Canon India's Humanitarian Effort Reaches New Heights With The Adoption of Maheshwari Village

Canon India has taken a giant leap in its humanitarian efforts, as the company embarks on a dual venture in its path of social development in India. The OEM has decided to adopt the Maheshwari village in the Rewari district of Haryana as part of its flagship CSR initiative ‘Adopt a Village’; while simultaneously, forming an association with ‘Humana People to People India’ (HPPI) a non-profit organization.

This move fits perfectly with Canon’s corporate philosophy ‘Kyosei’ which stands for ‘living and waking together for the common good’. Canon India’s plans for social and community development will be aided by this association with HPPI, which has been a stalwart in ‘community development’ in India for the last 2 decades. HPPI’s vision has always been to advance the cause of a community’s development through the implementation of projects aimed at transferring knowledge and skills to the grass-roots level.

Mr. Kazutada Kobayashi, President, and CEO of Canon India has commented on the new development model, "Our flagship initiative for social development 'Adopt a village' has witnessed several milestones over the last six years. With our first adopted village in Haryana- Ferozepur Namak reaching a self-sustainable model and the new village Maheshwari joining us, we see commendable progress in this outreach. Last year, we marked two decades of our existence in the country; this glorious milestone has been possible with the support of our partners, employees and the community. Our latest initiative in the direction of social welfare is 'learning beyond books', where we will be making the children in our adopted villages witness the world outside their horizons. With educative trips outside their homes and school boundaries, we aim to help the children aspire more, dream bigger and work harder towards achieving their dreams. I am optimistic our NGO partner- HPPI, will support us in fulfilling our responsibility."

The event witnessed Mr. Kobayashi's visit to the village where children welcomed Canon India employees by performing on stage, to commemorate the occasion. A tree plantation was also organized, symbolizing the seeds of Canon India’s first step towards environmental conservation.

Under the new initiative, Canon India and HPPI will collaborate and focus on social development at 4 levels—Education, Eye-care, Environment and Empowerment.

• Education- There will be the establishment of a ‘Resource Center’ with learning and playing material for children. It would also provide remedial education to children who need special assistance.
• Eye-care- All villagers will have access to free-of-cost ‘eye checkups’ under the supervision of an eye technician. This venture will also witness the organization of health camps and other activities to promote health-awareness.
• Environment- There will be regular drives for tree-plantation, quarterly initiatives for mass scale village cleanliness accompanied by environmental awareness involving Canon employees. Villages will also witness the establishment of kitchen gardens, formation of common garbage pits and installation of solar panels.
• Empowerment- The new program will facilitate the impartment of digital education, basic and financial literacy and tailoring and design training to villagers. Children will benefit from the ‘Learning beyond books’ initiative which focuses on teaching children about the world beyond their immediate horizon.

Canon India had earlier adopted a number of villages across the country such as Sol Gohalia village near Kolkata, Maharaja Katte village near Bengaluru and Karanjoti village near Mumbai. All the villages are situated in close proximity to Canon India offices facilitating ease of access to the area for Canon employees. This has enabled a greater supervision of healthcare and educational developments in these villages.

With the corporate industry aiming at a constant cut-throat competition to overtake one another, Canon’s humanitarian initiative provides a new direction. This move might even make Canon’s competitors launch similar initiatives that can gradually lead to an all-around development in developing countries. But for now, let’s congratulate Canon India for bringing the light of knowledge to some poverty-stricken communities across the country.