Infosys Foundation

Founded in 1996, the Infosys Foundation has been working with partners and organizations to bring lasting change to the underprivileged sections of our society. The Foundation focuses on specific areas of need and extends the necessary aid to institutions and development agencies working on these areas. Through its extensive and sustained efforts, the small but dedicated team of the Foundation has been able to make healthcare accessible, spread education, sponsor the arts and rehabilitate underprivileged communities, especially in the rural and underdeveloped regions of India.

The Foundation focuses on four key areas:

• Social rehabilitation and rural uplift
• Learning and education
• Healthcare
• Arts and culture

Highlights of some of the projects the Foundation was involved in during this fiscal year are:

Learning and education

We believe that accessible education will empower the underprivileged sections of the society in addressing generational poverty. By extending the base of primary, secondary, higher education, vocational and professional learning through public and private agencies, we can empower our people to realize their full potential. Some of the work that the Foundation did in this field are:

• Distributed the Kannada and English illustrated storybook series – Chandamama in 3,158 schools across rural Karnataka
• Assisted the purchase and supply of books to ‘book banks’ in schools across Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh benefiting  over 4,500 of the poorest of poor students
• Awarded scholarships to meritorious students from the economically weaker families at locations where our development centers are located all over India
• Instituted scholarships in various subjects for pursuing PhD at the Gulbarga University and the Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad
• Funded research projects at the Bhandarkar Oriental Institute, Harish Chandra Research Institute and Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions
• Sponsored school students belonging to weaker sections of society in Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Pondicherry and Bihar
• Provided infrastructural support to schools through the construction and maintenance of school buildings, hostels and classrooms in the states of Orissa, Kerala, Maharashtra and Karnataka, and aided the construction of toilets in a Chennai school through SNEHAM, the Infosys employee CSR foundation
• Established science and mathematics laboratories at several locations in Andhra Pradesh
• Donated computers to learning centers in Bangalore run by Prerana, an NGO working towards providing education for the underprivileged
• Instituted prizes in association with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research for school students who bring medals from the International Science Olympiad
• Encouraged rural teaching fraternity by awarding the “Good Teacher” awards. These awards were instituted to motivate and recognize the efforts of teachers working at schools in rural India having minimal infrastructural facilities
• Provided monetary support for translating and publishing the treatise, Yajnavalkya Smriti with Mitaksara, in association with Gulbarga university
• Provided monetary support for students of the Chennai Mathematical Institute to undergo soft skill development and effective communication skill courses

Healthcare

Access and affordability are the two biggest challenges in the domain of healthcare in developing countries like India. The Infosys Foundation endeavors to use its resources to meet these challenges. This fiscal year, the Foundation supported the following initiatives and programs:

• Donated corpus funds to various medical service centers, and vehicle and medical equipment to several hospitals in Kerala, Jammu, Bihar and Karnataka
• Supported Multiple Sclerosis Society of India (MSSI), a voluntary organization working with multiple sclerosis patients
• Helped Chittaprakashana Charitable Trust in constructing a rehabilitation centre at H. D. Kote, Karnataka, for homeless, mentally challenged people
• Supported Unnati Centre, an organization dedicated to training and helping underprivileged youth to find employment as paramedics and in other support functions

Arts and culture

Globalization and advances in technology have posed a grave challenge to some of the traditional arts and crafts in India. The Infosys Foundation identifies nurtures and promotes rare and vanishing folk arts of the country, and supports promising practitioners of fine arts and performing arts through various scholarships and event sponsorships. Some of the initiatives in this field for the last fiscal year are as follows:

• Sponsored theatre activities at Ranga Shankara for a year to promote local drama and street play troupes in India
• Sponsored traditional plays from Maharashtra to support local arts and crafts and provide forums for rural artists to showcase their talent
• Sponsored the publication of “Research and Documentation on Metal Craft of Karnataka” by partnering with the Craft Council of Karnataka
• Supported the activities of Alva's Education Foundation in Mangalore, an NGO that works for artists from the weaker sections of the society and also help in providing forums to showcase the talent of these artists
• Provided monetary support to old and infirm musicians and painters across India
• Provided a corpus fund to the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan for its cultural activities in Pune and sponsored the DVD production of Kumaravyasa Bharata Vachana recitation by Mathoor Krishnamurthy

Sports

In India, there is no dearth of promising sportspersons whose careers are nipped in the bud for want of material and infrastructural help. During the last fiscal, the Infosys Foundation helped their cause by:

• Sponsoring four underprivileged athletes to get training at the Usha School of Athletics run by P. T. Usha
• Providing monetary assistance to Geetha Bai, a medal-winner at the national power lifting championships who has to sell flowers to earn a living in Mangalore

Social rehabilitation and rural welfare

The Foundation works closely with NGOs and other developmental organizations to mitigate social inequity and provide aid to the most backward regions of the country. This year, we were involved in the following activities:

• Partnered  with the Vanrai Trust in Pune that supports farmers in obtaining crop loans, train them to use scientific farming methodologies for maximizing yield
• Sponsored development programs aimed at uplifting the quality of life of Devadasi women, a socially vulnerable group. Some of the programs include the solar lighting facility at the Vimochana Sangha School in Athani, vocational courses to create employment opportunities, and supporting their children’s education  
• Donated sewing machines to 500 destitute women in rural Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and helped them earn a living and lead respectable lives
• Supported the rehabilitation of street children in Delhi, Patna and Kanpur through the NGO, Sathi
• Provided material aid to rehabilitate 1,000 flood-affected families in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh
• Provided aid to orphanages and physically challenged children in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra
• Provided aid to the victims of a devastating cyclone in West Bengal in collaboration with the Ramakrishna Mission and Akanksha, the Infosys Bhubaneswar development center CSR team
• Provided monetary support for the families of martyrs of the Indian army
• Empowered over 7,50,000 women in three districts of Karnataka by training them on hygiene, health, nutrition, infant care, livelihood, literacy and sanitation through an experimental program called Jnanavikasa
• Sponsored the airfares of women of Indian origin who faced inhuman treatment at the hands of their employers but were unable to return home for want of money to buy flight tickets
  

Grants by Infosys Technologies Limited to the Foundation

The grants made during the last three years are as follows:

Financial Year	Grants (in Rs. crore)
2010	31.00
2009	20.00
2008	20.00