Canon India on a positive trajectory to support Eye care, Education and Environment

·       Enrolment of girl child in senior classes increased by 45% from last year, post Canon’s adoption of Government school in the  village

·       Donates eye check-up machine to Ferozepur Namak village in Mewat District of Haryana

·       Over 6,000 patients benefitted at the vision centre under the Adopt a village initiative  

Kazutada Kobayashi, CEO & President, Canon India
with students at a school Ferozepur Namak village

New Delhi Oct 10th 2013(Sailesh Gandhi): For growth to be responsible, it should go beyond numbers and should do well for the society to create a better world. That's the kind of growth that Canon India believes in, and constantly strives for.

In line with its continued commitment to the society, Canon India today added another milestone to its philanthropic efforts by donating an eye check-up machine to the vision centre at Ferozepur Namak village in Mewat District of Haryana. Under its ‘Adopt a Village’ social initiative, Canon India had undertaken the responsibility of developing the village infrastructure last year to provide seamless support to its inhabitants with core interventions in Eye care, Education and Environment for a period of three years.

Kazutada Kobayashi, CEO & President, Canon
at ribbon cutting ceremony of Eye check up machine

Expressing his views on the occasion, Mr. Kazutada Kobayashi, President & CEO, Canon India said, “At Canon, our commitment to good governance, ethical conduct and social responsibility is the core to our way of doing business, and is strongly aligned with our drive to create and increase value for all stakeholders. We define CSR as conducting business in ways that provide social, environmental and economic benefits for the communities and geographies where we operate. In addition to offering excellent products and services worldwide, we have strived to ensure full compliance, protect the global environment, and provide humanitarian support around the world.”

In the last one year, significant progress has been recorded by Canon India in the village with respect to education of the girl child.  While the enrolment of girl child in senior classes increased by 45% from last year, the number of teachers at the school also increased from 09 to 44, post Canon’s adoption of government school in the village. Regular parent-teacher meetings are conducted at the school for creating awareness amongst parents. Teachers are trained on a monthly basis under the program.

“As a part of the ‘Adopt a Village’ project, Canon India has established a sustainable eye care facility –a vision centre at the village to treat cataract. We are proud of this facility as it has seamlessly supported our efforts towards eye care through screening of over 6,000 patients in the last one year. 52 eye screening camps have been organised at the facility and 187 surgeries have been conducted in partnership with the ICare Eye Hospital, Noida. We hope that the eye check-up machine being donated by Canon India today further strengthens our endeavour to increase these numbers to benefit as many people as possible”, he further added.

Canon India has contributed towards the development of the village infrastructure through donation of benches, installation of water taps, painting the school premises and providing books for the library in Ferozepur Namak village’s school resource center. Furthermore, Canon India also plans to start English language classes for the students under Canon’s employee volunteering programs, which would ensure a close connect between the employees and the villagers.

As a responsible business, Canon India takes pride in being socially inclined and focuses on sustained and effective CSR projects. The CSR policy aligns with the corporate philosophy of Kyosei, which means living and working together for common good.

Other CSR projects undertaken by the company include adoption of 3 rapid metro stations for creating a green belt around them in Gurgaon and a photo exchange program between Canon India and Canon China wherein kids in the adopted villages of these two countries click pictures with Canon cameras and share them across boundaries with each other.

Going forward, Canon India plans to initiate its village adoption programmes in Bangalore & Mumbai.

Canon India strongly believes that the enhancement of CSR activities and processes currently taking place are set to further entrench the vibrant culture of social responsibility that already exists in the company.