junior Infrastructure Development and Management (IDM) batch on the 30th September 2022.

At the Herostone educational visit, the students learnt about the culture, lifestyle and warriorship during 4th and 5th century. The Herostones are collected from various sites across Maharashtra and preserved inside a temple at Nehre village. The stones include 4th century weapons, temples, animals and gods and goddesses.

Students had an enriching experience learning about our rich Indian culture that commemorates the martyrdom of our heroes.

Your identity is not defined by your mental health issues. You encounter them. You feel the rain as you walk in it, but you are not the rain."

From October 4 through October 8, Team Samatva observed Mental Health Week. This week, we listened to different tales, puzzled and riddled people's way out of tension, and heard their stories.

For a fantastic Zumba class that evening, our INSPIRIT students also put on their dance shoes.

On the occasion of Mental Health Day, let's resolve to raise awareness of mental health issues and pledge to show our loved ones support and love in order to better enable them to deal with their difficulties.

You are unique and not travelling through life by yourself.

‘’Trees are the poems that the earth writes upon the sky and during Vrikshak we added some more words to that poem!’’

Team Samatva successfully conducted a tree plantation drive-"VrikshaK-roots of life" on 8th ,August 2022 in the presence of our esteemed Director- Dr. Netra Neelam and faculty members. As Nature is essential to our lives – from the food on our plates to the clothes we wear, from medicines to mental health benefits it is our responsibility to take care of them. We did our part and will continue to do this and we also encourage others to do something for nature. It filled our hearts with satisfaction for doing our bit in making our surroundings neat, clean & green.

We are thankful to all the participants for supporting this noble initiative.

Daily evening classes called ‘INSPIRIT’ are conducted to tutor disadvantaged children from classes 1 to 10, to instill in them a desire to learn and succeed. Our evening tutorial program, INSPIRIT, runs throughout the year and caters to more than 50 underprivileged students from areas nearby the campus. Children from class one to ten from Marathi, semi-English and English medium schools come under this program’s ambit. It focuses on quality education and on inculcating moral values with special attention towards developing their overall personality. We also work on creating awareness amongst parents with respect to Education and Hygiene and making them a responsible stakeholder in their child’s development.

Right from the inception of the Institute Social Responsibility Cell of Scmhrd, Inspirit has been pivotal to the objectives that the team stood by. The motive behind it was aiding the education and overall advancement of underprivileged children. Who we are as individuals today is largely determined by the guidance and support, we received from family and teachers during our formative years, wherefrom came the idea of conducting daily evening classes for the less fortunate children from the neighbourhood. Going beyond the limitations of strict classroom education, we aid their personality development through tailor-made engagement activities. The initiative has grown over the years with the active participation of student volunteers from the batch and we currently tutor more than 50 children who come from 4 schools in the locality.

Students ranging from Grade 2 to Grade 10 are taught subjects including Science, Mathematics, and English for an hour and half daily. Curriculum tallying with their school syllabus is made for every grade with the idea of individual needs of every child kept in mind such that each child is afforded the attention they require.

Year after year the flame is kept alive by Team Samatva as we watch over the growth and development of our Inspirit kids!

But we do not lose any opportunity to celebrate the joys of childhood with those special days like

Children’s Day, Joy of Giving, and the weekly fun jam sessions on Saturday!

We celebrate Children's Day with our Inspirit kids. We make it an unforgettable experience for all of them with games, music, dance, snacks, cake, and lots of fun! It is the team’s yearly tradition to invite the batch to send in their childhood photos and for the kids to select the cutest baby! For the snacks, we sought sponsorship from Radisson Blu hotel who were happy to lend a hand.

And as we get ready to wrap up a year, we celebrate the season of giving, Christmas, with Joy of Giving. We ask the kids for their choice of gifts and send the Wishlist out to the whole SCMHRD family to sponsor their gifts and be their secret Santa. And on Christmas day, the batch comes together to celebrate with the children.

Considering the manifold benefits of planting trees, Team SAMATVA along with other volunteers from SCMHRD came together to plant trees of various species (native to the State of Maharashtra), in the surrounding areas of the college premises. The plantation program was to drive the idea to students that they play an important role in responding to Climate Change and Environmental Emergency.

The event was a resounding success. The students responded with enthusiasm and took delight in getting their hands dirty. We successfully planted over 100 trees which are now taken care of on a regular basis.

22000 sq. ft. of surface area. 250 liters of paint. And 300 smiling children.

Marunji Zila Parishad School, located in the outskirts of Pune, was in a deplorable condition. The walls were chipped and covered in fungus. It was an extremely unhealthy environment for the children to study in. So, before we embarked on Project ‘Indradhanush’, we had but one goal in mind:

“It shouldn’t matter how slowly a child learns as long as we are encouraging them not to stop.”

Thus, SAMATVA, in association with Indigo Paints, decided to paint the entire school. Around 100 volunteers participated with great gusto and painted the school over a period of 2 weeks. Infographics related to the days of the week, the names of the planets, fractions, etc. were painted on the walls to pique the children’s interest in studies. Animated characters were painted as well to brighten up the classrooms. Minor cracks in the walls were repaired.

The event was a resounding success, and we sincerely hope that this initiative would go a long way in making the school a better place for these tiny tots.

Reach Out, Speak Up and Inspire

Samatva believes in the message of 'You Matter'. The Happiness Project serves as a platform which enables students to start a conversation on Mental Health and share their unabridged stories online and on campus.

With the rigour and stress of MBA life, the project is aimed at raising awareness that Every Story is Important. Hence, the goal is to reach out to our friends, peers or colleagues who may be under tremendous pressure, dealing with anxiety and depression, or are even survivors!

At the heart of The Happiness Project, lies the importance of being emotionally and mentally healthy!

In addition, as a platform, it also offers anonymity should the student need it, and the stories are posted on a weekly basis.

Overall, a moment of courage will go a long way in inspiring the student community and in building bridges.

Samatva celebrated Children’s Day with the students of Inspirit evening program. The celebration started off with games for the children, followed by a feast with the employees of Radisson Blu. The children were then treated to a musical performance by one of the batchmates, and the evening concluded with gift distribution.

Anti-Obesity Day is observed on 26th of November in various parts of the world. India is one of the top ten obese countries in the world, with approximately 5% of the population being classified as morbidly obese. In order to raise awareness and to attempt to tackle this grave issue, Johnson & Johnson, in association with the Jayashree Todkar Foundation, organized an anti-obesity walk at Symbiosis Center for Management and Human Resource Development (SCMHRD) in collaboration with Samatva, the Institute Social Responsibility cell of SCMHRD.

Despite the early morning chill in the air, volunteers came in large numbers to support the cause. The guests addressed the volunteers on various facts related to obesity levels in India and different ways to lead a healthy lifestyle.

In the spirit of Love, Light and Joy, Samatva organized ‘Joy of Giving 2019’ for the children of INSPIRIT (Evening classes). ‘Twas an evening of storytelling, music and games. Children learned of the spirit of Christmas through our special guest, Santa Claus! Gifts were also exchanged amongst the children and the SCMHRD students.

Our flagship event, TE.A.CH – Teach a Child, is a three- day drive which focuses on imparting much needed value and education, and on bringing the power of awareness among school children in the vicinity of SCMHRD. The module covered in 2019 included road safety, cleanliness, good manners, yoga and the importance of a balanced diet.

Aligning with the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda of “Leave No One Behind”, TEACH 2020 aims to drive emphasis on two Sustainable Development Goals, SDG 4 - Quality Education and SDG 6 - Clean Water & Sanitation. The three day event would ensure promotion of quality and effective learning outcomes of Primary and Secondary School children through flipped classrooms, science experiments, along with driving the conversation on Sanitation & Clean Water through activity based learning, to create a positive influence on the local community as well.