Noida, March 13, 2018: Three non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been felicitated by Home Minister Rajnath Singh here for winning the HCL Grant 2018.
The three NGOs across the categories of education, healthcare and environment won a grant of up to Rs 5 crore each.
The recipient of grant this year included Eleutheros Christian Society in the health category, Keystone Foundation in environment category and Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind (Sight Savers) in the education sector.
Lauding the winning NGOs and HCL for their roles in the three crucial fields, the Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said in a country like India it was important for everyone — government, corporates, NGOs and civil society — to work together towards development agenda.
He said in the years to come the government will work towards gross domestic prosperity.
On the occasion, Mr Singh also released the second edition of the “The Fifth Estate – NGOs transforming Rural India in Environment, Health and Education”, a comprehensive sector compendium of the most credible NGOs striving towards empowerment of rural India.
The occasion was also graced by Culture Minister Dr Mahesh Sharma.
Considered as one of the coveted institutionalised CSR grants of India, HCL Grant is recognition of the rise of community led ecosystems of NGOs. It identifies NGOs doing path-breaking work in rural development through an independent, robust and democratic process.
The eminent jury for this year’s Grant comprised of Ms Robin Abrams – Former President of Palm Computing, Dr Isher Judge Ahluwalia, Chairperson of Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, Mr B S Baswan, former director, Indian Institute of Public Administration, Mr Richard Lariviere – President and CEO, Field Museum, Chicago and former President of the University of Oregon, Ms Pallavi Shroff, Managing Partner of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. and HCL founder and chairman Shiv Nadar.
UNI
