Report on Corporate Social Responsibility

Reliance: Changing Lives and Empowering India through Collaboration and Digital Technology

Reliance Industries Limited strongly believes in inclusive economic growth. The Company’s CSR initiatives are based on this principle, and resonate with India’s National Development Goals as well as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Most of the CSR activities of the Company are carried out under the aegis of Reliance Foundation (RF), which in a span of seven years has emerged as a leading corporate foundation addressing nation’s multiple development challenges. The Foundation was established in 2010 under the leadership of Smt. Nita M. Ambani.

Schedule VII of Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 lists out various areas in which corporate entities are expected to deploy their CSR funds and implement programmes for social development. Reliance has strategically chosen the company’s CSR initiatives with a focus on improving the quality of life. The initiatives focus on seven areas: Rural Transformation, Health, Education, Sports for Development, Disaster Response, Arts, Culture and Heritage and Urban Renewal. During FY 2017-18, Reliance spent `771 crore on CSR initiatives under these focus areas.

The key philosophy of all the social development initiatives of RIL is based on three core commitments of Scale, Impact and Sustainability.

Till March 2018, Reliance’s development initiatives have touched the lives of 20 million people across India. The Company’s initiatives registered an impressive reach across India as shown in the accompanying map.

Expenditure on CSR Initiatives

The following table presents theme-wise CSR expenditure of Reliance for the year 2017-18.

Reliance Foundation focuses on its social initiatives with a three-pronged strategy:

(i) direct engagement with the community,
(ii) forging partnerships and collaborations, and
(iii) leveraging the power of information technology.

Reliance Foundation directly engages with the communities through a team of trained professionals. It collaborates with the communities right from understanding their needs, planning and implementing the programmes, and measuring the values and impact it has created. In the process, Reliance engages the community members in planning and implementation, empowers them through trainings and works towards scalability and sustainability of the initiatives.

Reliance Foundation forms strategic partnerships with organisations to bring in synergy to its development initiatives. These partnerships include state and local governments and non-government organisations working at the grassroots level. Reliance collaborates with the organisations for sharing technical know-how, human resources and infrastructure. These partnerships support in delivering Reliance’s commitment by intensively engaging with the communities and penetrate into the critical issues that are physically untouched through direct interventions.

Reliance leverages technologies to provide sustainable solutions. These technological interventions connect communities on multiple digital platforms for optimum use of resources, informed decision making and capacity building. This has been greatly aided by the emergence of Jio Infocomm as a major player in digital services in recent years. Through the use of technology, Reliance has made significant progress in reaching out to the people with various products and services such as information advisories, digital classrooms, virtual sports clinics, record keeping of patients among others.

In addition to Reliance Foundation’s interventions, the Company also encourages its employees to voluntarily contribute to social causes. Periodic inputs are obtained from employees on their interest to contribute to a particular cause. Additionally, depending upon the needs of communities, the Company leverages specific skill sets of employees and allocates resources for effective delivery. The following sections present an overview of various CSR initiatives taken up by the Company.

Reliance Foundation Key Highlights

1) Rural Transformation

Reliance has been addressing the challenges of rural communities through its rural transformation programme. Key initiatives in this programme include building rural institutions, making villages water secure, mentoring producer companies and enabling alternative livelihood options on and off the farm. The programme also uses technology based solutions for securing livelihoods of farmers, fisher folk and livestock owners across the country.

In addition to direct engagement, Reliance supported several organisations working in the field of rural development with an aim to benefit the rural community. This year, the initiatives supported are aimed at building drought-resilient villages by ensuring water sufficiency, income enhancement through women-led cooperative societies and fishermen producer companies, and capacity building of farmers for better price realisation. Together, these initiatives help achieve the SDGs 1 (No Poverty), 2 (No Hunger), 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and 10 (Reduced Inequalities).

1.1) Institution Building

The programme empowers rural communities to organise themselves into Village Associations, Producer Companies and Women Thrift Groups. These community level institutions have facilitated the development of village level leadership for addressing local social development issues. Many of these institutions have taken up advocacy roles at different levels.

For long-term sustainability of these institutions, the members have come together to contribute towards creating a community owned fund, infuse equity into producer companies, savings and thrift activities. They have also been instrumental in mobilising physical and financial resources in times of crisis. Some of these leaders are also elected by people as representatives of Gram Panchayats, given their active participation in community development initiatives. Today, over 86,000 rural households in 1,100 villages from 32 districts across 12 states in India are associated with the programme.

1.2) Water Security

The programme aims to provide water security to villages for irrigation and domestic use. Reliance works for conserving every drop of rain within the village. More than 73 billion litres of water harvesting capacity has been created since inception by constructing or renovating water harvesting structures, including earthen/masonry dams and check dams, farm ponds, open wells, etc). Owing to this effort, over 32,000 hectares received assured irrigation for two cropping seasons, despite the rain deficit in many parts of India this year. These efforts resulted in water security of 307 villages. Moreover, several villages have reported an increase in ground water level by over 2 metres, even at the peak of summer seasons.

For efficient water management, user groups were formed across 260 villages that manage and regulate sustainable water use. Assessments show that the intervention has positively impacted farmer livelihood in terms of land use pattern, cropping intensity and income levels.

Reliance supported Paani Foundation’s Water Cup initiative to ensure water security in rural Maharashtra. Through this initiative, over 96 billion litres of water storage capacity has been created across 1,300+ villages.

1.3) Farmer Producer Companies

Perennially, India’s farmers have faced the challenge of establishing market linkages. To help the farmers overcome this challenge, Reliance empowers them to set up Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs). These farmer-owned and farmer-driven companies sensitise rural producers on the need to come together as collectives, aggregate farm produce to bring in economies of scale for fetching better prices, have sustainable access to markets, etc.

This aggregation also enhances the bargaining power of farmers. So far, Reliance has mentored 19 FPCs, spanning 10 states. As on 31st March 2018, the RF-mentored FPCs had 21,500 farmers associated with them. During FY 2017-18, the annual turnover of FPCs was `67.5 crore. Each farmer who transacted through FPCs, on an average had an additional income of `5,000 to `6,000.

1.4) Nutrition Security

To improve nutritional outcomes among rural population, Reliance has been promoting its unique kitchen garden model across its programme locations as well as providing technical support to government. This year, Reliance Foundation extended the scope of its partnership under Rajmata Jijau Nutrition Mission of Government of Maharashtra. Under this, RF would provide technical support to anganwadis across 16 districts in setting up Reliance Nutrition Gardens. This initiative is aimed at improving nutritional outcomes of 0.2 million mothers and children in these districts thus reducing the burden of malnutrition in the state.

1.5) Alternative Rural Livelihoods and Entrepreneurship

Reliance promotes alternative livelihood options to provide protection against uncertainties and catastrophes that affect farm-based livelihoods. The Company encourages small farmers to initiate goat-rearing, poultry, nursery raising and vermi-composting, among others. Till date, ~9,500 rural families have benefitted from alternative livelihoods (over 7,000 families during FY 2017-18).

1.6) Ecological Security

Reliance promotes ecological security in three ways: increasing the supply of cultivable land; enhancing the green cover through large-scale plantation activity; and improving soil health.

The Company adopts eco-consistent soil conservation methods that resulted in bringing an additional 7,000 hectares (64,000 hectares since inception) under sustainable agricultural practices. This has led to an improvement in soil texture, structure, microbial activity and aeration, and almost 80% of this land has been used for food production.

To promote biodiversity, over 7 million saplings were planted during FY 2017-18 (over 20 million saplings planted since inception). Reliance observed the World Environment Day and motivated rural communities and employees to plant saplings. The event saw an enthusiastic participation of 20,000+ people from over 150 villages across 12 states.

Reliance endorses the protection of the soil ecosystem. It conducted over 11,000 soil health tests and accordingly disseminated relevant advisories.

1.7) Information Services

Reliance, through its information services programme, empowers communities by providing reliable information, tailored to the needs of farmers, fisherfolk, livestock owners, etc. in more than 13,000 villages across 12 states. This is disseminated both digitally and through community level interventions that include information on crop management, livestock care, schemes and subsidies, healthcare, civic services etc. The mobilebased advisories have reached an additional 1.2 million individuals this year. Overall, these advisories have reached out to 4.8 million individuals since inception; thus emerging as a powerful tool of knowledge dissemination.

As part of the programme, Reliance has created an ecosystem that comprises of more than 1,000 knowledge and infrastructure partners, thematic experts, including research institutions, government departments, NGOs, etc.

1.8) Improving Access to Social Infrastructure

Reliance improved access to social infrastructure through development of concrete roads connecting 32 villages in Uttar Pradesh. The development of roads is a turning point for many of these villages as it has improved access to local markets, schools and healthcare facilities.

2) Health

The health programme of Reliance addresses primary healthcare issues around affordability and accessibility of quality healthcare. It strives to improve awareness and healthy living practices, and provides a range of healthcare services, spanning the entire life cycle. The Company also provides specialised services through tertiary healthcare facilities such as multi-specialty hospitals, at subsidised prices to the communities. The objectives of this programme are aligned to the SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being).

Collectively, the health programmes have reached out to 2.5 million people and provided over 4.5 million patient consultations since inception. Through partnerships, Reliance supported several organisations working in the field of healthcare in providing a range of services, both at primary and tertiary level. These services include preventive care, maternal and child health, specialised care for patients with cardiac and kidney problems, palliative care for terminally ill cancer patients, etc.

The Hospital’s Emergency Care Department caters to a large number of patients every year, and saved many from death and permanent disability. Its emergency teams meticulously follow international best practices to offer lifesaving services in the ‘golden hour’ to treat stroke, heart attack, other ailments and accidents. Over 9,000 patients benefitted from the services this year. The Hospital has initiated “Digital Push” mobile application using which individuals can digitise and manage their medical records.

The Hospital’s ethos of ‘patient first’ is exemplified in the numerous steps it has taken to improve patient care and give patient’s family members a reassuring experience. The Hospital has leveraged technology not only to improve medical care but also to ensure service excellence. Its online reports reduce visits to the Hospital and the online registration and mobile applications help find suitable doctors and expedite online appointments. Efforts have been taken to reduce waiting time and discharge time of out-patients. All these make the Hospital truly a place where people, processes, technology and infrastructure converge to provide the best experience and care.

2.2) Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital

The Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital at Lodhivali near Patalganga (Maharashtra), has provided free and subsidised healthcare to 1,923 patients in this financial year, taking the number of total subsidised patients to 18,600 since inception. A majority of these patients include the underprivileged, senior citizens, and trauma victims from the economically weaker sections of the society.

The Hospital’s Anti-Retroviral Therapy centre is the largest in Raigad district. It has registered over 4,000 persons with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) since inception, of which 210 were registered during FY 2017-18. The patients receive free consultation, counselling, investigation and treatment. In FY 2017- 18, specialised health consultations were provided to over 17,500 PLHIV taking the total number of consultations to 0.14 million.

Through Reliance managed hospitals and community level interventions, care and treatment services were provided to over 1,200 HIV infected and affected people, including children. The Company also provided nutrition and education support to 112 children affected with HIV. Moreover, 190 tuberculosis screenings were completed during the year under review. Specialised events were conducted to sensitise migrant workers, truck drivers and sex workers on HIV infection. Awareness was further created to reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with it by distributing IEC materials to them.

A Regional Level Marriage Bureau function was organised at HIV DOTS Centre in collaboration with Gujarat State Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GSNP+). The programme saw large participation of over 1,300 PLHIV from 4 states, where 25 couples tied the knot.

2.3) Alliance for Saving Mothers and Newborns (ASMAN)

Through Project ASMAN, Reliance, along with four other organisations, is working in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to strengthen the health systems by enhancing quality of services in public health facilities for improved maternal and newborn outcomes.

The intervention provides technology-based solutions to healthcare providers, backed by on-site mentoring and supportive supervision visits during critical phases of intra-partum and postpartum care. Covering 81 multi-level health facilities, the programme has trained 80 Medical Officers and 338 staff nurses on obstetric and newborn care. During the project cycle, the programme will benefit at least 0.5 million mothers and newborns.

2.4) Eye Care Services

For more than a decade, through RF Drishti programme, Reliance has been supporting visually impaired underprivileged people to undergo corneal transplants by partnering with the National Association for the Blind, Arvind Eye Hospital and Sankara Eye Foundation. This year, 1,207 visually impaired individuals were supported under the programme (17,031 corneal transplants since inception).

To increase the awareness about importance of eye donation, the programme organises a week-long Drishti Art and Essay Competition every year. This year, about 10,000 children participated in it.

At the community level, vision screening camps and mobile eye clinics are regularly conducted across the plant locations including Jamnagar, Nagothane, Vadodara and Patalganga. During FY 2017-18, over 16,500 individuals were screened for vision related issues, of which 1,185 cataract surgeries were done. Over 1,050 individuals with refractive error were further linked to specialised facilities for optical correction and using spectacles.

2.6) Strengthening of Health System

Reliance is working towards improving the quality of healthcare in Warangal (Telangana) by strengthening the public healthcare ecosystem through technical support to the Government. The objective is to achieve the process quality standards according to benchmarks of the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers and National Quality Assurance Standards.

The project works towards improving the quality of care through the adoption of quality management health systems, process standardisation, capacity building and technology integration. The programme positively impacted 8 primary and secondary healthcare facilities and a tertiary care teaching hospital (MGM Hospital).

The project has shown improvement in quality parameters such as safe disposal of biomedical waste, improvement in management of deliveries and informed decision-making of district health administration. It also assisted in improvement in counselling and implementation of digital record keeping, among others.

2.7) Health Outreach Programme

Reliance’s health outreach programme provides primary health services including screenings and consultations. It employs 10 Mobile Medical Units (MMUs) and 3 Static Medical Units (SMUs) across Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand to offer medical help to the underprivileged communities. In Mumbai, the high-risk cases are further referred to tertiary level facilities. The Company reaches out to the under-privileged segments with information, education and communication messages through camps and technology-enabled information services to emphasise preventive care and correct health behaviours.

The medical units are equipped with state-of-theart technology to store patient information, which helps healthcare providers in decision-making, based on the case history. Through MMUs, SMUs and camps, over 0.2 million consultations were provided during the year under review. Further, 35,000 individuals were provided health related advisories through digital platform. The health outreach programme also empowers community volunteers to help prevent seasonal outbreaks.

3) Education

Initiatives of Reliance in the education space are aimed at promoting primary and secondary education and enabling higher education through merit-cum-means scholarships across the country. Reliance has been leveraging appropriate technologies and learning resources for improving the quality of teaching and, in turn, student performance.

To diversify its initiatives in education space, Reliance supported various organisations in providing quality education to children from underprivileged communities. The initiatives of these organizations focus on improving enrolment rate, improving skill sets of teachers, improving English language skills of children, education on child sexual abuse and positive communication, mainstreaming of children with special needs and improving educational infrastructure. Through these partnerships, Reliance is improving the learning outcomes of over a lakh children across the country. The Company’s work in education sector corresponds to SDG 4 (Quality Education).

The RF Schools have constantly maintained excellent standards of academic performance. In 2017, 22% students secured the maximum achievable score of CGPA 10 in the CBSE Class 10 Board examination, 30% students of Science stream scored above 90% in CBSE Class 12 Board examination, and 27% students of Commerce course scored above 80%. Schools affiliated to the Maharashtra State Board reported 100% pass percentage, both in Class 10 and Class 12 Science stream, whereas the schools affiliated with Gujarat State Board reported 93% pass rate in Class 10 Board examination, and 97% and 88% pass rate, respectively in Class 12 Board exam for Science and Commerce streams.

Besides academics, the students of RF Schools continue to excel in co-scholastic, sporting and co-curricular pursuits, while winning awards and recognition at the district, state and national levels. RF School, Koparkhairane won the ‘Best School’ award for the third consecutive year at the Inter- School Elocution Competition. Other achievements included gold medals in International Skating Competition, Senior National Aquatic Championship and CBSE National Level Athletics Meet 2017; bronze medal in athletics at the inaugural Khelo India School Games, football team representing the School at the national level; and Swami Vivekananda Award and Scholarship for state and national level sports achievement. Three RF Schools were selected for presenting their Science Projects at the National Level CBSE Science Exhibition.

Dhirubhai Ambani International School (DAIS) prepares students for the ICSE, the IGCSE and the IB Diploma examinations. The school is a member of the Cambridge International Primary Programme. DAIS provides world-class education to 1,000+ children annually; and has about 150 teachers with rich experience in national and international curricula. Students have consistently achieved outstanding results across all three curricula.

In 2017, two students of IGCSE Class 10 topped the world in Mathematics and five students topped in India in various subjects. The school’s ICSE average score was 96% and the highest score was 98.4%. In the IB Diploma Examinations, eight students earned the perfect score of 45, average score of the class being 39.2. The IB Diploma graduates of 2017 earned admissions and scholarships to 22 of the top-30 universities worldwide. During the academic year, students won over 500 awards in various sporting, scholastic and co-curricular events at the state, national and international levels.

Over the years, the School has achieved highest standards of excellence on all performance parameters. DAIS is among the very few schools in India to be jointly accredited by the Council of International Schools and the New England Association of Schools & Colleges. In 2017, Education World ranked DAIS as the No. 1 International School in India for the fifth consecutive year. Hindustan Times ranked DAIS as No. 1 School in Mumbai for the fifth time. Times of India ranked DAIS as the No. 1 ‘National and International Curriculum’ School in Mumbai for the third consecutive year. DAIS is also one of India’s few schools to be certified by the Indian Green Building Council with the highest-level ‘platinum’ rating.

3.3) Reliance University

Reliance is working towards establishing a globally benchmarked, multi-disciplinary university in Maharashtra. It will provide an enabling environment and cutting-edge research facilities to students.

3.4) Infrastructure Support to Schools

Reliance constructed two schools for the Government of Uttarakhand as part of its relief and rehabilitation support in the aftermath of devastating floods in 2013. The two schools, which are now operational, stand testimony to the Company’s commitment towards rebuilding Uttarakhand. These schools cater to nearly 1,000 students, coming from around 30 villages in the vicinity.

The Government schools across several locations were supported in enhancing their infrastructure including furniture, computers, RO plants, school uniform kits, etc. The spouses of Reliance employees held English language classes for students of Moti Khavdi Kanyashala and helped deprived and school dropout girls to compete through the National Institute of Open Schooling.

3.5) Digital Classroom

Reliance has worked with local governments to establish model digital classrooms in 129 government schools across Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana benefitting about 30,000 students.

A central relay station connects teachers to all schools for teaching live virtual classes and facilitates interaction between teachers and students. Offline classes on specific subjects are also conducted. The virtual classroom has bolstered the confidence of students and has resulted in higher pass percentages. Additionally, the platform is being used for conducting classes on development of life-skills, career guidance, etc.

4) Education and Sports for All (ESA)

Using sports as a vehicle, Reliance promotes health, fitness and active lifestyle to bring about a positive change among youth and children in both urban and rural landscapes. Popular sports such as football, basketball and athletics are used to cultivate strategic thinking, competitive spirit and leadership abilities among children and youth. Reliance partners with various national and state sports bodies in improving the quality of sporting ecosystem through better facilities, training, infrastructure and equipment.

The programme strategically partnered with 20 institutes across the country for effective implementation. On the ground, the tournaments were conducted by officials from Athletics Federation of India and All India Football Federation. Reliance further donated equipment to the participating institutes to promote sports. For motivating young talent and expanding the reach of RFYS, all final matches at city level, zonal level and national level were live-streamed on the RFYS website.

4.4) Reliance Foundation Young Champs (RFYC)

RFYC is a unique, scholarship-based, full-time residential football and education programme. It aims to provide India’s aspiring football talents the opportunity to hone their skills with world-class facilities and best-in-class training.

During FY 2017-18, eight young football talents were awarded scholarships to develop their football skills, taking the total to 48 scholarships. Under the programme, 30 Young Champs were sent for international exposure trip to Spain where they got an opportunity to play friendly matches, with teams including Real Madrid, Atletico de Madrid, Valencia, Villarreal, Rayo Vallecano and Leganes.

The Young Champs Sports Academy has been accredited as one of the best in India by the All India Football Federation. Reliance’s objective is to maintain this position; and also strive towards the cherished milestone of achieving 5/5 grade.

5) Disaster Response

Reliance aspires to respond swiftly and effectively to disasters that endanger human lives and livelihoods, by directly engaging with affected communities. It leverages all its strengths – including human resources and information technology – to provide relief and rehabilitation support. During FY 2017-18, the Company promptly helped communities affected by floods and cyclone in Assam, Gujarat and Southern India.

5.3) Support during Ockhi Cyclone using Technology

Reliance played a key role in saving many lives when Cyclone Ockhi hit the southern parts of India. The Company disseminated advisories related to warnings on cyclone to coastal areas in Tamil Nadu and Kerala through its different communication channels.

Due to high windspeed and waves, along with heavy rainfall, fishermen in these areas were urged not to venture out into the sea. The timely information provided by Reliance saved lives of over 27,000 fishermen.

Besides, the farmers were reached through various communication modes such as ‘Flag Method’, ‘Knowledge on Wheels’, help line and multi-location audio conferences that saved over 4,600 hectares of paddy fields.

Leveraging technology, Reliance acted as a bridge between government functionaries and fishermen. Reliance Foundation’s toll free helpline received several calls asking for help to locate missing boats and fishermen. The information was immediately shared with the Coastguard and Indian Navy to facilitate the rescue work and the information on rescued fishermen was shared with their anxious families. Over 300 fishermen and 35 boats were rescued from the deep sea. An assessment shows that almost 91% of cyclone-affected fishermen reported having benefitted from the advisories.

6) Arts, Culture and Heritage and Urban Renewal

Reliance works to preserve the rich heritage, art and culture of India for its future generations and makes conscious efforts to improve the livelihood opportunities for traditional artisans and craftsmen. This is done primarily by undertaking various promotional projects and documenting India's heritage for the benefit of future generations.

6.1) Abbaji Annual Concert

Reliance continued to support the annual concert “Abbaji” organised by Ustad Zakir Hussain. The concert featured several renowned musicians who came together to pay tribute to the legendary Guru, Ustad Allah Rakha Khan.

6.2) 8 Prahar: Concert on Indian Classical Music

Reliance supported ‘8 Prahar’, an event dedicated to Indian classical music. This unique event, jointly initiated by Art and Artistes and Pancham Nishad, brought together leading exponents of classical music, including Padma Vibhushan Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj to delight Mumbai’s music lovers. The event featured performances from 6.30 a.m. to 3 a.m. of the next day with artistes performing the Ragas of the respective 'Prahar’ (time of the day).

6.3) Beautification of Public Places

Reliance works on city modernisation initiatives through its urban renewal programme in order to improve the quality of life and infrastructure in cities. The initiatives strive to improve public spaces to revitalise the ageing infrastructure and provide newer facilities. Reliance supported beautification of public places during FY 2017-18 to improve the available infrastructure for ease of people. As part of this project, protective grills on Magdalla Bridge, Hazira were installed to prevent mishaps. Three parks in the crowded urban spaces of Mumbai were revitalised with fencing and periodic maintenance services.

7) Other Initiatives

These campaigns actively engage community members to drive change. Sensitised villagers are leveraging government schemes and constructing toilets. Almost 15,000 toilets have been constructed so far and 87 villages declared as Open Defecation Free by the government. Through digital platforms, people were informed about the application procedure for availing the benefits of government schemes such as Sardar Awas Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana, and so on.

7.2) Empowering Women through Collectivisation and Financial Literacy

For various socio-cultural reasons, women have been a disadvantaged group in India. Driven by its belief in inclusive growth, Reliance with its experience of working with marginalised communities, undertook systematic efforts for accelerating financial inclusion by promoting financial literacy among them. Under this programme, participants would learn the nuances of personal finance, importance of savings and would get formally linked to at least one formal financial institution. Besides, rural women have been supported to form Women Thrift Groups providing them a platform to participate, drive and manage the socio-economic change while being financially self-reliant. Reliance’s initiatives for women take intervention areas closer to achieving SDG 5 (Gender Equality).

The model has not only helped in wealth creation but also enabled women in making their presence felt in male-dominated spaces. Besides starting their own enterprises, women have taken the lead in addressing the pressing issues related to health, hygiene and sanitation that affect them and their families. Till date, over 12,000 women have been provided financial literacy trainings and 3,000+ rural women have formed 110 thrift groups across 14 districts in 7 states, having collected over `4.5 million

7.3) Skilling and Employment

Skilling the youth and creating right employment opportunities for them is Government’s key priority. Through its skilling and employment programme, Reliance is working to make the youth employable by equipping them with marketable skillsets and providing placement support. This year, nearly 11,000 youth were provided skill training, of which 70% were assisted with placements across retail and other sector.

Across rural areas, skill enhancement trainings were provided to around 3,000 women and girls. These trainings include paper quilling, jewellery, LED bulb and lamp making, tailoring and embroidery. Through another initiative, in addition to traditional medium of sales, 700+ women were taught to create Facebook page and WhatsApp groups to sell their products. Together, the various skilling initiatives have benefitted over 13,800 individuals across India.

7.4) Wildlife Conservation and Animal Welfare

Reliance supports several organisations that are working for wildlife conservation and animal welfare. These organisations protect wildlife against poachers, reducing the incidence of wild animals straying into human settlements, provide relief and rehabilitation support to the injured wild and domestic animals including rescue, treatment and surgical care, providing shelter, etc. These organisations also sensitise communities about the importance of protecting wildlife, and avoiding human-animal conflict.

7.5) Improving Access to Sports Infrastructure

Reliance installed a multi-sports complex in two stadiums under Thane Municipal Corporation. This facility has a specially designed net cage to suit all playing fields with LED illuminated line markings to facilitate the sports being played. The sports facility can accommodate six different games: soccer, ring hockey, volleyball, handball, cricket and tennis. With the space for sportspersons and fitness enthusiasts shrinking in urban areas, these multi-sports stadiums in the centre of densely populated cities address an acutely felt need.