Group Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, Arvind Limited, Niraj Kumar Lal brings two and half decades of experience in corporate social responsibility. His domain includes health education, skill development and slum networking. He is a member of CII National Committee on CSR and Convenor of CII Gujarat State Panel for CSR and Social Inclusiveness. Mr Lal has facilitated collaborative relationships and partnerships between the Industry, Academia, International Development Agencies and Consulting organisations for greater productivity and holistic development.
His body of work includes program on education that aims to take children out of poverty cycle by working with them for a continuous period of 8 to 10 years. The program has ensured that the student becomes the last generation in his family to have seen poverty.
Similarly, the skill training of tribal women workforce is aimed to turn blue-collared women workers to white-collared ones within stipulated time period through training and opportunities for education for women to upgrade themselves. The program is all set to be replicated at various cities across India.
According to Mr Lal the next big thing in CSR is the Private-Private Partnerships – a neo PPP. The neo PPP model is the natural evolution of Public Private Partnership (PPP). The result-driven corporate culture will not only fuel efficiency, systems and frameworks but also inculcate speed required for measurable social development.
Mr Lal speaks frequently at leading business forums. Articles and papers written by him, has been published in Economic and Political Weekly, books published by IIMA and his experiences of the education program was published in Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad’s journal Vikalpa. The slum networking program was selected among 100 best global practices by United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS).