Bharti announces nationwide primary education initiative.
NEW DELHI: In the first industry response to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent appeal to businesses for fulfilling social obligation, the Bharti group on Thursday announced a Rs 200-crore nationwide primary education project for under-privileged children.
"This will be a signal for other corporate groups also," Bharti CMD Sunil Bharti Mittal said after the announcement.
The project involves setting up a cluster of schools in the next 18 to 24 months. There are plans for a few hundred primary schools. To keep away non-serious students, the schools are likely to have a monthly fee of Rs 10, but will offer free uniform and mid-day meal. Each school will cater to around 75 to 100 students.
The project will kick off in Ludhiana in a few months. It would then move to the eastern part and gradually cover the whole country.
Mittal admitted that he is inspired by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his philanthropy. In fact, he will meet Gates in Seattle later this month, and a philanthropy tie-up is not ruled out.
"The Western world is on a much higher curve in giving," he said. In fact, several foreign companies, including Bharti’s partner Vodafone, have committed funds for its education project. Warburg Pincus and IBM too will put in $1 million each in Bharti’s social project.
Brands must have a "soft touch" rather than be lean and mean business machines, averred Mittal. "As business, entrepreneurship and wealth creation are being celebrated once again in India, it’s time to restart social initiatives," he added.
On the issue of job reservation in the private sector, Mittal had earlier said that there must be a "middle path".
The education project that he announced on Thursday was perhaps what he had in mind.
Asked for his views on job reservation, Mittal said any law imposing quotas would only encourage contract labour. He added, "The organised sector has employed 8.1 million people... the capacity to absorb more is less. Something needs to be done collectively but any legislation would not be desirable as this would force the corporates to opt for contract labour."
