CSR Projects

Since 2017, the Foundation has been working in Jamui district of Bihar, one of the 115 Aspirational Districts identified by the NITI Aayog. We have been implementing our CSR projects with an approach of intensive development across 15 villages and extensive development in over 200 villages of Chakai, Jhajha, Khaira and Sikandra blocks. Our focus has largely been on strengthening interwoven aspects of agrarian life, including but not limited to agriculture and allied sectors, livestock management and development, healthcare, improvement in learning outcomes and women empowerment. PROJECT BACHPAN Initiated in August 2017, Project Bachpan was born of a need felt and voiced by the communities, to address undernutrition and poor learning outcomes visible among pre-school children in the age group of 3 to 6 years. The prime objective of this project was and remains to be, strengthening developmental milestones of these children, who are part of large families, where mouths to be fed far outnumber the hands that feed. The project runs through five children’s learning centers (Balwadis), set up and run in five villages of Sikandra, namely – Dhanimatari, Dhawatanr, Korasi, Lachhuar and Sabal Bigha. These centers are run by locally appointed sevikas/sevaks (teacher-facilitators), assisted by sahayikas (assistant teachers), and boast of a desirable teacher-student ratio of 1:25. Children attend the Balwadis six days a week, for four hours each day, and learn with games, sing-songs and fun activities, inspired by the ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services scheme) guidelines and other popular, progressive styles of teaching and learning. The children are fed one-time nutritious meals cooked at the centers by their volunteer mothers, cooked and served on the basis of a pre-determined weekly menu, comprising locally sourced and healthy ingredients. We envision setting up and running more such Bachpan learning centers in the coming years. SHRI VARDHMAN MAHILA GRIHA UDYOG As the name suggests, Shri Vardhman Mahila Griha Udyog is a small-scale enterprise, initiated in 2017, to empower women by providing them with a platform to earn livelihoods and achieve socio-economic security. A first of its kind in the region, the Udyog’s journey began in October 2017, with 16 women from rural Jamui, travelling right up to Palitana in Bhavnagar – Gujarat, to learn the skill of rolling and vending khakhra (a roasted flatbread Indian snack made of whole-wheat flour). The idea behind the project was a product of a number of community visits and discussions with the women-folk, where they expressed their inclinations at harnessing their most visible ability of cooking rotis. With regular handholding support provided to them, the Udyog has taken the form of an independent food-producing central-kitchen unit, enabling our Udyog members (didis) to earn a minimum of Rs. 1,900/- and a maximum of Rs. 4,000/- a month, basis their output. Earning dignified livelihoods has given the didis a concept of ‘self’ and a confidence, that they too, can contribute financially to their families’ sustenance. INTEGRATED LIVELIHOODS DEVELOPMENT CENTERS India’s rural economy depends on agriculture as its backbone, in addition to which, cattle rearing plays a major role in helping our farmers earn their daily livelihoods. Back in 2017, the farmers of Jamui district were observed to be engaged in cattle-rearing, but deriving very little from it financially, owing to the dry climate affecting green fodder availability, lack of scientific cattle-management practices and unavailability of trained veterinarian service providers. Against this backdrop, the Integrated Livelihoods Development Centres (ILDCs – known alternatively as Integrated Livestock Development Centers) project was initiated in January 2018 in Jamui district, Bihar, with the objective of enhancing livelihood opportunities through improved livestock management and cattle development services. The project has set up, operationalized and run 21 ILDCs, which to this day, function as village-based veterinarian clinics. These centers are managed by 21 rural youth, identified and trained as para-veterinarians, working under the name - Gopal and providing a range of preventive and curative healthcare services round the clock, such as deworming, deticking, vaccination, fodder plot inputs, infertility treatments and cattle health-camps. Our Gopals also conduct monthly farmers’ extension education meetings to disseminate information on scientific techniques of cattle management. ADARSH GRAM (MODEL VILLAGE) DEVELOPMENT PROJECT The Adarsh Gram (Model Village) Development Project has been undertaken to facilitate comprehensive rural development harnessing available natural resources, and village capacities to transform 15 identified remote villages in Sikandra block, into self-reliant, models of change. Initiated in March 2018, the project has been working for over two years, with rigorous focus with over 3,000 marginal and small farmers, enabling them to realize their potential and linking them to higher income-generation practices. Our efforts are hinged upon robust planning, followed by imparting knowledge and skills through practical demonstrations, inputs for crop diversification and increased yield, and linking them to larger avenues for realization of enhanced livelihoods. Over the past years, farmers have been trained on (and adopted) cultivation of different varieties of cereal crops using different techniques, reducing annual input costs with the help of foundation seeds, growing vegetables in low-cost models known as nutrition gardens, fruit cultivation through mini-orchards of lemon, guava and custard apple trees and organic farming using low-cost vermi-beds. This has been achieved not only through planned farmer training sessions, but also through practical demonstrations conducted at our Model Farm (Kisaan Pathshala) curated and cultivated with a wide variety of crops, vegetables, fruits and flora to enable our farmers to observe and explore the potential held by the natural resources surrounding them. SHRI VARDHMAN NIDAAN SEVA A project initiated in December 2020 and undertaken solely by the Foundation, Shri Vardhman Nidaan Seva runs two Mobile Health Units (MHUs) in Jamui district, Bihar. The project has been identified, evaluated and undertaken with the objective of providing primary – preventive and curative medical and healthcare services to families in the Khaira and Sikandra blocks that face the hardest time in accessing reliable care, and possess an even lower level of awareness of good health seeking practices. The two MHUs are equipped with 10 medical and healthcare professionals. Since inception, the MHUs have been serving more than 26 villages through their weekly scheduled clinic locations in the two blocks.

In the state of Jharkhand, JM Financial Foundation has been working in Giridih district, another Aspirational District identified by the NITI Aayog. Our efforts in this region have been focussed on facilitating community healthcare services for some of the remotest and backward villages. PROJECT MOBILE HEALTH UNIT The Mobile Health Unit (MHU) project was conceived and put to execution with the idea of ensuring last mile delivery of essential healthcare services in regions where it had remained elusive, for reasons of geography and demography. Giridih being one of the most underdeveloped districts, the remoteness of the communities living therein only elevates their existing socio-economic vulnerability. By reaching out to such disadvantaged communities residing in arduous terrains where the accessibility of basic healthcare services like regular health check-ups, diagnosis and availability of medicines is difficult, the project ensures door-step delivery of comprehensive healthcare services so as to reduce and arrest escapable health issues and excessive out of pocket expense on private services. The MHU provided doorstep healthcare services based on a predetermined village-wise schedule, resulting into OPDs coupled with diagnostic tests and medicines, a systematic repository of medical cases and their follow-ups, health camps and awareness drives aimed at addressing the knowledge gap within the communities with respect to nutrition, hygiene and health. The project was formally concluded in September 2021.

In addition to reaching out to some of the most remote geographies in Bihar and Jharkhand, we, considers it our prime responsibility to also aid in the development of some of the most under-served communities in the vicinity of our Group’s business operations, in the state of Maharashtra. In doing so, our CSR projects in this state have been undertaken in Mokhada block of Palghar district. INTEGRATED VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT The Integrated Village Development Project (IVDP) has been undertaken with the objective of bringing about comprehensive development for seven villages of Mokhada block in Palghar district, by way of facilitating improvements in intertwined and interwoven aspects of resident rural and tribal communities’ lives. In order to achieve sustainable outcomes through our efforts, the project has been implemented by way of a tripartite Public Private Partnership (PPP) with the Office of the Collector and District Magistrate, Palghar. Since 2018, the project has been working to bring well-rounded development to over 1,100 identified farmer households by way of focussing on four core thrust areas: • Strengthening farmers livelihoods through agriculture enhancement – by following an approach of training farmers and SHG members, helping them pilot advanced agri and other inputs and solutions, introducing traditional and economical water conservation methods at large-scale and hand-holding them throughout. • Enhancing education outcomes – largely addressed by way of the second project in the region – Ashramshala Infrastructure Development Project. (details below) • Linking community to public entitlements – achieved by educating the communities on government schemes and policies, enlisting their interests to apply for the same, pursuing their linkage through liaising with the relevant government officials and departments, and ultimately, handholding the beneficiaries to receive the benefits, timely. ASHRAMSHALA INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORT PROJECT An Ashramshala is a residential school imparting education up to secondary level to Scheduled Tribes (STs) children, with funds allocated by the State Tribal Development Department. In hilly areas, an Ashramshala reaches out to 5,000 – 7,000 population, while in other, remote areas, this number reduces to 2,000 – 3,000. In the state of Maharashtra, all Ashramshalas fall in the ambit of the Integrated Tribal Development Department. One such Ashramshala located in Ase Gram Panchayat of Mokhada block, has been identified to be in urgent need of refurbishment and redevelopment, should the students’ educational outcomes (especially girl children) be of significance. The project on Ashramshala infrastructure support has been evaluated and undertaken with the primary objective of providing an avenue for comprehensive development of over 350 lesser-privileged girls and boys (grades 1 - 10) attending the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Asharamshala, located in Aase village, Mokhada block. Our support has been extended towards – • Construction of a new school building for grades 1 to 4 • Renovation of the existing school building for grades 5 to 10 • Creation and construction of new toilet blocks, separate for men and boys, women and girls • Construction of four new rainwater harvesting structures, each with a capacity of storing 30,000 litres

Our company, as part of the JM Financial group of Companies, has also undertaken some other initiatives separate from those under the aegis of the Integrated Rural Transformation Programme in our three primary states. HOSPITAL DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT PROJECT We have supported the upcoming, state of the art Shrimad Rajchandra Hospital located in Valsad, Gujarat, with much needed equipment for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and District Early Intervention Centre (DEIC). Through this support, we envisage reaching out to about 1,000 critical babies and provide physical and mental rehabilitation to over 20,000 (cumulative) children annually, hailing from lesser-served rural and tribal families of Dharampur and Valsad blocks in the said district. COVID-19 It is our firm belief that the fulfilment of our responsibility as individuals and as a corporate remains incomplete, if not extended to support our country and fellow citizens at the time of disasters, emergencies and other situations over which we have little or no control. Rooting our actions in this belief, Foundation has contributed at multiple levels to combat the COVID-19 pandemic through: • INR 12 Crore to PM-CARES Fund (Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations) • Creation of a 114-bed COVID-19 dedicated facility at a hospital in Mumbai, Maharashtra • Masks and PPE kits to Police personnel in Maharashtra and Gujarat • Life-saving ventilators contributed to civil hospitals in Thane and Palghar, Maharashtra • Over 8,300 grocery kits distributed across Bihar, Maharashtra and West Bengal among others • 1.70 Lakh fresh meals cooked and served through three daily community kitchens in rural Jamui, Bihar • 10 TruelabTM Real Time micro PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) systems (i.e. machines) to the Department of Health, Government of Bihar and one machine to Bihar Foundation, to increase daily COVID-19 testing capacities across the state. These machines are installed across 10 hospitals and medical colleges as on date, aiding in COVID as well as Tuberculosis investigations. SUPPORT TOWARDS HOSPITAL EQUIPMENT The Kalikund Hospital located at Dholka block in Ahmedabad district of Gujarat, is a 91-bedded charitable hospital catering to the population from over 200 villages located in nearby blocks. The hospital provides multi-specialty services under categories like Medicine, Surgery, Orthopedic, Ophthalmology, ENT (Ears, Nose, Throat) and other super specialty services through on-call visiting consultants from district place. Overall the hospital caters to a daily OPD patient load of 300 - 400 and 6 - 8 surgeries through their four operation theaters. JM Financial Foundation has supported the Kalikund Hospital with an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machine in order to strengthen the hospital’s diagnostic facilities and enable patients from rural areas to access complete medical care at one place. Shrimad Rajchandra Hospital (SRH) located in Dharampur taluka of Valsad district, Gujarat., was established to primarily serve the underprivileged tribal communities residing in Valsad, Navsari and Dang districts. The hospital is a 100-bedded facility that provides primary and tertiary healthcare through pediatric, gynecology, surgery and general medicine specialties. The facility being located right in the middle of Dharampur taluka is the only source of comprehensive and accessible quality healthcare services, being provided to nearly 2.25 lakh patients annually. JM Financial Foundation has supported the new SRH with medical and diagnostic equipment. The said equipment will be installed in their Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and District Early Intervention Centre (DEIC), where critical new-borns will be treated and children with delayed development milestones will be closely monitored and provided with medical care to help strengthen their physical and mental health stability. The Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad is a 3,200-bedded tertiary healthcare hospital, constituting one of the largest in Asia. It is 160-years old and caters to about 12 – 13 lakh OPD patients, 1.5 lakh IPD patients and 70,000 minor and major surgeries annually from across four states, through its specialty and super-specialty departments. Owing to the heavy patient load of about 500 daily OPDs, the hospital, and notably, the radiology department faces a challenge in providing efficient services. Against the daily busy patient load, the Civil Hospital had only one functional, old X-ray machine. In order to aid in increasing the efficiency in services provided to the hospital patients, JM Financial Foundation has extended its support by way of providing for three sets of equipment, namely – one fixed X-ray system, two digital radiography systems and three patient warmers. SUPPORT TO SCHOOL BUIDLING CONSTRUCTION JM Financial Foundation has extended support to a village-based school in Aurwan Tand village of the Aspirational District – Chandauli, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The school, currently run from grades 6 to 8, will be upgraded to run from grades 1 to 6, with the help of JM Financial group’s support. The new school building will help accommodate greater number of students and teachers, enabling children from this red corridor region to regularly access formal schooling.

JMF Scholars is an education initiative, undertaken to extend equal opportunity through financial aid to economically challenged students pursuing their undergraduate course/studies at a world-class education institution, Ashoka University, located in Sonepat, Haryana. The company has along with other group companies, extended its support to 58 such scholars in the year 2020-21.

Undertaken by the JM Financial Foundation, JMFF Digital Saksharta Programme has been conceptualized with the objective of bridging the digital divide and providing children and students from rural and backward areas of Palghar district in Maharashtra the exposure to the aspirational world of digital literacy and Information Technology. The project has been implemented by way of a hub and spokes model. The hub set up in Mokhada block of the district is equipped with 50 computers, and holds the capacity of imparting basic as well as advanced IT skills, communication skills and Banking and Finance to students in grade 8 and above.

JMFF Vidyanidhi, our own scholarship programme, has been undertaken with the aim of providing financial assistance to meritorious students from lower-income families. These scholarships, targeted at impacting about 100 students per year, will reach out to those students who have the aspiration to rise, but lack the means. The support will be provided to students for their course fees in under-graduate/post-graduate and higher studies programmes.

A community library initiative, the JMFF Vachanalay project has been initiated to inculcate and retain the pure joy of reading for children, youth, adults and senior citizens by providing them with access to quality books from diverse disciplines. These and Palghar – Maharashtra are designed to be run as reading-friendly sanctuaries with books and games to expand the horizons of knowledge and increase reading fluency in children and seniors, alike.

The COVID-19 Pandemic upended our lives in unforeseen ways, some of which have had a life-changing impact on thousands of lives and families all over the world. While each of these losses has been a traumatic one, some have left an indelible mark on the minds and hearts of young children who have lost a parent or both. This loss has not just led to an emotional drain but also made them vulnerable to quitting their schools due to lack of adequate financial resources. JM Financial initiated Shiksha Samarthan in May 2021 with the objective of restoring the continuity in education for all affected children (up to grade 12) who have lost one or both parents to the pandemic. Since then, the project has lent its support towards the school education of over 7,000 children from across 18 states and three union territories.

JM Financial Foundation has been conducting eye-camps in the blocks of Khaira and Sikandra in Jamui district, Bihar for the past three years consecutively. In addition to the ever-growing number of blind patients in Bihar every year, conducting such eye-camps further informed us of the need and relevance of building an eye-care facility in the region to cater to hundreds of patients from underprivileged background. Keeping the said objective in mind, JMFF undertook the setting up of a 9,000+ sq. ft. eye-care hospital named Maitri Karuna Netralaya in Gidhaur block with the aim of diagnosing and providing emergency medical services to anyone with visual impairment issues in the district, thereby contributing towards treating curable blindness in the state. Prior to starting the hospital operations, five eye-camps were conducted in Khaira block in January 2023 to identify and screen patients with cataract and other visual impairment issues. With a team of 36 skilled eye-care and operations personnel, the Netralaya opened its doors to patients on 23rd January 2023, and has since then, treated close to 10,000 OPDs and completed 1,000+ eye surgeries, within the first 10 months of its existence.

The project is the same as that supported by the Company under its Annual Action Plan FY 2022-23, with the only difference lying in the name. The eye-hospital set up and run with the help of the Company’s CSR support is now formally known as Maitri Karuna Netralaya.

JM Financial Shiksha Samarthan, a CSR project, was initiated in May 2021 with the support of JM Financial group of Companies. The primary objective of the project is to extend holistic care, protection and quality education to children who have lost either / both parents to COVID – 19 pandemic in India. The ongoing project ensures every such deserving child, irrespective of caste, creed, socio-economic conditions, is eligible to receive financial support to complete her/his education up till higher secondary in India.

The project has so far supported 7,879 students over four academic years (2020-21 to 2023-24) through annual school fee, capped upto Rs. 50,000/- per student per year and ancillary support.

Aligned to its long-term commitment, the project shall continue supporting the said beneficiaries up till Academic Year 2037-38.

JM Financial Digital Saksharta Program was initiated as a CSR project in FY 2020-21. The project aims to bridge the digital gap and provide exposure to children from rural and backward areas to digital literacy and Information Technology.

Set-up as a 50-computer hub training center in Mokhada block of Palghar district in Maharashtra, the Center initiated sessions in March 2022. Till date the project has trained and certified 1,012 children and youth from tribal villages of the region through 11 courses in digital learning.

Continuing the training of youth and children at the existing hub centre, a scale-up of the project with a set-up of 25 computers is proposed in FY 2024-25 in the region at a distance of about 20-25 kms from the existing centre. This will enable access and opportunities of digital learning to children from distant areas.