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Striding Ahead A Cairn India CSR Magazine January 2012 Issue

Striding Ahead

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Cairn India is committed to conducting its operations in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. This commitment is fundamental to the long term success and focus on creating value and making a difference where Cairn India operates through various community development initiative in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Sri Lanka. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is therefore an integral part of Cairn India’s business strategy. Cairn India’s success is guided by the CSR vision, which is encapsulated in the 3 Rs – Respect, Relationships and Responsibility.

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Striding Ahead

A Cairn India CSR MagazineJanuary 2012 Issue

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2 I January 2012 Issue

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These are the four pillars on which Cairn India’s values are enriched. They form a

360O approach towards the betterment of the community and rural people. It is for

these rural communities that Cairn strives to improve their living standards, health

& hygiene, literacy level, economic independence and much more.

Covered FeaturesEducation Health Economic Development Infrastructure

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Conceptualised, designed and developed by the Communication and Design department of Cairn India Ltd.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this magazine has been gathered from actual incidents and experiences. The content is sole property of Cairn India Ltd. and must not be misused. To post your queries/ questions, write to [email protected]

© Cairn India Ltd.2011

Introduction 2

StridesWeTook 4

Education 6

Health 8

EconomicDevelopment 12

Infrastructure 16

TransformingLives 20

Contents

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Cairn India is committed at maintaining the highest standards of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in its business activities and aims to make an impact wherever it operates. Cairn India strongly endorses and believes that its CSR commitment of Respect, Relationships and Responsibility for the communities cannot be restricted and limited within regulatory requirements. By Respect, Relationships and Responsibility we mean the following:

Respect – People are Cairn India’s key asset and the attitude of the Cairn team is critical to its business culture. Cairn’s entrepreneurial spirit is underpinned by a depth of knowledge and a strong set of cultural core values, including integrity, social and environmental responsibility, teamwork, nurturing of individual creativity, risk management and developing alliances with key partners.

Relationships – These are the key to developing any business and Cairn India’s success in the region for more than a decade would not have been possible without the consistent support of all stakeholders, from Governments, regulators and JV partners to the people living near our sites. The level of support and understanding on the ground is something we have worked hard to

bring about in our business development activities and we are proud of what we have achieved – and continue to achieve – wherever we are operational.

Responsibility – Cairn India is operating in many areas that face economic, social and environmental challenges. It has the responsibility to understand these CSR challenges, identify the potential impact of its activities and, through engaging with stakeholders, look for opportunities for mutual benefit.

The CSR team has strived to ensure long term socio-economic and environmental sustainability of the communities across all its areas of operations.

Cairn CSR programmes are embedded within the four thematic areas namely Health, Education, Infrastructure and Economic Development. These programmes are directly impacting thousands of community members. The programmes are in sync with Government programmes and partner agencies working towards similar goals. In this issue of Striding Ahead, you will read about the inception to sustenance of these programmes.

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IntroductionIndia is united by diversity spread across a population of about 1.2 billion people composed of several ethnic groups, speaking more than 1,000 languages and following varied religions. With an annual population growth rate of 1.4 per cent, India faces many challenges primarily in the rural sectors. India ranks in the bottom few on the United Nations Development Programme’s 2011 Human Development Index – a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education and standards of living for countries worldwide. Close to 75 per cent of India’s population lives in rural areas of which more than 10 per cent of rural households are reported to be landless. The sector constitutes of day wage earners as labours, farmers and casual workers. Within these communities its women who are further more deprived due to tradition, caste, society and other constraints. Taking this into consideration, many Government programmes and welfare initiatives have mushroomed in various marginalised areas of India. However, the scenario is not rosy and a lot needs to be done by corporate companies and individuals.

Cairn India, a significant player in the Indian energy sector has consistently leveraged social responsibility towards the communities and rural people in areas of its operations. As a committed corporate, Cairn has been sensitive towards the situation of the marginalised sectors and has buckled up to transforming the lives of people across its operational areas. Focus has been laid on areas which needed enhancement and consistent efforts are being made everyday to enrich the livelihood of people. Cairn India CSR initiatives and programmes aim at fostering inclusive growth in the communities around its operational area. Today Cairn has emerged as one of the most responsible corporates in the country because of its honest commitment to the society.

It was in the year 2006 when Barmer, a drought-prone area in Rajasthan witnessed floods; the villages were under 25 feet water; Cairn India plunged in to help the community in every possible way. The relief operations were lead by Cairn India officials and representatives from the armed forces and district administration.

In 2007, in S’Yanam village close to 100 micro vendors were developed by Cairn India. Today the same micro vendors are drawing orders of close to INR 22.5 crore. A student from Suvali who benefitted from the education initiatives went on to achieving greater heights in academics and Cairn India sponsored his higher education in IIT in the year 2010. Such has been the momentum of consistent and genuine community engagement at Cairn India. Even today Cairn is effectively disseminating needed support in form of initiatives for better education, health and economic independence for the marginalised section of the society not just in Barmer but also in areas of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Sri Lanka.

“Cairn India, a significant player in the Indian energy sector has consistently leveraged social responsibility towards the communities and rural people in areas of its operations.

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Encouraging education for the girl child

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The Science on Wheels van has touched the lives of more than 16000 students across schools in Barmer and Bhogat areas.

Strides we tookGolden Peacock Award for Corporate Social Responsibility 2011.

CMO Asia Award for Best Overall Corporate Social Responsibility Practice in 2011 in Singapore.

HelpAge Silver Plate Award in 2010 for impacting over 25 Lac community people through the health initiatives.

Cairn India was able to add value to approximately 80% of the trainees from Cairn Enterprise Centre as they started their own enterprises after going through rigid training sessions under supervision of specialised trainers.

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The Cairn Enterprise Centre has been instrumental in bringing about economic stability for the women by imparting trainings in handicrafts, thereby making way for business prospects for women.

The Room to Read, Library Project has been taken beyond borders. Students in Monaragala district in Sri Lanka are being benefitted from the resources and knowledge being imparted through these libraries.

Construction and repairing of around 1350 Tanka Tankli (Water Harvesting Structures) in 19 villages of Barmer, Rajashthan. The total project cost was Rs. 131.4 Lacs.

The Dairy Development Programme has successfully strengthened the economic status of the rural community as the milk production has increased 108% from time of inception. This is due to various factors such as better veterinarian facilities, improved fodder, regular fat measurement and much more.

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Education is a tool that helps combat the cut-throat competition in today’s times. At every juncture in a man’s life, its ‘Education’ that makes the difference as it is the 4th highest necessity after food, clothing and shelter. India has been constantly striving to improve the quality of education and aim at increasing the literacy rate of the country. Cairn India has joined the efforts and is committed to creating an environment for children and young people to develop and evolve as responsible citizens. Through the education initiatives, Cairn focuses on accessibility, equity and quality of education.

The importance of appropriate infrastructure, skilled teachers, innovative teaching methodology and curriculum,

availability of good books and learning aids etc have been realised by Cairn India and constant efforts are being made in this direction. Programmes like Theater in Education (TiE), Science on Wheels (SoW) and Room to Read Libraries are instrumental in achieving the objective of Cairn’s education initiatives.

LibraryProgramme

Room to Read is a non-profit organisation founded on the belief that World Change Starts With Educated Children. The organisation focuses on literacy and gender equality in education and works in collaboration with local communities, partner organisations and governments. Room to Read is a global organisation dedicated to promoting and enabling education through various programmes and believes that all children, regardless of gender or background, have a right to education.

Cairn India partnered with Room to Read to magnify its own education initiatives and to envisage a learning process wherein the children and community members

benefit from the library resources. This is in background of the belief that by enabling these resources an environment will be created which will further help the students and community members to develop and create reading as a culture in the community.

Development of rural school libraries is one of the key projects that Cairn has implemented in the education portfolio across various operational areas. The initiative has been instrumental in inculcating reading habit in children which in turn has helped them in improving overall academic results.

Libraries have shown to have a positive impact on reading skills as they provides access to supplemental reading materials, which support extended vocabularies, creative thinking, enrichment of class materials, and encourage independent access to information and arouse the interest of students in matters beyond the curriculum.

Some of the benefits of school libraries can be summarised as:

• Facilitation of learning programmes that equip students with the necessary skills.• Experience of joyous learning and thereby enriching student’s intellectual, aesthetic, cultural and emotional growth. • Access to a wide range of materials, fiction and non-fiction, print, audio, video and digital. • Opportunity to adapt to learning programmes which integrate information resources and technologies.

TheaterinEducation

Cairn India started Theatre in Education (TiE) programme in partnership with BNKVS (Bharatiya Natya Kala Vikas Sansthan) at Barmer to introduce innovative way of teaching and learning. The aim of the initiative was to provide quality education through a process of interactive learning for the marginalised students. The attributes of the programme also aim at slashing monotony of classroom teaching, improving teacher-student interactions, making learning interactive and joyful, increasing power of expressions and imparting theatrical training to teachers as teaching aids.

Education

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Close to 40 percent of India’s population is illiterate and schools in rural areas are not completely equipped to solve this problem alone. Education for girl child, child marriage and unemployment are only some of the hindrances in way of attaining higher literacy rate. Due to this, the enrollment levels are low in rural schools. In order to boost the literacy levels of Government schools in Barmer district it was proposed to extend support for an interactive mode of learning for children in the district schools as well through the programme - Theatre in Education (TiE).

The programme has also been endorsed by the Chief Minister of Rajasthan. Cairn India has demonstrated running of the programme in 34 schools in Barmer

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Rural Economy)• Local Panchayats• District Administration

and Jalore districts. In Barmer itself the programme has reached schools in 4 blocks (Baitu, Barmer, Bhadka and Dhorimana).

ScienceonWheels

In order to transform and stimulate the thinking of rural children and teachers, Cairn India in collaboration with Agastya International Foundation introduced the Science on Wheels (SoW) programme in and around Cairn operational areas.

The Science on Wheels vans are driven to schools in rural areas and two instructors along with an array of around 100 experiments teach the students in these schools. The models and experiments are demonstrated to the students so that they get hands-on-experience and retain interest in the subject of science.

The Agastya instructors teach scientific concepts through simple experiments in sessions that emphasise interaction and questioning. Most of the experiments are simple in nature and use indigenous material.The SoW van is also equipped with models to show complex workings like

the ‘entire solar system’.This initiative has been instrumental in improving the overall academic result of the students in the regions where it operates.

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Recognising the importance of good health is the first step towards improving the quality of life of the people. A synergistic approach is all that it takes to inculcate good health and hygiene habits in the community as the first step to ensure healthy living.

Cairn India is dedicated to enhancing health seeking behaviour of communities with respect to various issues such as: child and maternal health, nutrition and diet, diseases of poverty, life threatening diseases (HIV/AIDS / TB/ Cancer) etc. It has been ensured that community members living

around Cairn India’s operational area like Viramgam, Radhanpur, Barmer, Ravva, and Suvali amongst others, have easy access to quality healthcare facilities provided by Cairn.

As a responsible corporate, Cairn India has been complementing and supplementing the government health system for effective primary healthcare. The scope of work for Cairn includes, working with Panchayats to catalyse health governance through micro level strategising and planning. Cairn India has been instrumental in empowering communities to take actions to address various health requirements in collaboration with Cairn India’s CSR programmes.

MobileHealthVan

Remote districts in the country and their difficult terrain pose many challenges in providing access to healthcare services. Instances have been recorded when there were only 10 doctors catering to a population of 2 million in and around Barmer.

Other districts and villages like Suvali, Ravva, Banaskantha, etc., dealt with this problem too.

Lack of health facilities in the vicinity, unavailability of female doctors and lack of awareness on health issues pertaining especially to women and children have been the problems prevailing in the region.

Moreover, the rural population is not aware about different diseases and Government health schemes for the community. As the villages are scattered, the community people have to travel long distances to access healthcare services.

Keeping in view the challenges of access and availability of quality healthcare service options, Cairn India in partnership with HelpAge India started the Mobile Health Van (MHV) project in the rural areas in and around Cairn operational areas.The MHV not only aims at the curative healthcare services but also focuses on preventive healthcare services which are done through awareness programmes, health camps and much more.

Health

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Catering to the community’s medical requirements at their door step

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The project has been successful as there has been active participation from the community and the local leaders who have played an important role in communicating the benefits of this health initiative run by Cairn India. Over the last three years the MHV programme of Cairn India has been regularly sighted in the local newspapers.

Today the Mobile Health Van has become a lifeline for the villagers as they look forward to the provision of medical services. The villagers have also been extremely active and supportive in running this project. A fleet of volunteers have played a significant role in mobilising the villagers towards the MHV and other health awareness programmes. Role of volunteers in the success of the programme:

• Volunteers focused on assisting patients to properly use the healthcare system in terms of making the patient cards, helping the elderly patients, etc.

• Volunteers encourage appropriate immunisation levels in case of vaccination for children; provide translation to people in their local language. This helped the patients in navigating the health system and encouraged them to optimally utilise

services of the MHV.• Volunteers helped in conducting

sessions on virtually any subject ranging from proper hygiene to sessions on life threatening diseases.

As a responsible corporate, Cairn India caters to raising awareness on healthcare within the community and has been instrumental in providing the necessary support to the government health initiatives. This has helped achieve the objective of making available primary healthcare facilities in the community, for the community.

Providing necessary medical assistance for maternal healthcare

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• SURE (Society to Uplift Rural Economy)

• IL&FS• NIIT• LiQVid• Thomson Reuters• Multi Commodity

Exchange (MCX)• Rajasthan Mission on

Livelihood (RMoL)• GMR Varalakshmi

Foundation• ALEAP• Jana Kalyan Welfare Society

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GeneralHealthAwarenessCamps

Though the Mobile Health Van caters to the medical requirements of the community, Cairn India accelerated the process of generating optimum health awareness through regular camps. These camps are organised for the underprivileged section of the community in association with HelpAge India. The prime agenda of the general health awareness camps is to propagate the importance of health and hygiene amongst men, women and children.

The advisors and counselors at the camps strive to encourage the rural community to optimally utilise the available facilities provided by Cairn India. The process is carried out in consultation with the block level officials, village sarpanch, key community members, school teachers and anganwadi workers to create magnified impact of the initiative. In addition to generating awareness through camps, added initiatives like door to door counselling and distribution of nutritional food are carried out.

AIDS awareness campaign

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DairyDevelopmentProgramme

Livestock breeding has been the traditional subsistence strategy in Western Rajasthan for the marginalised sections of the

The Cairn India Dairy Development Programme aims to:

• Establish a bulk collection and distribution network of milk in the villages and link the small dairy farmers to an assured and remunerative outlet for their milk produce

• Organise rural households in Self Help Groups (SHGs) and enable capacity building

• Increase the quality and quantity of milk production through technical assistance to SHG farmers on improved livestock care, veterinary services, breed improvement and fodder development.

• Establish linkages with banks and financial institution to access of loans for livestock

Economic Development

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society in rural areas with limited or no land resources. Rajasthan has one of the highest livestock populations in the country. Despite this, the milk production in Rajasthan is very low due to the extreme

climatic conditions. Majority of the milk produced is retained by the communities for their own use. The widespread hostile terrain offers limited opportunities for selling the surplus milk and, to add to this, the milk from the marginalised community is not accepted by the upper castes. Most of the collection is localised and largely managed by private vendors. The traditional milk fat analysis system ensured that the communities were unable to derive full benefits out of the milk that they sold.

Looking at the scenario Cairn India in July 2007, decided to support an intensive community based dairy development programme with an aim to improve the economic condition of the rural poor.

The programme was initiated in Barmer.The thrust was to identify and collectivise the local community as potential milk suppliers, ensure price discovery system for the milk suppliers, create an assured base, organise the untapped milk pockets and enhance the economic status of dairy farmers. The programme was designed in a manner that it targeted women to help them uplift their economic status in the community. Over time, the local community experienced increased income which empowered them to form Self Help Groups (SHG’s) and explore other livelihood options.

As this sector becomes more remunerative, there will be an increase in self employment and independence amongst the community members. This programme has been groundbreaking in cutting across cultural barriers and providing a new sense of independence and empowerment amongst the women of Barmer. Women have begun SHG’s, started internal loaning, started saving thereby placing themselves in the forefront of their families as productive, indispensable members.

Through increased spending power; women have exerted their independence by resisting traditional societal pressures,

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S • Trade skill exposure and enhanced employability for communities in the Barmer Development Area thereby developing micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

• Facilitating access to finance for SMEs and micro-entrepreneurs to establish and expand businesses.

• Collection and dissemination of information on employment opportunities, enterprise development, government schemes and upcoming contracts and tenders.

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Rural Economy)• IL&FS• NIIT• LiQVid• Thomson Reuters• Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX)• Rajasthan Mission on Livelihood

(RMoL)• GMR Varalakshmi Foundation• ALEAP• Jana Kalyan Welfare Society

gained control of their finances and developed immense self reliance. Traditionally members of different castes would never be seen in the same room, and now due to this programme, caste is no longer a distinction as people are working together without discrimination. The programme is currently running in 14 villages of Barmer, Rajasthan. The big strides in milk production from 196,873 litres to 2,195,424 litres made in the last four years (2007 – 2011) under Dairy Programme, have catapulted Cairn India’s Dairy Development programme as a catalyst for social and economic change in Barmer, Rajasthan.

ProgrammeonAgriAdvisorytoFarmersthroughSMS

Cairn India has partnered with Thomson Reuters to implement the programme on agri advisory through SMS for the farming community living across the Cairn pipeline route.

The programme offers a highly personalised micro-information service over mobile phones to the farming community that is changing their lives.

Over the years, through the programme SMS subscriptions were sold to several hundred thousand farmers.

The subscriptions are sold as an easy-to-use card in thousands of retail outlets in rural India. Each farmer can choose his choice of content, which is delivered to him in his locallanguage over his mobile phone. The service is delivered as SMSes that fit in the daily workflow of the farmer, in 8 local languages, across 13 states and over any operator or mobile phone. The service helps the farmer with timely information on calamities, demand – supply rate in markets, etc.

Right of Use (RoU) farmers have shown their willingness for continuation of services from RML programme and have requested for its renewal. It is evident that the SMS services have improved livelihood for the farmers. This initiative of Cairn India has been instrumental in empowering the farmers, leading to direct financial benefit to their incomes.

“Touching the lives of over ten thousand local community members.

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Skill based training for the local youth

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CairnEnterpriseCentre

In order to cope with problems of unemployment, lack of opportunity and business possibility, Cairn India conceptualised an ‘Enterprise Centre’ which would focus on cutting edge trainingsolutions that have an industry linkage, thereby increasing the chances of greater employability for the students.

The aim of the Cairn Enterprise Centre is “to improve the quality of life through economic empowerment of communities, and development of community owned sustainable businesses by building local capacities and entrepreneurial talents”.

Using specialised training patterns and methodology from facilities at ITI, Barmer along with specialised instructors and trainers; the Cairn Enterprise Centre presents a modular approach and delivers modules that are highly focused.

Some of the trainings being held at the Cairn Enterprise Centre include:

• Mobile Phone Repairing Training• Genset Repairing Training

Dairy Development Programme

“7000 people including land contributing families have been trained at the Cairn Enterprise Centre in various skills from mobile phone repairing to masonry and electric wiring. It also has a centre to help small and micro business start-ups with skills like preparing business plans and designing websites to market themselves. As part of training schedule, more than 1500 women have been ‘trained in handicrafts making and business skills.“

• Advanced Welding Training for ITI Students

• Two Wheeler Repairing Training• Spoken English Course• Basic Computer Training

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Rajasthan

A 3% dip in agriculture production triggers a threefold rise in essential commodity prices. Such is the contribution made by our farmers, who live in rural areas and contribute approximately the fifth of India’s GDP. The villages where these farmers live, lack basic infrastructure like roads, homes made of brick and mortar, hospitals and schools; indeed, much of what we take for granted in urban areas! Cairn has cared to this cause and looked into

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Infrastructure

developing the infrastructure across its operational areas.

To provide enriching experience to the rural people, Cairn understood the need of the community and supported it accordingly. In the areas of Thar, water is a precious commodity and rarely available.

Access to clean drinking water or water for agricultural purposes has been an age old problem. Construction of around 1350 water harvesting and storage structures

was propelled and sponsored by Cairn India. This initiative directly impacted close to 10,000 people in the area. The expertise and equipment used for all these structures was up to date including 30 high degree submersible pumps, control panels, spares and leak detection technology.

The beneficiaries were selected through a process of conducting surveys followed by village-level deliberations and suggestions. Selected families with no existing structures were provided new

ones, however, those with existing but damaged were provided with support for repair.

Number of Tankas / Tankis(Water Harvesting Structures

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Inculcating best hygiene practices in the community

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Ravva

Cairn has been instrumental in developing the infrastructure around its operation areas in Ravva. Many initiatives have been planned based on the needs of the community. Sanitation facility was provided in villages in Ravva and more than 465 individual toilets across households were constructed. This initiative helped prevent various kinds of diseases in the community. Cairn India also took the ownership of ensuring safe drinking water for the community.

Since the water table, in coastal Andhra Pradesh is at the surface level, it is contaminated with sewage and agricultural runoff which is the prime cause of water borne diseases.

The first step Cairn took was by supplying water through tankers for the community in S’ Yaman village. Thereafter, a reservoir, sand filters, overhead storage tank and a distribution system for a population of 4500 was put in place. In response to the demand generated at the community level and voiced by the Village Development Committee of the village, Cairn initiated an extensive water distribution system by laying pipelines in all the segments of the

village. Today, the Panchayat has taken responsibility of water supply to individual homes and street taps.

Cairn India is sensitive towards nature and eco systems and maintains high standards of operational efficiency to mitigate environmental damage and destruction. Keeping this in mind, a ‘Green Belt’ has been developed in S’Yanam with an aim to protect the environment.

Today the belt is spread over an area of 229 acres around the Ravva terminal, village roads and the beach. There are various species of trees in the Green Belt, dominated largely by Casuarinas and Mangroves. Cairn has been contributing to the community in the field of Education through various programmes, however, at S’Yanam special focus was laid at the school infrastructure. Cairn has been supporting various Government schemes like mid-day meal, provision of utensils, uniforms, school bags and books.

The most impactful contribution has been the learning experience gained by the students at the science laboratory set up in schools by Cairn. Along with this required number of computers, furniture and other equipment to create a better learning environment for children was ensured by

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Cairn. In addition to this, many solar lights have been installed in the village for the benefit of the local community.

CB/OS-2

The coastal area of Hazira Industrial Belt is an economically backward area, which requires infrastructural development for benefit of local population. Suvali villageis one of the backward villages of the area. The Surat-Hazira road has witnessed many severe accidents and many more near misses.

Therefore, as part of Cairn’s commitment to the development of the community, it was essential to construct proper roads for this area. A road joining Hazira and Suvali to other nearby villages was constructed by Cairn for the benefit of both Suvali and Junagam village population. Cairn India has also taken a step further and installed street lights for the villagers. The street lights have been set-up on the road from the onshore terminal to the village. The lights ensure safety for the villagers traveling in the late hours.

Another step taken for the convenience and community building is construction of the cattle pond. Since Suvali thrives on

animal husbandry as the main occupation of the local population, hence, Cairn India has built a pond for the animals. Suvali village has always faced acute water shortage. Villagers worked miles to fetch

drinking water. To ensure safe drinking water for the community in Suvali, Cairn has taken several initiatives. In the first stage in 2005, and overhead as well as underground tanks were constructed. The overhead tank has a capacity of 1 lac litres and the water sump has a capacity of 2 lac litres’. To supply this water pump houses were also constructed. In 2006, Cairn constructed RO pumps to add to its earlier efforts. These pumps were later handed over to the Panchayat for management and maintenance.

As part of another initiative, Cairn invested in the construction of pipelines which helped in facilitating drinking water to the households. A total of 1200 villagers have been benefited by this initiative.

To support the education system, and to ensure continuous education for the children, Cairn has taken some measures. To address the dropout rates, Cairn had initially upgraded the infrastructural facilities, which included toilet blocks in

the Suvali village school. Further support has been provided by supplying basic utilities like furniture, green boards, and cupboards. The school has also been receiving power for fans and lights. To enhance the education experience, Cairn has contributed towards the laboratory

equipments and computers. In addition, Cairn provides support for computer teachers of Suvali Primary School by helping out with their salaries. Students pursuing higher studies are also supported through award of scholarships.

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Cairn’s Agri Advisory Programme

Ramesh Kumar Prajapati from Sinad Village from District Patan in Gujarat was working as a farmer and as a part time at a repairing workshop to make a living. 36 years old, Prajapati had four members to look after and feed in his family. He often lost a lot of money due to unforeseen weather

possible way and he was able to enhance his income from farming.

Prajapati recalls “Once on receiving a message of a predicted storm and heavy rain, I and my brother warned the other villagers. The message helped us being prepared for the worst situation.”Prajapati received his messages in English language even though he was not well versed with the language. His sons Sunil and Nikul helped him sometimes and this way Prajapati was learning a new languageas well.

Though Cairn has ensured that RML services include messages in local languages, Prajapati was determined to learn English through this initiative. “I want to learn English so that I can communicate directly with everyone, overlooking ‘language’ as a barrier” he said. He is determined to enroll other famers for RML services as he believes that Cairn India initiative of bringing this boon to him has improved his livelihood. As a farmer he is more prepared, acquainted and

equipped to handle calamities and other troubles.

It makes one believe that Cairn India has given not just door step counseling and opportunities but is slowly embedding the roots of confidence in various individuals.

Mobile Health Van

Damma Ram from village Dunda Kawas in Rajasthan was always perceived as one of the most active and energetic member in the community. He is the first to take part in

Transforming Livesconditions which ruined his crops several times. The little that he made from the repairing workshop barely sufficed the family of four.

One fine day, Prajapati got to know about the RML services and was keen to try it for better yielding of his crops. With information ranging from weather forecasts to crop rates, it benefited him in every

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all the development initiatives at his village, always volunteering to help the needy etc.

However life changed when Damma Ram was almost paralysed by arthritis. His movement was ceased by the disease and he was unable to perform his daily chores. Only one of his four sons stayed with him who worked as a daily wage labourer leaving nobody to take care of Damma Ram at home.

The father and son could not afford treatment and the disease was hampering

the health of Damma. He had almost given up hope of survival till he was told about the ‘Mobile Health Van’ (MHV) Programme initiated by Cairn. Villagers told Damma Ram and his son about the MHV which would provide medicines and free health check up to ensure healthy living for community members.

In his first visit to the MHV, Damma Ram was thoroughly checked by the doctor and was provided free medicines for arthritis. The medicines soon proved to be magical as after a few months Damma could walk

again. A regular at the MHV for his timely medication, Damma now plays the role of spreading awareness about facilities of Cairn’s MHVs and how the villagers can benefit from the same. Damma Ram’s ‘good soul’ tag is back and he continues to take care of his fellow villagers.

Spoken English Course - CEC

With dreams packed in a bag, Vinod Puro from Langera village in Rajasthan came to Cairn Enterprise Centre (CEC). Located 12 Kms away from Barmer, Vinod travelled to

realise his dreams can come true. He came with the purpose to learn English as he wanted to start his own real estate business in Hyderabad. Being a student of bachelors of art, Vinod was never able to learn English and gain fluency in the language. He joined the first batch of spoken English course at the Cairn Enterprise Centre and began learning through instructor led training modules.

With the help of class participation, software support and appropriate guidance from the trainer, Vinod learnt the language effectively. The course helped him understand the dynamics of the language and the ways to address formal meetings, informal conversations and much more. Vinod emerged as a hard working, successful student who completed his course with dedication and commitment.

Today, Vinod is based at Hyderabad and is successfully executing his Real Estate business as he can fluently speak and write in English. This course helped him deal with foreign customers easily and effectively. He has maintained contact with representatives from Cairn Enterprise Centre and continues to share his daily experiences.