By Shruti Pushkarna
- Mr.Aroon Purie, Editor-in-Chief, India Today Group with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at the Aaj Tak Care Awards
TV Today Network’s Hindi news channel Aaj Tak hosted the first edition of Aaj Tak Care Awards on June 6 at the Taj Palace Hotel inNew Delhi. The awards seek to honour corporate entities who have contributed towards inclusive and sustainable development keeping in mind the society as the focal point.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee graced the event as the chief guest and felicitated the winners at the awards ceremony. Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, who launched the Aaj Tak Care awards anthem, was also present at the awards ceremony.
Inaugurating the awards ceremony, Aroon Purie, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, India Today Group said: “The industry realises it must make more than just profit; that it must give back to the society. TV News channels have been accused of concentrating only on what’s wrong with the society, so these awards are ‘good news’.”
Speaking at the event, Mr Pranab Mukherjee urged the corporate sector to build CSR in a big way into their business: “You need to give back to the society. We need more Nandan Nilekanis to join the cause. CorporateIndiahas to help with new ideas to deal with some of the prevailing socio-economic issues. We need to work together towards a better future.”
Aaj Tak Care Awards were given away in five different categories, Education, Empowerment, Environment, Healthcare and Livelihood. Leading research agency, IMRB International filtered entries for participation in these awards based on parameters like replicability, sustainability, people participation and innovativeness. In the second phase, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI), with their expertise in various sectors, partnered to further shortlist the companies. They compared and evaluated the CSR initiatives of all entries and nominated the final 40 companies for the second phase. The third and last phase of the Aaj Tak Care Awards was the selection process by the jury where eminent personalities debated and arrived at a list of final 12 winners.
The Jury was chaired by Mr Gurcharan Das, Chairman, author & management consultant. Other jury members included, Prof Dipankar Gupta, noted sociologist; Mr Arun Kapur, Executive Director, Learn Today; Mr Sandeep Pandey, social activist; Mr Rajender Singh, environmentalist & chairman, Tarun Bhagat Sangh; Dr Ashok Seth, Chairman of Fortis Group of Hospitals (Cardiovascular Sciences & Cardiology Council); Mr Sandeep Chachra, Executive Director, Action Aid India.
Commenting on the awards, Joy Chakraborthy, CEO, TV Today Network said: “The Aaj Tak Care Awards is an endeavour by the TV Today network to recognize and honour the real champions of corporateIndiawho have positively impacted the society. We looked at companies who have gone beyond their corporate objectives of growth and profitability, and laid an emphasis on the improvement of the society as their larger objective.”
List of winners in all five categories:
Education
Amway India Enterprises Pvt. Ltd
PVR Limited
Environment
Suzlon Energy Limited
ONGC
Dabur India Ltd
Healthcare
Eli Lilly & Company
JK Lakshmi Cement Ltd
Standard Chartered
Empowerment
Gitanjali Gems
Microsoft Corporation
Livelihood
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL)
First Source Solutions Ltd