• In :
• February 2020- Positive Focus

“Goodness is the only investment that never fails”—Henry David Thoreau

Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been a socially responsible enterprise, taking a lead in serving society, and is committed to enhancing the quality of life of people from marginalised sections of society, especially those who reside near the airports. Though, in recent years, it has not only adhered to areas near the airports but expanded its reach to every nook and corner of our country. The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects by AAI are monitored centrally at the corporate headquarters, but the execution by the staff takes place at various airports, thereby enhancing employee engagement and making them socially responsible. AAI is committed to gradually increasing its expenditure on CSR and contributing towards nation-building. The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has declared ‘Education, Healthcare, and Nutrition’ as the theme for CSR projects in FY 2019–20. AAI spent around Rs. 87 crores on 96 CSR projects in 25 states and UTs in FY 2018–19. AAI CSR board has allocated more than
Rs. 83 crores for CSR in FY 2019–20. 

AAI is expanding its CSR activities to aspirational districts identified by NITI Aayog as highly underdeveloped. Though it runs programs in almost all verticals, the main area of focus has been ‘Education, Healthcare, and Nutrition.’ AAI has been allocated 15 aspirational districts by the DPE in various Indian states. Recently, AAI aligned itself with the government’s ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyaan’ and gave a go-ahead to a water conservation project in Dumka district, Jharkhand, worth Rs.10 crores. AAI has also stepped up its efforts towards development in Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected aspirational districts. It has a community development project running in Ranchi in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Recently, AAI also signed an MOA with District Administration, Aurangabad, in Bihar, which is also an LWE-affected aspirational district for overhauling of 55 Anganwadi Centres (AWCs). Apart from these two projects, AAI is building toilets in government schools in Mamit, Mizoram; and Chandel, Manipur; both of which are aspirational districts as well. Out of the CSR budget, AAI has committed to spending 60 per cent of it on ‘Education, Healthcare and Nutrition,’ decided by the DPE.

A brief report on ongoing CSR projects of AAI in various verticals is given below.

Skill Development
AAI, in association with the Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC), is continuously working towards the upliftment of the underprivileged section of society, especially SC/ST/OBC, women, unemployed youth and the economically weaker section (EWS) of society. A job-oriented skill development centre was inaugurated by senior officers of AAI under the program at Kokrajhar, Assam, at an estimated cost of Rs. 10.59 crore in November 2018. Similarly, a centre was opened at Assam Agricultural University campus in December 2019 by Shri Sanjeev Jindal, RED-AAI, NER, aimed at imparting skills in the North Eastern Region.

Community Development
AAI has adopted and empowered numerous community clusters and has shown them the way to building community resilience. UNDP India is implementing a program ‘Resilience building of communities around Guwahati Airport’ under the supervision of the District Administration, Kamrup. AAI has provided UNDP with a fund of Rs. 4.5 crores to implement the project across 15 villages under three gram panchayats of Rani Development Block. To strengthen educational facilities, desktop computers were distributed in five high schools in Guwahati to build the resilience of communities around the airports. The project will cover 15 villages in the state. The services executed include upgradation of Anganwadi Centres, water purifying units, solar lamps, sanitation of villages, Mobile Medical Units, and other awareness activities. 

Another such intervention is the ‘Resilience building of communities around Ranchi Airport’ project, which is being implemented at Namkum Development Block, Ranchi, Jharkhand, a rural tribal belt in Ranchi District. AAI, in partnership with the UNDP, aims to create an enabling environment for sustainable economic and social development with a special focus on women and children. With a net allocated budget of Rs. 6.18 crores, AAI, along with UNDP, envisions addressing certain drivers of vulnerability that weaken a society from within. This project, thereby, will focus on addressing vulnerabilities related to poor access to health services, lack of quality education, socio-economic variables, and poor community infrastructures. The project entails commissioning of Mobile Medical Units, upgradation of Anganwadi Centres, renovation of toilets, and solarisation of Public Health Centres.

Disaster Management
Apart from their regular duty, AAI employees at Guwahati volunteered in flood-affected areas of Palasbari and Majirgaon in Kamrup near Guwahati Airport, where they distributed cooked meals in association with Akshaya Patra and Hare Krishna Movement, Guwahati. About 23,000 meals were distributed during the devastating Assam Floods in July 2019. 

Gender Equality
AAI Guwahati organised an equality workshop for transgender persons at LGBI Airport Guwahati, where it advocated for their right to equality under the CSR program. The workshop focused on the recognition of rights of transgender people as equals in society. Members of All Assam Transgender Association were the special guests on the occasion. AAI-North East Region HQ, Guwahati, empanelled Swati Bidhan Barua as the first transgender advocate for its legal forum. AAI also plans to impart skill training to transgender people.

Radical Method of Healing
 “ My whole life I kept making the mistake of cleaning the mirror without realising that my own face was tarnished”  
—Mirza Ghalib

How often do you ask yourself whether you are at peace or relaxed, whether you are happy with your relationships, finances, or professional life or even whether you are enjoying good health? More often than not, the answer is not the one we want to hear. When the negative answer confronts us, we tend to blame other people or circumstances for our problems. In our pursuit of happiness, we spend so much time and energy trying to change the world around us that we forget a fundamental rule or tenet of humanity.

The only person we have control over is ourselves. Can you really change your parents, your siblings, or other people? We all try, but only they can bring that change about themselves. In the same vein, only we can change ourselves and therefore, only we control our destiny.  

So stop feeling like a victim of life and take charge of your mind, body, and thoughts. The solutions are simpler than the problems we are facing. Once you are enabled to make your decisions with simplicity and speed, you will see the power and effectiveness of self-healing. Besides, would you prefer to be independent and liberated to control your own destiny or be dependent on someone else for happiness? 

Self-healing is a soul-bathing process. Every cell of our body is communicating a story, and we start this journey by listening to our thoughts. Our thoughts originate within the conscious mind, the subconscious mind, the ancestral mind, and more. By listening to and understanding these layers, we can help you understand the source of these negative emotions that are holding you back and start to develop a solution. The process will help you wash your soul of negative emotions, the baggage that is holding you back, and teach you to bathe your soul as easily as you bathe your body. This is where I can help and guide you. 

Mrs Rajkumari Saharia is the founder of the SWASTYA HOLISTIC HEALING CENTER at Kolkata and she practises extensively all over India. She is a Redikall Healer, Sound Healer, Aura Photographer, Hypnotherapist (CHII), Past Life Regression Therapist (Life University), Soul Temple Healer, Tarot Card Reader and a facilitator for all the above-mentioned healing modalities. She has been awarded by INSPIRE and FLO KOLKATA CHAPTER as Master Trainer and Healer.

She has been practising the above modalities for the last 10 years, which she combines with Redikall and Auric Reading, as well as Sound Healing—a multi-pronged healing approach towards mental, emotional and physical well-being.

For more info: Website www.swastyahealing.com, Email rajkriti53@gmail.com