Our Philosophy

“Think of others also, when you think about yourself”. With this philosophy of Founder Chairman Mr. U. N. Mehta, Torrent Group makes concentrated efforts through its CSR activities to positively impact the society. Torrent strongly believes that the sustainability of any business is directly related to the well-being and development of the society in which it is embedded. Through its various CSR initiatives, it endeavours to give back to the society, for all the care, support and encouragement being bestowed upon it.

Torrent Group concentrates its efforts diligently in the areas of:

• Community Health care, Sanitation and Hygiene,
• Education and Knowledge Enhancement,
• Social Care and Concern.

The CSR activities are mainly confined at the places where Group’s headquarters is situated and locations in and around its operations so that the twin objectives of service to the neighborhood & the community along with involving the individual & collective will and efforts of the Torrent Family can be achieved.

Community Health Care , Sanitation & Hygiene

U.N.Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre (UNMICRC)

Torrent Group has established "U N Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre" (UNMICRC). It is a state-of-the-art cardiac hospital at Ahmedabad (Gujarat) where treatment is rendered to all patients, particularly the economically disadvantaged. Free Cardiac treatment is provided to Gujarat domiciled children and patients from the weaker strata. Over the years, Torrent has provided significant financial contribution, which has been used for constructing a 450-bedded facility. The institute has 110 bedded ICCU, 4 Cath labs, 7 Cardiac Operation Theatres and an in-house team of Cardiologists and CT surgeons who are available 24 x 7.

Apart from Hospital Infrastructure development, Torrent's Patient Care Initiative Programme at UNMICRC has resulted in effective service delivery and better hospital management.

REACH – the Paediatric Healthcare Programme

REACH, "Reach Each CHild" - A Child Healthcare Centric Initiative,

In February 2014, a Committee was formed, which decided that the Social initiatives of the group will focus on ‘Child Healthcare’. Twenty leading pediatricians across India were invited for the meeting at Ahmedabad to have understanding of the issues pertaining to the health of children. The meeting was followed by visits by the committee members to some of the leading child care facilities in India and also visited several leading pediatric hospitals in UK, USA and Canada to get a first-hand understanding of the healthcare facilities being provided to the children.

REACH was conceptualized and its activities have been divided into two parts which are inter-connected and they work hand in hand: Spreading awareness for healthcare and hygiene creating medical Care Centres (both Primary and Secondary hospitals)

REACH programme has continuously strived for serving the needy beneficiaries free of cost and the success that it has got from its efforts, perseverance and innovations enthused IIM Ahmedabad and a case study paper was written on REACH by Professor Samir Barua. During the first interaction with participants, senior executives from Torrent also attended the session and interacted with students.

REACH has two Distinct categories, I Outreach Activities II Medical Services.

I. Outreach Activities

Targeted at improving the baseline health of children, these activities are designed to improve the baseline health and well-being of children in underprivileged communities and establishing a foundation for a healthy future. We organised medical camps across various villages in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh & in the union territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli (DNH). At these camps, children are screened for anaemia, malnourishment or other ailments and necessary interventions are taken to improve their health.

1,24,000 + children have been befitted & 1,200+villages covered.

Supporting Malnourished and Anaemic Children

Earlier, we offered the ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), Balamul, to underweight malnourished children to combat malnourishment. Considering the feedback received to enhance the taste and variety, we developed Mauji biscuits in-house with flavours that children would like, while maintaining the same nutritional components as in Balamul. For anaemic children, Vitcofol (Iron) Syrup provides adequate supplements to improve their iron levels. In cases where additional supplements, medication, or advice was required, children were directed to existing paediatric centres, UNM Children Hospital, or appropriate hospitals for further medical support. Follow-up programmes were developed to monitor the children’s progress and ensure improvements in their health. Further, public campaigns were conducted to raise awareness about malnutrition, anaemia, good health and hygiene. Causes, symptoms, cures and care tips were shared through films in the vernacular language in the various villages we support. The initiative has yielded positive benefits for the targeted children. Over 69% of malnourished children and 90% of anaemic children who completed the programme showed notable improvements and overcame their deficiencies through the supplements administered.

Expanding Outreach

Based on our experience and impact assessment, we were motivated to expand the scope of our community development interventions, 1,214 villages have been covered so far; we plan to extend our interventions to over 400 additional villages in and around Dholera and Junagadh in Gujarat, Bhiwandi in Maharashtra, Agra in Uttarpradesh. Our target is to support malnourished children in 2,000 villages on cumulative basis.

Sanitation & Hygiene

Our developmental interventions focus on empowering adolescent girls in rural areas by addressing taboos associated with menstruation and promoting menstrual hygiene. This programme encourages the use of sanitary napkins and deepens understanding of menstrual hygiene. Women employees and female volunteers distributed sanitary napkins and conducted counselling sessions for adolescent girls at SUGEN, Dahej, Indrad, Waghai, Banaskantha and Radhanpur. Health and hygiene kits are being provided on regular basis at absolutely free of cost to beneficiaries. In addition, we had implemented a pilot programme to provide bio-degradable and reusable sanitary napkins to reduce the environmental impact.

We distributed both conventional and bio-degradable & reusable napkins to more than 35,000 adolescent girls, which includes more than 27,000 beneficiaries those shifted to reusable biodegradable sanitary napkins. Based on positive feedback from beneficiaries, we have decided to distribute only biodegradable and reusable sanitary napkins going forward, which is also a more sustainable option.

Surgical Screening Camps

With objective to provide essential medical care to those who might have not easy access to medical care, we conducted surgical screening camps at UNM Children PHCs ensuring early detection and treatment of potential health issues. Such initiatives play vital role in spreading awareness of UNM children Hospital (UNMCH) facilities in remote underprivileged areas.

Mass Awareness Drive

Conducting mass awareness drives to educate community members on cooking tasty and healthy food at home is a significant part of our sustainable development goals. Our team visits villages to guide people on easily available nutritious ingredients in the area and how to cook meals with them. Further, we create posters and videos in local languages, emphasising the dangers of malnutrition and anaemia and promoting healthy practices for children. The use of social media helps us reach a wider audience with information on addressing various health issues along with outreach activities at hospitals to improve community wellbeing.

Employee Task Force for Community Initiatives

We formed an employee task force to take forward our healthcare awareness drives. The task force conducted a comprehensive test aimed to cover not just the availability of medical resources but also the end users beneficiaries and reach out to slum dwellers as well as doctors. They also conducted a mass awareness drive for our medical facilities and activities.

2,000+ Employees are part of the task force for community initiatives.

II Medical Services

We offer medical services to children up to 18 years of age who live in remote areas with limited access to medical facilities. This initiative involves setting up Primary Paediatric Health Centres (PPHCs) “UNM Children PHC” to provide free medical advice, basic laboratory services and medication to underprivileged children. In 2017, we launched four paediatric centres in SUGEN, Dahej, Indrad and Balasinor of Gujarat, focusing on outpatient departments (OPDs). In 2020, we achieved a significant milestone by transforming the SUGEN paediatric centre into a 150-bed multi-disciplinary hospital, providing critical care to children. Recently, five new PHCs were started in Dediapada, Waghai, Naswadi, Radhanpur and Chhapi to serve beneficiaries in remote rural areas lacking medical facilities.

360+ OPDs/day, 1,00,000+ OPDs conducted & around 5,00,000+ OPDs since inception including that of UNMCH.

UNM Children Hospital

Our commitment to providing comprehensive critical care to children saw us expand support to offer advanced surgical procedures to children in need. We converted the SUGEN paediatric centre into the UNM Children Hospital, developed in technical collaboration with Sheffield Hospital UK in accordance with the International Accreditation Standards. It is 150 beds hospital. The Hospital was dedicated to the service of people from February 16, 2020. With the vision of pushing the boundaries of children’s physical and mental wellbeing for healthy future generation, our mission is to provide compassionate healthcare with excellence in quality and service to every child. To deliver comprehensive healthcare, we are building a collaborative network of medical experts.

UNM Children Hospital boasts modern facilities with state-of-the-art equipments and is staffed by 24 full time and 27 visiting Super Specialist doctors covering 19 disciplines, along with qualified Nursing and Paramedical Personnel. Spread over an expansive 20-acre campus, the hospital offers a range of services like Pathology, Radiology, pharmacy, including a 20 bedded Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and 17 bedded Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) that provides free Quality services with patient safety for underprivileged children and at subsidised rates for the affording class. Special critical care is provided to infants and newborn.

There have been around 97156+ beneficiaries till date, with 3427+ admission in wards. The hospital also has a 24x7 emergency facility and free transportation to and from the surrounding areas to the hospital. CT Scan and MRI, along with Audiometry room is expected to be operationalized in a couple of months. With three advanced operation theatre (OT), the hospital is equipped to deal with complex surgeries. We have attained surgical excellence by performing many Critical and Complex surgeries successfully by the best in class experienced surgeons coming from Ahmedabad, Mumbai, etc.

Some of the Supra Major Surgeries performed successfully were Spine correction for Scoliosis, Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Repair, Complex Choledochal Cyst removal, Right Upper lobe lobectomy for Congenital Malformation of Right Lung, Hand Centralization for Club Hand by the team of surgeons. We have been organizing CMEs (Continuing Medical Education) on a continuous basis. We have been conducting Surgical camps on regular basis at our various PPHCs with the philosophy of reaching to the needy and providing care at their doorstep.

780+ Surgeries, of which 54% were life-saving critical surgeries, 49% Occupancy rate in less than a year & 24x7 Emergency facility.

Extending Medical Services to more Lives

We are focusing on widening the reach of our critical medical services to more underprivileged people and have doubled the capacity of the NICU and PICU from 20 beds to 37 at UNM Children Hospital. In addition, we are stabilising operations and driving more footfalls at the five new PHCs added recently. Our medical facilities will be scaled appropriately depending on the response across all Nine Centres. Our objective is to increase our geographic reach to as many tribal and underprivileged populations as possible through medical services and outreach activities.

Sumangal–A Multi-disciplinary Clinic for All Ages

Sumangal is a multi-disciplinary hub of healthcare excellence that caters to individuals of all ages. Originally known as Swadhar, the clinic was founded in September 2012 as an outpatient department, with a solitary doctor providing general medical consultations to the local populace. Recognising the financial difficulties faced by rural patients in accessing specialised healthcare, Sumangal took an innovative step in 2018 by integrating dental, ophthalmology, dermatology, gynaecology, orthopaedics and physiotherapy disciplines into its ambit. As a result, Sumangal emerged as a comprehensive healthcare provider that delivers personalised medical care and enhances patients’ overall well-being.

Shaishavmitrs

ShaishavMitrs–An Employee Volunteering Initiative

We value our staff creating positive social impact. Employees are encouraged to participate in our community engagement activities as ‘ShaishavMitrs’, a unique concept that enables them to volunteer their time, effort and skills to actively give back to society through our community development programmes.

Education & Knowledge Enhancement

SHIKSHA SETU

Shiksha Setu: Bridging the Learning Gap in Education :

Shiksha Setu: Bridging the Learning Gap in Education: Project ShikshaSetu which literarily means “bridging education” aims at creating child friendly environment and reducing the gap in teaching-learning processes in the classroom since last 12 years. Following are the initiatives under education vertical.

1. Shardashish (blessings of Mother of Knowledge)

Shardashish: Enhancing School Infrastructure

Shardashish Schools: Safe and child friendly infrastructure plays vital role in educational journey. "Shardashish School" Initiative has helped re-build dilapidated school infrastructure at Chhapi, Memadpur, Indrad, Sabarmati and Akhakhol in Gujarat and Baddi in Himachal Pradesh, benefitting over 5,000 students every year by providing convenient and modern facilities for all round schooling of students. More than 141 classrooms, mid-day meal area and kitchens, computer labs were constructed under the initiative. The updated infrastructure has yielded positive outcomes in terms of increase in enrolment and attendance.

Shardashish High School at Chhapi: A new building with 39 rooms including classrooms, science and computer labs, assembly hall and playground has been constructed for making it one of the biggest high schools of Gujarat.

Shardashish High School at Memadpur: was renovated by strengthening and modifying the earlier school.

Sharda Mandir Primary School, Indrad: A state of art new building with 22 classrooms, computer labs, and mid-day meals kitchen shed was constructed for in the year 2010.

Primary School at Akhakhol, Surat: Before intervention of Torrent, the primary school at Akhakhol was a 2 room school. In the year 2013, a new school building with 8 classrooms covering shed and other utilities was constructed. With increase in number of parents enrolling their children in Akhakhol primary school post renovation and consistent increase in attendance, the school now runs up to 8th standard with separate classroom for each standard.

Baddi School & Community Development Work, Baddi: The Baddi school is situated near the Torrent Group Company’s Pharma plant at Baddi in the State of Himachal Pradesh (India). The Company has been supporting the school since long to ensure proper infrastructure and also personality development of the students by conducting various programmes through involvement of employees and to provide other support with respect to extra-curricular activities and academics. Various community development works at Baddi or its nearby areas are also undertaken directly or along with other organisations.

School, Panchayat and other infrastructure facilities at Sikkim: Upgradation of School and Panchayat buildings and other infrastructure facilities are required at Sikkim for which the Group contemplates to contribute towards the above activities. Though providing infrastructure and state of art facilities is an important contribution, however, it is equally important to provide quality learning to the students and improve the soft skills of students as well as teachers in primary education.

Government teachers are trained to teach students through innovative and interactive pedagogies / methodologies, so that students, while gaining conceptual clarity find learning interesting. The cumulative improvement in the learning level was assessed to be 53.18% in the programme’s Phase I (2011-16).

Based on the learnings from Phase I, and feedbacks received from teachers, additional facilities and activities were added in Phase II. The Programme additionally provides for smart digital classrooms, digital aided learning for five subjects through tablets instead of two subjects earlier, enhancing of soft skills of teachers and Parents’ sensitization in children’s education.

2. Technology Integration in the classroom:

In addition to child friendly infrastructure, ShikshaSetu focuses on strengthening classroom teaching learning processes through integration of technology and technology aided resources. The foundation has provided 70 plus smart classes for teachers reaching out to more 10,000 students from 42 schools. The foundation has also set up self-learning labs in 10 schools where students have been provided tablets for self-learning. Results of impact assessment conducted by third party agencies are encouraging. Apart from providing technological assistance to teachers and students, the Foundation has also provided science and math kit and other resources to 21 schools.

3. Remedial Support:

Due to school closures for more than two years during Covid-19 period, depletion in students learning level was quite visible. It was evident the many children were not able to read grade 2 level text books. To address this gap, UNMF launched Learning Enhancement Program in 2021 for remedial support. The project focuses on identification of students from grade 3 to 8 who are not able to read grade 2 level text books and perform basic math operations. The students undergo specialized learning camp with teachers deputed by the foundations. Focused activities are conducted with students in these camps to help students achieve foundational skills of reading and basic arithmetic. The project is being implemented in 45 schools reaching out to more than 15,000 students.

4. Second Chance Programme (SCP):

The SCP provides an opportunity for students to complete grade 10 who have previously dropped out of school for various reasons. They are encouraged to prepare for SSC examinations from National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). Community classes are facilitated for the enrolled students. The programme has been successful in helping such students pass their board exams. More than 156 students appeared for NIOS board examinations of which 102 students successfully completed grade 10 since 2021. More than 140 students have enrolled for NIOS board examinations in March 2024.

5. Vocational Skills Development Programme:

The Foundation has initiated Vocational Training Program with the aim to empower youth and women with employable skills and support them gain meaningful employment opportunities. UNMF established a vocational training centre at Chhatral, Gujarat in August 2021. Youth and women were trained on trades like Sewing Machine Operator, Data Entry Operator, General Duty Assistant and Assistant Electrician. More than 300 students have been trained of which 165 people been provided wage and self-employment opportunities.

6. Shardashish Scholarship

Shardashish Scholarships is a financial aid to students from economically backward sections of Gujarat, aspiring for higher studies in US universities. Each deserving student gets scholarship of $10,000. More than 25 students have been provided the scholarship till June 2023. Additionally, the foundation also provides annual aid of $50,000 to students who have been admitted to one of the specific courses at Columbia University schools.

The intention of Shardashish Scholarship is to make available global educational opportunities to bright and committed students who are economically challenged. Beneficiaries of "Shardashish" must push their existing boundaries to achieve and excel. The expectation of Shardashish Scholars is that they will maximize their learning opportunities and once successful will pay it forward, through enabling others.

Arts, Culture and Wellbeing

UNM Foundation also undertakes activities which benefit the general citizenry under its Arts, Culture and Wellbeing; projects like "Abhivyakti" promote promising artists in multi-disciplinary areas and connect them with the general public and "Pratiti" under which public gardens are developed.

ABHIVYAKTI

Abhivyakti City Arts Project is an initiative to encourage original thinking and experimentation in the field of arts, across the four segments of Visual Arts, Music, Dane and Theatre. Abhiyvkati invites proposals from artists across the country to participate in this annual project. The curatorial philosophy is oriented to honor conceptual thinking, artistic knowledge and execution ability. The stage of Abhiyvakti is committed to being a catalyst to encourage and develop regional talent in the field of arts. Abhivyakti endeavours to contribute to making art a meaningful part of public life and give audiences new ways of seeing world. It strives to inspire art, ideas and conversations that are meaningful to artists and audiences alike. Abhivyakti City Arts Project is an endeavor of UNM Foundation of the Mehta family of Torrent Group.

Vision

To make Art and integral part of the social fabric of Ahmedabad city through enabling access for audiences without constraint of location, thresholds (physical and individual) and social or economic strategy

Mission

• To identify entertaining art
• To create a mechanism to bring entertaining art to the masses, periodically
• To make available resources: economic, intellectual, and physical; to artists to create and/or deliver entertaining art to the masses
• To identify, encourage and develop talent

One of the key promises of Abhivyakti is to set the stage for the brave ones. The curatorial focus is not on any specific genre or style, by more on the artists’ inventiveness. The endeavour is to make Abhivyakti a platform of discovery and to give an impetus to the latent creative potential in and around the city of Ahmedabad. This is achieved by a discerning curatorial process

Collaterals

Much like Abhivyakti, the aim of this programme is to allow for interactions on area pertaining to art, to keep the discussion on-going, and more broad-based. These collaterals will allow for-

• Open call
• Screening by curators
• Session with mentors
• Final selection based upon combined inputs
• Performance at the festival from patrons, mentors and curators

to read more: www.abhivyaktiart.org

PRATITI

City parks play a vital role in the social, economic and physical wellbeing of the cities and their residents. As cities become more densely populated, parks are now recognized as powerful tools for active lifestyles and reduced health costs for the urban communities. Parks provide space for neighbourhood residents to interact with each other and meet new people. This allows people to develop a sense of community.

The UNM Foundation along with LEAF, the research arm of Landscape India, formed a group ‘The Park’s People’ which also included many like-minded designers of the city. UNM Foundation and The Park’s people in association with the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation started Pratiti. Several parks have been developed so far, which are located in varied economic and social cross sections of the Ahmedabad city. Some are new parks and some are refurbished parks.

The Foundation has developed and is currently maintaining various beautifully landscaped gardens in the city of Ahmedabad for the general benefit of citizens and increasing the green cover of the city. Our team has successfully revamped nine parks in Ahmedabad, spread more than 98,000 sq. mt. area was opened for public use in last five years. Further, three parks are under development in Ahmedabad, spread across 60,000 square meters. The Foundation has taken Adalaj clover leaf junction for Beautification and maintenance which is spread across 2,50,000 square meters.

This initiative has been expanded to the other city, the Foundation has taken two parks for development and one Park for maintenance in Surat city, spread across 63,300 square meters. Also taken three parks for maintenance in Daman (UT) spreading over more than 52,000 square meters.

Each of these parks have been developed keeping in mind a unique design, by well-renowned team of architects. These parks have lush green lawn, various types of plants and facilities like walkway, special enclosure for light games, exercise equipment and beautiful landscaping. Each park is protected by specially designed fencing and also have a special entrance facility for the differently abled people. Moreover, each park is equipped with bore well and has recharge well to effectively use the rainwater.

Lake Development

The Company has also taken two Lakes for development at Zolapur and Kesardi villages in Sanand and Bavla districts respectively for providing the citizens with basic facilities and recreational areas. The major activities to be undertaken include refurbishing of crematorium, community hall & surrounding area near by temple, development of gazebo with siting arrangement, children play area, open gym area and green belt development with walking track.

SANSKARDHAM EQUESTRIAN

The Sanskardham Equestrian Centre-Reclaiming Gujarat’s Equestrian Glory

Gujarat has had a long and glorious history of exceptional horses and equestrian skills. Even now, one finds that some of the best indigenous horses in the country are raised in the state. While the passion for the sport abounds, Gujarat lacks the infrastructure to breed horses and train aspiring equestrians to become champions. The Sanskardham Equestrian Centre has been relaunched in Gujarat with a vision to establish itself as a medal-winning academy, producing top-class equestrian athletes who will represent Gujarat and India at the Olympics and other prestigious equestrian competitions.

The centre is undertaking several infrastructural improvements to offer world-class facilities to the trainees. This includes the construction of a riding arena and a round yard, renovating stables and acquiring new thoroughbred riding horses. The facility has invested in saddlery, equipment, signage systems, staff rooms, and feed and equipment rooms ensuring a well-equipped training ground. It has also hired experienced coaches and staff members who are well-versed in equestrian sports. The centre has implemented systems and processes for staff training, feed programs following veterinary guidelines and safety guidelines to protect both riders and horses. The first phase of this programme saw students being trained in riding, show jumping and dressage.

With the successful implementation of Phase 1, the Sanskardham Equestrian Centre plans to expand its infrastructure and capacity further. Under Phase 2, the centre aims to provide 40 students with specialised training in the Olympic equestrian disciplines of dressage, show jumping, and eventing. Torrent Group is proud to be associated with this historic initiative.

We have funded to help realise the centre’s Government aspiration to be an institution of national and global significance and make Gujarat a beacon of equestrian sports again.

CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS

Charitable Contributions

We make donations to different charitable organisations to support various social causes. These causes include providing medical services, organising blood donation camps, relief activities during natural calamities, preserving and enhancing cultural heritage, scientific research for the benefit of farmers and rural youth, preservation of the environment, educational activities, promotion of sports, capacity building for youth, vocational training, supporting women artisans, designing students, craft enthusiasts and micro & macro entrepreneurs connected with Indian handicraft, activities for tribal communities in areas of health, education, micro-credit and income generation, deaddiction, etc.