"Sustainable development" these are not simple words, but the "mantra" for steady economic growth in the years to come. It is necessary because the need for development is as great as ever, but the model used in the past cannot be continued as a pattern for our future. Global prosperity must increase and living standards must be improved, we have social, economical and environmental challenges to face and which can be addressed by practicing sustainable development.
Even in India, Though in a nascent stage, sustainable realty is gaining popularity in the Real Estate fraternity. The number of certified green buildings in India has witnessed a manifold growth in the last few years.
This is a testimony to the growing acceptance of green initiatives and adopting green practices is no more an option, as they are fast emerging as reliable tools for sustainable and harmonious growth in the long term. But the concept of sustainability is marred by few myths, such as, green buildings are expensive; not feasible or market demand for green space will fade out eventually. If green building materials are incorporated appropriately and proportionately, there would be no increase in initial cost. Also with growing awareness about sustainability and the rapidly escalating effects of climate change, the market demand is set to grow.
In this context, the real estate sector will act as an important catalyst for transformation, energy and sustainable initiatives in the country. The sector impacts not only the economic and social life, but also on the environment.
We at Mantri always had been committed to the vision of creating a sustainable world into reality. As we always promote and practice sustainability in most of our business activities and they have been successful as well.
This undying passion and commitment towards sustainability has bagged us with the most coveted CII-ITC Sustainability Award for the year 2012 and 2013; it is noteworthy that for the first time ever any real estate developer from Southern India has been conferred with this prestigious award. Today, sustainable development and economic growth of a nation are inter-linked and one cannot be separated from another. Thus the current situation demands for an honest 3Cs policy- Conviction, Commitment and Consistency towards this noble concept. Also personally I feel that the success of this depends on all of us, as we all are equally responsible in making sustainable development as a way of life.
With rapid urbanisation across the world it is throwing up new challenges, sustainable development, inevitably, has become the need of the hour. This is high time that we are serious about conserving crucial natural resources through a sensible and sustainable manner.
The education sector in India has developed substantially since Independence. With the advent of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) established following the Millennium summit of the United Nations in 2000, significant attention has been given to achieving the goal of Universal Primary Education, at the center of which lies Universal Primary Enrollment. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA), initiated in 2001, and the Right to Education Act (RTE), implemented in 2009, were India's responses to this commitment. While these interventions have encouraged increased enrolment rates, considerable issues concerning the quality of education, competency, lack of accountability, irrelevant curriculum and pedagogy have risen, and these challenges have serious consequences on the growth and development potential of our country. Learning outcomes are evidently dispersed between high and low-income schools, leading to massive inequity in the education sector. Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), an annual, nationwide survey of children's ability to read simple text and do basic arithmetic which is being conducted every year since 2005, has shown that learning outcomes in rural India have declined even after the implementation of the Right to Education Act. The magnitude and scale of these challenges, therefore, require intensive efforts and funds from varied sources, other than the Government of India.
Literacy in India is the key for socio-economic progress, and the Indian literacy rate grew to 74.04% in 2011 from 12% at the end of British rule in 1947. Although this was a remarkable improvement, the level is well below the world average literacy rate of 84%, and India currently has the largest illiterate population of any nation on earth.
The biggest problem in India regarding education is the continuous lack in quality of the faculty. In addition, backdated or curriculum that is difficult to comprehend and lack of focus on skill development leads to decrease in the overall quality of learning. The concepts absolutely absent in a government school in India are critical thinking, analytical reasoning, problem-solving and collaborative working. The mechanism followed in all likelihood is focused on input and rote learning. The student to teacher ratio is also very high which puts more pressure on the existent teaching staff. Lastly, an ineffective quality assurance system and a complete lack of accountability by institutions to the state and central government, students and other stakeholders result in further degradation of the quality of education.
Census 2011
Access
There is a wide variation in spread of higher educational institutions not only between urban and rural areas but also between states. There are multi-dimensional inequalities in enrolment rates between rural and urban populations, rich and poor, minority and mainstream communities, men and women and people with disabilities.
Access to higher secondary education and beyond is a mere 10% in India. This is the finding of a report "Intergenerational and Regional Differentials in Higher Education in India" authored by development economist, Abusaleh Shariff of the Delhi-based Centre for Research and Debates in Development Policy and Amit Sharma, research analyst of the National Council of Applied Economic Research.
Typically, it is children in poor, remote areas, those affected by conflict, or those belonging to ethnic, racial and linguistic minorities who are denied an opportunity for schooling. Children from poor households are three times as likely to be out-of school as children from rich households. Girls from poor households in rural areas are facing the greatest barriers to education.
New interventions are required to reduce this rate in order to achieve universal primary education and ensure that every child acquires basic literacy and numeracy skills.
Social & Cultural
The ethnic diversity in India poses challenges to implement consistent education nationwide. There are more than 300 languages spoken in the country and makes it difficult to offer education tailored to specific social segment. Educating women in some societies is a big issue. Children of poor families are forced to work and miss out the learning opportunities. Illiterate adults have very limited opportunities to get educated at later age in their lives. Over 40 percent of India's children drop out of school before finishing 8th grade, despite a recent law designed to provide free and compulsory elementary education for all. Most students who quit school are from the lowest rungs of Indian society.
Why are they dropping out?
The following are the primary reasons given by parents of children in the age group of 6-14 for dropping out of school :
Based on the reasons, it is obvious that India needs a meaningful, multipronged mass action for literacy drive. Since literacy status of parents influences that of children, planning for education must be made keeping three generations in mind. Children who are taught must be inspired and motivated to teach their parents and also children thereby ensuring education a permanent place in their life. Vocational training in skills for income generation and continuing education should especially be strengthened keeping the low income working population in mind.
What is the Indian Government doing in this regard?
In line with the goal of nation building, India has been committed to providing free and compulsory education to all children. The Right to Education Act, 2009 aimed to provide free and quality primary education (up to Grade 8) to all children. However, it has failed to achieve its target due to a multitude of reasons ranging from absenteeism & lackadaisical attitude in teachers to lack of infrastructure in government schools to prevalence of child labor etc. Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan has been launched recently as a step to universalize secondary education. Simultaneously, efforts are being made to create a robust and vast system of higher and technical education.
Building upon the existing capacities and recognizing the immense contribution to nation building that the large network of educational institutions has made in the post independent India; the country has embarked upon a second phase of expansion and establishment of centres of excellence in higher education. It is envisioned that strengthening the two ends of the spectrum, namely, elementary education and higher/technical education would help in meeting the objectives of expansion, inclusion and excellence in education.
The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) is the highest advisory body to advise the Central and State Governments in the Field of education. Recent years have seen certain important committees and commissions deliberate on education. National Knowledge Commission (2006) Report on higher education supports a strong reform agenda through public investment.
Under the Government of India National E-Governance plan (NeGP), the Mission Mode Project of e Governance in School Education (MMP), Ministry of Human Resource Development has decided to implement the Parents Related Services in phase -1 "Shaala Darpan" of the MMP in ICT enabled Government schools and Government-aided schools on a pilot mode in the State of Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
The Department of School Education & Literacy has launched a National Repository of Open Education Resources (NROER) 14 August, 2013. NROER is a collaborative platform that endeavours to bring together relevant and appropriate digital resources in multiple languages for the school system for all classes and subjects. The resources are available in the form of concept maps, video, multimedia, learning objects, audio clips, talking books, photographs, diagrams and charts, articles, wikipages and textbooks. NROER is going to be a part of National e-Library.
The Government of India has also taken a decision to provide access to a National Electronic Library (NEL) to its citizens including students and teachers in schools, colleges and universities. Most resources in NEL would be available in open access to every citizen of India without any restrictions. However, a few scholarly resources would be subscribed for students, researchers and faculty in colleges and universities and would be available to users in colleges and universities only. Most resources in NEL would be device-independent and can be accessed using a variety of devices including desktops, laptops, tablets, smart phones and other devices.
Planning Commission, Government of India, "12th Five-Year Plan (2012-2017), Social Sectors, Volume III, " 2013, Government of India, 18th Joint Review Mission 2013, Results Framework to Monitor SSA Goals
With an intention to build a brighter future for our country, our hope is to improve education levels in the society and help create better individuals. We believe children have immense potential to change societies and influence better thinking if guided towards the correct path. With better quality education we hope children would be more inclined to come to school. Drop-out rates would then see a sharp decrease with a direct implication on the pass percentages and success of students in schools. Finally helping us accomplish our vision of a sustainable society with educated individuals at the core of it.
We at Mantri Developers want to kick-start our journey by conducting need assessment to understand the regions with immediate requirement for interventions. We want to understand the problems faced by the communities and the social evils they are stifled with to help them in devising the correct solutions for the same.
Our CSR program would focus on solving the education problem in our country to the extent possible. We wish to make quality education available to all sections of society, without any discrimination. We want to work back with educational organizations and experts to help provide better solutions for our educational needs by digitizing course curriculum in government schools, helping parents and teachers monitor progress of the students through online applications etc. We also want to ensure high quality, upgraded and digitized mode of education is available to the students at the same or lower costs and also help support deserving candidates fulfil their dreams for higher education by providing them with scholarships etc.
Mantri would partner with renowned NGOs and grass-root level organizations to delve into the realities in urban as well as rural education. Our focus will not only include children below the poverty line, but also the underprivileged in the working labour classes, e.g., construction staff, housekeeping staff etc. We also want to provide equal education opportunities to boys as well as girl children. The gender inequality issues as well as most other social stigmas faced by women can directly be associated with lack of education of girl children. With women being educated equally and gaining employment opportunities as a result of that, we believe they will be the harbingers of change in our society.
We believe that a corporate sustainability plan which is focused on compliance alone will not be sufficient to bring in any change and only when companies integrate CSR with their business model, corporate strategy, train their personnel, and create strategic partnerships with the NGOs and community; there can be a potential ground for CSR product and process innovation and a hope for achieving success in their endeavors.
CSR is developing social, intellectual, and human capital of a country and this calls for appropriate design and content interventions by the boards and top management of large corporations.
In the previous years, with an objective to serve the society through youth skilling and livelihood projects, we have joined hands with a partner NGO to set up e-learning centre in Bangalore. This centre provides training in basic computer skills, basic English speaking skills, personality development and basic and retail management for developing employment opportunities apart from skill enhancement of the underprivileged youth.
Our focus in the coming year will be broadly on the following
Mantri Developers is a company with a history of being a constructive and enlightened partner in the communities in which it operates. Social responsibility is essential to our corporate ethos and our value proposition for customers. We believe in taking concrete action to realize these objectives.
With this aim to further our efforts and provide a constructive direction to our ongoing initiatives we have launched Mantri S.E.V.A - Supporting and Encouraging Voluntary Action. Through this program we aim to promote and engage, both individually and with partners, in social contribution activities that help strengthen communities and contribute to the enrichment of society. Mantri S.E.V.A will see us cultivate relationships with diverse stakeholders, such as service associations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to achieve social goals.
As the name connotes, Mantri S.E.V.A is designed to serve people and work towards addressing social issues and serve the community. The primary objective of Mantri S.E.V.A is to generate a positive impact in the society through its focused activities to combat various pressing issues. Our activities will be in the realm of Civic & Social Development, Social Aid and Green Initiatives.
Mantri S.E.V.A and Billions Bricks delivery housing facilities to quake survivors in Nepal.
Mantri S.E.V.A and Billion Bricks welcome new born in relief tent.
Pacifying the disaster struck Nepal, relief and support has flown in from all corners in abundance but the most immediate need of the hour is shelter or roof, an assurance of recuperation. Mantri S.E.V.A (Support and Encouraging Voluntary Action) in association with Building Bricks (BB), has been bringing respite to the homeless in Nepal. Snehal Mantri - Director Marketing & HR, and Priyanka Mantri - Head Mantri S.E.V.A (the CSR wing of Mantri Developers) said, "We wanted to kick start this exercise on priority to shelter the homeless as that is the first step to securitising them both physically and mentally. There is nothing worse than having your roof taken away, something that is a basic parameter for socio-economic equality in this world and something that every human works hard to acquire."
As the Billion Bricks volunteers reached Nepal on May 10th they realised the extent of devastation as the KTM runaway was left in shambles. The very next day, just as they were settling in, tremors of terror returned, as a massive 7.4 scale earthquake renewed and amplified the horror and destruction death and homelessness. Meanwhile, Mantri S.E.V.A and Billion Bricks were already rigorously engaged in transporting 100 tents from Bengaluru, India to Kathmandu, Nepal. "We immediately started an online fundraising campaign for 72 hours when the earthquake hit for the first time. With the funds collected and extra funding and ground support from Mantri S.E.V.A volunteers we were able to start shipping the tents from Bengaluru to Kathmandu," said Prasoon Kumar, founder and CEO, Billion Bricks. However, their efforts were stalled in Nepal as offices and airport in KTM shut down post the big shock. "We realised that rebuilding a nation that had fallen apart would not be easy, especially due to perilous weather and challenges of commuting, but support to our rescue workers from local volunteers from foundations like Yakru for Humanity and Nepal Olympic Association bore fruit to our endeavours" he added.
Billion Bricks and aforementioned local organisations built temporary toilets in relief camps and bamboo shelters in villages around Kathmandu. Since the volunteers had already assessed the situation as per requirements, when the tents" cargo finally reached Nepal, they were deployed first in Sankhu, Bhaktapur, and Sitapaila villages of Kathmandu Valley. Apart from these areas the tents were also distributed in some urban communities in dense areas of the city. As on date, 66 tents are set up and work is ongoing for a further 34.
On 22 May, one of the tents set up by Billion Bricks in Kathmandu was christened with the cry of a new born. The last time the volunteers visited the camp site, the tent had become home to a 9 year old girl whose limbs were injured during the quake. An old lady, who had fractured her ribs during the disaster, had also found solace in one of the tents as she recovered from surgery.
Mantri Developers, MLA, Corporator and Bengalureans take the pledge for Swachh Bengaluru
Mantri Developers, south India’s leading real estate developer initiated Swachh Bengaluru drive to make Bengaluru one of the best cities to live in. In the recent past the city has emerged as a metropolitan hotspot, Swachh Bengaluru is a monthly initiative supported by Mayor, Samarthanam Trust for disable, Indus community school children, Police personnel, BBMP staff, Pourakarmikas and residents of Mantri properties.
To counter the rising garbage issue of Bengaluru waste disposal bins are installed in the city. Moreover, considering the menace of polythene packets, the shop keepers are sensitized to switch to paper bags and to ban the usage of polythene packets and plastic cups. Swachh Bengaluru will be held every month to ensure that the community is kept clean in a sustained manner.
“I have taken the pledge to keep the city clean. I urge every Bengalurean to take on the responsibility of keeping their surrounding clean. If each citizen takes the onus on herself, then Bengaluru will be one of the best cities in the world,” said Mr. Sateesh Reddy, MLA, Bommanahalli.
“It is the responsibility of each one of us to ensure that the surroundings of our own home should be kept clean, if all of us take this responsibility then Bengaluru will be truly a garden city,” said Ravi Purshottam, Corporator, Arakere ward.
“At Mantri, we believe in being the change that we want. Thereby, Swachh Bengaluru has been initiated to ensure that instead of complaining about the growing menace of garbage and the filth in Bengaluru, we create a cleaner Bengaluru. For which, we have provided awareness programs against plastic to shopkeepers and installed dustbins.” said Mr. Sushil Mantri, Chairman & Managing Director, Mantri Developers Pvt. Ltd.
“At Mantri Developers, we believe that every individual is a catalyst to the change that one wants. I as a citizen of Bengaluru want to see it as one of the best cities to live in across the globe, thereby Swachh Bengaluru will be conducted every month by us at Mantri,” said Mrs. Snehal Mantri, Director, Marketing & HR, Mantri Developers Pvt. Ltd “Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled is very happy to partner with Mantri Developers in the Swacch Bengaluru initiative. Cleanliness is Godliness and I personally am a firm believer of the same. There is no better way of serving humanity than ensuring clean surroundings to live in!”, said Mahantesh GK, Founder Managing Trustee, Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled.
Shoes Donation Drive for the needy
Mantri S.E.V.A, organised an old shoes donation drive in association with Srinidhi Charitable Trust, a well-known trust working to support orphans, disabled and older people by providing quality education, accommodation, nutritious food, vocational training. This campaign was organised at all Mantri properties and across location offices in Bengaluru.
Mantri S.E.V. A. sponsors Dhwani, a Hindustani Music Festival for a noble cause
The Bengaluru Kidney Foundation is a well established charitable institution that has been doing pioneering work in making dialysis affordable and free to poor patients. The foundation has been holding the music festival Dhwani-BKF, every year since 2004. Over the past 11 years, the festival has brought some of the most talented Indian musicians from around the country to perform with anaim to promote Hindustani music amongst youngsters. In addition, it also hopes to mobilise funds for BKF"s dialysis programme. Mantri S.E.V.A sponsored the music festival that was held on September 20th &21st, 2014. Renowned musicians like Alka Deo Marulkar and Kalapini Komkali performed at the event; the sponsorship provided by Mantri S.E.V.A would be used for conducting more than 100 dialysis free of cost for the poor people.
Old Clothes Donation Drive
Mantri S.E.V.A. organized a clothes donation drive in association with RK Foundation, a well-known national NGO, which is working towards channelization of used resources to needy people.
This campaign was organized at all Mantri properties across location offices in Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru and Mantri Square mall. It offered people an opportunity to not just clear their closet and offload their old clothes but gave them a chance to help underprivileged people in need of clothes.
The success of this drive was visible in the mammoth collection of clothes donated by people. The collected clothes were handed over to R.K Foundation for distributing to the needy. Mantri S.E.V.A. drove awareness for this initiative by putting up posters and standees at all Mantri Developers apartments and at the Mantri Square mall. Internally, awareness and excitement was created by sending out mailers to all employees
Mantri Developers Support The Give Light Movement
Mantri S.E.V.A. in association with BMS (NGO) & BEST Global Event services distributed 300 solar bulbs to 150 households in electricity deprived villages in Bidar district.
"Give Light Movement", is an initiative to provide 4500 electricity deprived homes of north Karnataka with solar powered lights. The movement is spread across 18 villages and aims to provide over 10,000 illumination facilities in just 24 days.
According to the United Nations "Millennium Development Goals Report", kerosene lamps cause indoor air pollution, which claims the lives of over 1.5 million people each year, over half of which are children under the age of five. This program is a step forward towards infusing sustainable living habits among households using kerosene lamps as their primary source of lighting.
If you have any ideas or suggestions that could help us improve our community services initiatives, we would be more than pleased to hear about them.
Mantri Developers Gifted a day of joyfulness to Children with Cancer
Mantri S.E.V.A, along with Samiksha Foundation, an NGO that takes care and provides education to the cancer affected children, organized an entertaining and fun filled day for close to a hundred children, affected by cancer at the Kapur ward of the Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology. The day brought a lot of exciting activities with pleasant surprises for the children. Employees of Mantri Developers also took time off from work and contributed their best to make the event successful.
The event included magic show, fun games and prizes were distributed at the end of the event. A few children celebrated their birthday at the event and special gifts were given to them. The children enjoyed not just the event thoroughly, but also received some carry away goodies as well. All the Mantri employees personally went to the patient"s wards and distributed gifts to each of the cancer affected kids.
In 2003, we ventured into the education sector with the Indus International School, with an aim to bring truly world class education from the primary school level that will help shape future generations. The Indus International School is today one of the finest international schools in India. In an effort to bring quality education free of cost to children from below-poverty-line families, we have set up the Indus Community School in Bengaluru, which provides free education of IB standards to such students. We have also embarked on adopting rural schools to spread the light of education further.
In 2005, we have adopted three village panchayat schools across various parts of rural Bengaluru. In order to retain students in the school and prevent dropouts, we provided the students with mid-day meals, free uniforms and special scholarships to encourage literacy among girl students. We also engaged with parents to reinforce the importance of education.
In April 2009, Mantri Developers adopted a jilla panchayat school at Angrewadi, Village Bhukhum, Pune. We have subsequently renovated the school, improved educational infrastructure in addition to providing excellent furniture, computers, smart boards, etc.
Mantri Developers is privileged to contribute to the civic redevelopment of our home city - Bengaluru. We were the first company to enter into a public-private partnership to improve Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru.
We also adopted the Malleswaram police station in northwest Bengaluru with an aim to create a better environment for the law enforcers. This included the complete refurbishing of the interiors and exteriors, engaging experienced consultants and architects to design the place and landscaping.
Mantri Developers worked towards restoring numerous parks in and around Bengaluru. The projects so far include Bashyam Park in Malleswaram, Madhavan Park in Jayanagar and 1st Block Park at Koramangala.
The endeavor called for leading landscape consultants to analyze and design the park in order to increase the volume of green space in the parks as well as to create a safe play area for children and walking space for the elderly.
Mantri Group in its endeavour towards Corporate Social Responsibility and sustainable development has ventured into installation of Windmills. The group as of date has Windmills with installed capacity of 23.25 MW, generating annually about 50 million units. The objective of Mantri Group is to generate clean and green energy(renewable energy), without recourse to fossil fuel. The focus is on Zero Carbon Foot Print, by generating renewable energy for captive consumption and sale to third parties. The Mantri Group also is releasing to the market Verified Carbon Units, earned from generation ofpower to neutralize Carbon Foot Print released by third party.
While our actions on Windmills being a continuing programme, going forward, we have put together plans to minimize power consumption in all our projects, through Green Building concept, conceived through master plans on Solar Panels, Power saving gadgets and the like.
All future Mantri projects will be "Green Buildings" - designed aesthetically with an objective of consuming less electricity than the threshold. Our projects will also include rainwater harvesting to recharge the ground water level, and vast open landscaped spaces.
We have also installed windmills of 15.75 MW generating around 4 Cr units per annum.in Karnataka Power from these windmills is is used to provide electricity to nearby villages.
In addition, Mantri developers is also Certified ISO 14001: 2004 on Environmental Management Systems - with a key objective of providing and ensuring safety for people"s lives, environment, property machinery and equipment, products and service.
Mrs. Snehal Mantri, Director Marketing & HR, Mantri Developers receiving the CII-ITC Sustainability Award 2013 at Vigyan Bhavan, Delhi from Mr Sachin Pilot, Corporate Affairs Minister.
Mr. Sushil Mantri, Chairman and MD, Mantri Developers receiving the CII-ITC Sustainability Award 2012 from President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee at Vigyan Bhavan, Delhi.