A business corporation is not an isolated entity, but rather it interacts with its external environment, including customers, suppliers, competitors, government regulators, economic conditions, and the community at large. Extracting profits and accumulating wealth at the expense of the entities and people it interacts with and at the expense of the external environment, is unhealthy and destabilizing.
Therefore, today on Jan1, 2025, HIMTEK announces that it will commit to spending 10% of its profits or 1% of its annual revenue (whichever is higher) on CSR activities. Although the Government of India requires corporations to commit to just 2% of its profits to CSR activities, HIMTEK will commit to 5x that amount! A more detailed constitution of the company which will include its long-term commitments is being developed and shall be rolled out as the company moves ahead.
CSR ACTIVITY BACKGROUND: Currently, there are an estimated 4.95 million blind persons and 70 million vision impaired persons in India, out of which 0.24 million are blind children. Early detection and treatment of the leading causes of blindness such as cataract are important in reducing the prevalence of blindness and vision impairment. There are significant developments in the field of blindness prevention, management, and control since the “Vision 2020: The right to sight” initiative but much more needs to be done at the ground level. In India, the estimated net loss of GNI (Gross National Income) due to blindness in India is INR 845 billion, with a per capita loss of GNI per blind person of INR 170,624. The cumulative loss of GNI due to avoidable blindness in India is INR 11,778.6 billion. The cumulative loss of GNI due to blindness increased almost three times in the past two decades. The potential loss of productivity due to vision impairment is INR 646 billion.
THE STATE OF UTTARAKHAND: Being a hilly and mountainous state, it has its own unique challenges. High altitude has both short-term and long-term effects on the eyes. The short-term effects include high-altitude retinopathy, change in corneal thickness, and photokeratitis. Long-term effects include pterygium, cataract, and dry eye syndrome. Also, many of the state’s small villages are unreachable for long periods of time, especially in winter.
HIMTEK COMMITMENT: With the above challenges of Uttarakhand in mind, HIMTEK announces a major commitment to eye care in this state. Effective immediately, HIMTEK’s CSR arm, Shri Devraha Baba Jan Kalyan Trust (DBT) (https://devrahababajktrust.org), will open an office in Dehradun and start its activities.
This trust was established by my loving parents before they passed away and assigned me the responsibility to carry it forward. The Trust was established in the name of their Spiritual Guru Shri Devraha Baba, known as the ageless yogi and one of the greatest exponents of Yoga science in modern Indian history. HIMTEK has partnered with the American Charity Visionspring (www.visionspring.org) to expand this work. DBT recently held an eye camp with Visionspring in NOIDA which was highly successful.
After Uttarakhand, we shall expand our undergoing work in the state of Madhya Pradesh (my home state) and then Rajasthan, where the intensity of sun’s rays is very strong causing high incidences of vision impairment.
I and confident that along with me, the HIMTEK team, its associated partner companies and our broader group of family and friends will provide massive support to this activity which will help India.
Sanjeev Varma
Chairman