Prutha Goa

The Hard Rock Heals Foundation, in partnership with Hard Rock Hotel Goa, announced a $5,000 grant to be awarded to Child’s Play India Foundation in 2019 as part of its commitment to improving the lives and resiliency of local communities. Child’s Play India Foundation is one of 50 local grant winners around the world to get support from Hard Rock International’s charitable arm. Hard Rock International (HRI) is one of the most globally recognised companies. Beginning with an Eric Clapton guitar, Hard Rock owns the world's most valuable collection of music memorabilia, which is displayed at its locations around the globe. The Hard Rock Heals Foundation is a registered 501(c) (3) charitable organisation and oversees all philanthropic outreach for Hard Rock International. Music is energy; it stirs emotion, inspires, connects and restores. The Hard Rock Heals Foundation exists to improve lives through the power of music. Since its inception in 1971, Hard Rock International has brought p

In an age where CSR has become compulsory in India and most corporations find the easy way out by doing as little as possible, Hard Rock Hotel Goa, which is part of Hard Rock Inc, is making a difference in the area of philanthropy like no other. Why is Hard Rock, a chain of hotels, cafés, casinos, and restaurants more geared towards charity? Hard Rock Inc began as Hard Rock Café and was set up in 1971 by Isaac Burton Tigrett and his partner Peter Morton. In 1984, the enterprising Tigrett relaunched Hard Rock as a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame which showcased memorabilia from rock and roll, R&B and country music icons. Today Hard Rock has a presence all over the world, including North America, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. Although Hard Rock is a celebration of music and its creators, Tigrett meant it to act as a promoter of the physical manifestation of the themes of love and peace heralded by the music that evolved in the

Points for People is a scheme that is presently fuelling the Tata Trusts’ plans to alleviate the debilitating conditions that poverty presents to the tribal people and farmers of India. The platform provides an opportunity for people to make donations by converting loyalty points earned through transactions with Tata Trusts’ partners into avenues of respite for the unfortunate. It also allows for online payments towards the same with all donations eligible for tax exemption. The Central India Initiative by Tata Trusts aims at affording greater and higher quality opportunities to the underprivileged in central India and the tribal belt to better their lives by concentrating on the areas of water and sanitation, livelihood, education (digital literacy and children’s education), cancer care and the eradication of TB. Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (CInI) is the nodal agency founded by Tata Trusts to oversee the development of plans in the aforementioned areas. The progr

Lupin Limited is an excellent example of how CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities should be carried out to bring about the betterment of society. The multinational pharmaceutical company was founded by Dr Desh Bandu Gupta in 1968. Guided by the principle of charity and the ideology that one must give back to society in gratitude for what one has received, Dr Gupta, who is still chairman of Lupin Limited, established the Lupin Human Welfare and Research Foundation (LHWRF) in 1988. Moving on from working in 35 villages in Rajasthan, LHWRF now has an outreach in 3463 villages in 8 states of India. LHWRF’s holistic approach to rural progress encompasses economic, social, and infrastructural development. This includes agriculture, animal husbandry, and rural industries under economic development; women empowerment, education, and health under social development; and rural infrastructure and water resource development under infrastructural development. The winner of numerous awar

The idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in India, is not a new one. It existed in the form of philanthropy well before the Industrial Revolution made its impact in India. The 19th century saw India’s corporate giants take an active role in promoting social causes, but they did incorporate their biases and ulterior motives in a covert manner into whatever practices they chose to undertake. The Companies Act, 2013, which came into effect on 1 April, 2014 mandates companies having a net worth of Rs. 500 crores or a turnover of Rs. 1000 crores or a net profit of Rs. 5 crores, to spend 2 per cent of their average net profit of the previous three years on corporate social responsibility activities. Mr Manguirish Pai Raiker is a prominent business figure in Goa, who has in addition to his long list of credentials, the honour of being the erstwhile president of Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the director of Goa Handicrafts Rural and Small Scale Industries Development Corpor

By Richard Lees, MD of Volunteering Goa LTD and International Consultant for Prutha Goa Any observer of the media today, be it newspapers, radio, TV or online media, could be forgiven for thinking that we are living in a very terrible time for humanity. We are fed with endless stories of war, corruption, natural disasters, terrorism, suicides and more. Even our modern obsession with celebrities seems more often than not to focus on their falling from popular favour, be it sporting heroes who are found to be taking drugs or politicians, singers, actors, etc who are caught having affairs. We even enjoy our stories of bad luck – the millionaire who lost everything in a stock market collapse seems to be a popular news story too. Is it true that the world is just getting worse and worse? Surprisingly, actual data does not support this view at all. Max Roser is an economist at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at Oxford University. He makes his data available freely through the website

  Xavier Centre of Historical Research launched an innovative venture in the world of cyberspace journalism on September 20, 2014. This endeavour, which is the brainchild of international consultant and MD of the NGO, Volunteering Goa Ltd., Mr. Richard Lees, is meant to function as an online resource that will tangibly create an environment of selflessness and generosity through inspiring stories and articles. The website, named Prutha (Goa), meaning 'daughter of the earth', will carry articles on a range of topics from the arts, the environment, culture, scientific breakthroughs to conventional social work.  The formal launch of Prutha Goa took place at Xavier Centre of Historical Research, beginning with an introduction by Fr. Savio Abreu SJ, the director of Xavier Centre of Historical Research. Fr. Savio Abreu spoke of the value of acting on new ideas that would lead to the betterment of society. He said, ‘Xavier Centre of Historical Research may be associated with history b