Ambuja Foundation has won the FICCI CSR Award 2015-16 under 'Category 5 - Any Other' for its Water Resource Management Program.
The award was presented to Mr. Chandrakant Kumbhani and Mr. Brajesh Singh Tomar by Ms. Rajashree Birla, Mr. Narendra Singh Tomar, and Dr. H Chaturvedi in a special ceremony on December 21, 2016.
The application for the award followed a three-stage rigorous assessment process that included desktop verification, on-site visit, and assessment by a jury of experts. The assessment was based on factors such as the issue addressed, target population, scale, location, replicability, sustainability, innovation, scalability, participation, finances, and impact.
Water Resource Management is one of the biggest initiatives of Ambuja Foundation. For over 23 years, Ambuja Foundation has been adopting traditional knowledge and the latest technology to mitigate the problem of water scarcity in its locations.
The initiative has yielded very encouraging impacts, such as reducing salinity in Kodinar (Gujarat), reviving old water harvesting structures in Rajasthan, and undertaking watershed development in Darlaghat (Himachal Pradesh).
Due to these efforts, Ambuja Foundation has also been certified as a '4 times water positive' company. A recent external study for calculating social returns on investment showed positive returns as high as 13 times in Kodinar and 5 times in Rabriyawas (Rajasthan).
