Kerala’s leading media group, Mathrubhumi, has been honored at the 17th edition of the Corporate Social Responsibility Summit & Awards by UBS Forums for its social initiatives. The media company received recognition for two of its flagship CSR projects—Student Empowerment for Environmental Development (SEED) and Ente Veedu—under the Community Development Initiative of the Year and Sustainability and Empowerment for Environmental Impact categories, respectively.
The award was received by Tanmoy Adak, regional head, media solutions, (West), Mathrubhumi Group, from Siddharth Daga, co-founder, chief impact officer, Neo Motion.
The awards symbolize credibility, integrity, and excellence among outstanding corporates, NGOs and visionary individuals driving CSR and sustainability contributions forward.
The Mathrubhumi SEED project was launched on 5 June 2009 and has successfully completed sixteen years, entering its seventeenth year. Schools carry out simple but effective steps in environment protection, such as planting and protecting saplings, agricultural activities, biodiversity conservation, energy conservation, conservation of water bodies, cleanliness and protection of public health, reducing, reusing, and recycling plastic waste, and intervening in local area environmental issues through SEED Police and SEED reporters. Volunteers of Mathrubhumi act as mentors and trainers.
The Mathrubhumi Entee Veedu initiative was launched on 28 October 2021. The project constructed 1,000 homes for the homeless in its first phase and is working on its second phase. Mathrubhumi selects beneficiaries from across the state; they must own less than 5 cents of land, be financially backward and unable to construct a house or be living in temporary/makeshift sheds or tents.
Commenting on the win, Devika Shreyams Kumar, director-operations, Mathrubhumi Group said, “This prestigious award makes us even more accountable to the people at large and strengthens our commitment to the sustainable improvement of the quality of life of our communities. Our SEED project is perhaps one of the largest school-level green initiatives undertaken by a newspaper organization in India, empowering schoolchildren to take an active role in protecting and preserving Mother Nature.
“Through our Ente Veedu initiative, we are committed to helping homeless and underprivileged families realise their dream of owning a home. So far, we have built over 1,685 houses across two phases, with another 315 homes currently under construction, which will be handed over to the beneficiaries in the coming years.
These numbers are not merely statistics; they are a testament to the lives we have touched and the communities we have empowered. We are hopeful that, through these initiatives, we will continue to create meaningful and sustainable change and reach out to many more lives in the years to come.”
From its humble beginnings over a century ago as a fledgling yet pioneering daily. Mathrubhumi has come a long way to become Kerala’s leading media conglomerate. It has 14 editions (including one abroad) of its daily and nine periodicals that address segmented markets covering the terrain from culture to entertainment.
