Canon India Continues its Dedication Towards Building a Sustainable Community; Celebrates Four Years of Adoption of Maharaja Katte Village

BENGALURU, August 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Under its umbrella CSR programme, 'Canon India Involve', initiative 'Adopt a Village' serves as a strong pillar of community outreach for the organisation

One of the leading imaging companies in the country, Canon India through its flagship CSR endeavour- 'Adopt a Village', adopts villages and undertakes the charge of their development in areas of 4E's - Education, Environment, Eye Care and Empowerment. Today, the organization marks a new milestone with the 4th anniversary of the adoption of Maharaja Katte Village at Kanakapura Taluk. Adopted in 2014, Canon India has focused on the development of over 1300 villagers, with a special focus on the all-inclusive development of children in the village school.

     (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/538728/Canon_India_Logo.jpg )
     (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/728204/Kazutada_Kobayashi_Canon_India.jpg )

To commemorate the occasion, Mr. Kazutada Kobayashi, President & CEO of Canon India, along with 50 employees from the organisations' Bangalore and Canon ISDC (India Systems Development Centre) offices visited the village. Encouraging holistic development among children and as extension to the 'Learning Beyond Books' initiative, sports and cultural activities were organized. With the Independence Day of the country approaching, children enthusiastically participated in activities around the subject of 'Freedom'. Sports activities like three leg race, lemon spoon race were also organized to encourage increased participation of children in extra curricular activities. All participants were felicitated by Mr. Kobayashi.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Kobayashi, said, "Through our constructive endeavours of 'Canon India Involve', we are committed towards driving meaningful and welfare-centric initiatives that impact lives and make communities future ready. Having understood the needs and requirements of the village, we have undertaken several development activities towards infrastructure and the holistic improvement of the children, over the course of last four years. For us the real impact of our initiatives is measured by the number of smiling faces, reduced school dropout ratio, improved attendance, increased count of girl child, among other integral factors. We aim to help them to aspire more, dream bigger and work harder towards achieving their dreams."

"On way forward, we further see immense scope of improvement and with our employees and partners committed towards the cause of community development, I am confident we will bring about increased change. With over two decades of strong presence in the country, we have further fortified our dedication of offering back to the community." 

Adopt a Village's journey with Maharaja Katte Village

In the past 4 years, Maharaja Katte Village has witnessed noticeable developments through Canon India's implementation of a wide range of activities, under its four core areas, including Education, Eye Care, Environment and Empowerment.

• Education has been focused upon, with the establishment of a 'Resource Center' with learning and playing material accessible to about 74 students from 1st to 7th grade. Through a dedicated teacher each for English, Maths and Science subjects, remedial education and teaching assistance is provided to identified children in the school. Children are encouraged to make newspaper reading a habit here and inculcate e-learning as part of their education.
• Eye Care has been strengthened with establishment of a 'Vision Center' , where free of cost eye checkups are provided to the villagers and children, under the supervision of eye technicians. The activities under this domain also include health camps, blood donation camps and health-related awareness sessions.
• Environment activities include regular tree plantation drives, ground levelling activities and environmental awareness sessions, which are conducted with the involvement of Canon employees. 37 solar street lights have been installed in the village to contribute to the environment along with ensuring safety of the villagers. Plans to open kitchen gardens and provision of open garbage pits are also in progress.
• With an objective of self-sustainable living, under Empowerment, vocational training center has been established in the village, equipped with 12 computers and a set time table, encouraging digital education. Here a dedicated trainer provides computer literacy through desktops and laptops to 52 school students along with 15 village youth. The organization is identifying establishment of financial literacy to select community members, in the near future. As per a baseline survey conducted, 59% of the household showed interest in tailoring skill training session. Hence, the organization will also be providing tailoring and design training to identified community members.

In terms of infrastructure, Canon India has made significant changes in the village, keeping in mind the ease and convenience for villagers. Along with constructing additional classrooms and maintaining separate toilets for boys and girls, a stage has also been raised in the school to provide a platform for children to exhibit their talent and gain confidence. With health of the villagers as a key concern for Canon, a water purifier has been installed, providing them access to clean and safe drinking water.

The initiative has further extended to add another very important vertical - 'Learning Beyond Books' where the children of the villages adopted by Canon India would be introduced to more of practical experiences and out of book learnings. Children are made to visit the world outside their horizons and learn from real life examples, which would enable an extension in their holistic development.

Canon India has three more adopted villages presently under its flagship CSR initiative - 'Adopt a Village'. These include Village Maheshwari in Haryana, Karanjoti Village in Mumbai and Sol Gohalia in Kolkata.

About Canon Group 

Ever since its foundation in 1937, Canon is guided by the 'Kyosei' philosophy of living and working together for the common good. Canon strives to create and deliver world-class products, becoming a top global corporation by diversifying into new business fields throughout the world. Focusing on optical technologies, Canon produces office equipment, consumer and professional imaging devices, network cameras, healthcare and industrial equipment. Through the close connection between its global head office in Tokyo and regional headquarters in America, Europe, Asia, Oceania and regional headquarters in Japan, Canon combines its global and local operations organically. In 1996, Canon launched its Excellent Global Corporation Plan with the goal of serving the society with advanced technologies and becoming a trustworthy and responsible corporate citizen. The year 2016 is the first year of Phase 5 of the Plan. Currently, Canon boasts a strong global presence of 367 subsidiaries all over the world, supported by 197,673 employees. (Data as of December 31, 2016)

Canon in India 

Canon India Pvt. Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of Canon Singapore Pvt. Ltd., is a world leader in imaging technologies. Set up in 1997, Canon markets over 200 comprehensive range of sophisticated contemporary digital imaging product and solutions in India. The company today has offices and warehouses in 14 cities across India and employs over 1000 people. Canon has over 500 primary channel partners, 14 national retail chain partners, and over 6000 secondary retail points. Canon has 254 own retail stores accredited as 'Image Square' across 122 cities in the country. Canon India's service reach extends to over 580 towns covering 17,258 PIN codes across India - which comprises of 191 camera collection points, 18 camera repair centres, 242 printer repair centers, 162 copier, scanner and large format printer sales & service dealers. (Data as of July 31, 2018)

In sync with its corporate tagline - 'Delighting You Always', reinforced by world-class technology, Canon offers an extended product portfolio, including copier MFDs, managed document services, fax-machines, printers, document and cheque scanners, all-in-ones, digital cameras, DSLRs, cinematic imaging products, camcorders, cable ID printers and card printers catering to the multiple market segments of consumer, SME, B2B, commercial, government and PSUs. In 2017, the imaging leader recorded a double digit growth.

Media Contact:
Naina Sen
[email protected]
+91-7289848901
Associate
CMGRP