This cleanliness drive has enthused us iridiumiites and we, right now,  right here pledge to keep our city clean and also create awareness amongst people in our own big or small way and make our cities a heaven to live in. Spread the word and let more people join in!!!!

Manish is a Practice Director at iridium Interactive and spear heads the Web2.0 and Social media practice.

The industry has also been aware of its social responsibilities and come forward with various CSR initiatives. In an attempt to formally measure the impact of IT industry on the socio-economic development of the country, Nasscom Foundation, in association with Deloitte and Touche conducted a research for annual research publication ‘Catalysing Change’ which focusses on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) within the IT/ITES industry.The research attempts to bring forth the impact that the industry creates in the society at large, beyond the immediate stakeholders.

Nobel Laureate Dr. Amartya Sen, once expressed

“My point is not that the IT industry should do something for the country at large, for that it does anyway. It makes enormous contributions: it generates significant incomes for manyIndians; it has encouraged attention to technical excellenceas a general requirement across the board; it has established exacting standards of economic success in the country; it has encouraged many bright students to go technical rather than merely contemplative; and it has inspired Indian industrialists to face the world economy as a potentially big participant, not a tiny little bit-player. My point, rather, is that it can do even more, indeed in some ways, much more. This is partly because the reach of information is so wide and all-inclusive, butalso because the prosperity and commanding stature of the IT leaders and activists give them voice, power and ability to help the direction of Indian economic and social development.”

The findings of the research indicate that the industry has indeed taken his words very seriously. iridium Interactive has also found a place in this report for its outstanding work towards the cause of disability and Web Accessibility.Thefollowing excerpts are taken from the report:

Encouraging employment of differently abled

• Iridium Interactive Limited has a work force of about 100 people, 5% of which are differently abled. iridium Interactive has recruited people who are visually challenged for high end technology jobs from various tier 2 cities. These people are then put into a “Finishing School” where the company puts them through a custom hands on training program for 6 months and then on the job training before they are absorbed into the company thereby getting every one at an equal platform. iridium is also planning to recruit about 25 visually impaired people in three of its testing centres in Noida, Mumbai and Hyderabad, who would test all their disable-friendly products before launching.

iridium Interactive Ltd. – E-powerment of people with disabilities

• iridium Interactive Ltd. has been instrumental in promoting ‘web accessibility’ to visually impaired and motor disabled people, thereby enabling them to access technology and information related products through the use of Internet.
• The company is involved in creating awareness generation amongst website owners (Government and private)on the need to make sites accessible to disabled users and also promoting internet usage within the disabled sections of the society.
• It has helped almost 5,000 disabled people to get certificates issued by Government as recognition of a disabled person, by co-ordinating with State Governments, Local Governments, Transport Authorities, Medical personnel,etc.
• The company has also helped in making various websites (dealing in employment, transport and travel, education and e-banking) user friendly for people with disabilities, thereby promoting equal opportunities for disabled people.
• This makes iridium Interactive Ltd. the first Indian company to have endeavored an end to end approach to empower the differently abled through web accessibility and to have been included in NASSCOM’s Top IT Innovators for 2007.

The full report is available at www.nasscomfoundation.org

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NASSCOM Foundation organized a national-level consultation on ICT for Development on 23-24 November2006, that involved civil society bodies, IT industry, government agencies and academicians.

The event “Building ICT Capacities @ the Grassroots” had various eminent personalities speak on the critical role played by ICT in social and economic development of the country and the impact it has created so far.

The consultation focused on the following areas:

• ICT for development projects with a special emphasis on knowledge centers
• Cross-sectoral linkages and public private partnerships focusing on the Common Service Centers scheme of Department of Information Technology (GoI) and the role of Panchayati Raj Institutions
• Content and services required by rural communities
• Path to sustainability for community based knowledge centres
• Role of ICT in building HIV/AIDS awareness
• Synergies between IT Industry’s CSR initiatives and the ICT for development sector and how these two sectors can collaborate to provide crucial and much-needed services to under-served populations in the country

Sriram Bharatam, CEO-founder, iridium Interactive and Cause an effect was one of the speakers at the event. Mr.Bharatam, in his address stressed on the huge role played by ICT in the socio-economic development of the country. In his own words-

In a country like INDIA with a large rural population and limited resources, a sustainable model for ICT empowerment needs to be explored. And that is the strength that we are tapping on at Cause an Effect. Cause an Effect operates by harnessing the potential of ICT (Information & Communication Technology) for sustainable & equitable development, to enable the poor and the marginalized communities to transform their lives.

Some of the speakers who attended the conference were: Dr. Maxine Olson (United Nations Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative to India), Mr. Saurabh Srivastava (Chairman – NASSCOM FOUNDATION), Dr. Ramki (Director General – CDAC), Dr. Ramaraju (Principal Scientist, Media Lab Asia), Dr. Chetan Sharma (Founder, Datamation Foundation), Mr. Santanu Sengupta (CEO – GRASSO) and Ms. Vikas Goswami (Corporate Affairs Manager, Microsoft India).

Here are a few snapshots to give you a flavour of the event ….

National Consultation Of Nasscom Foundation 2006

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iridium Interactive proudly launched NASSCOM Foundation’s website. We are the Online and Technical Partners to an organisation which is working for social causes & development.

We had to resist the temptation of making NASSCOM Foundation’s website a showpiece. Instead the creative team decided on a template that put all the navigation tools on the left of the page with drop-down sub menus. This makes it really easy to get around the site and avoids being gimmicky. It was a case of the ‘message being the medium’.

The website is essential to NASSCOM Foundation’s drive for Social Development as outlined in the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals. The site will be used to leverage online donations and support for many of its projects and critical to its communication strategy. In all these initiatives iridium Interactive will be closely and actively involved.

“In designing the website, we threw out all our previous practices and decided to play it straight and keep it simple”, said Mr. Manish Kumar ( manish@iridiuminteractive.com ), Practice Head, iridium Interactive Ltd. He further added – “It was a pleasure interacting with NASSCOM Foundation; their brief was clear and goals direct. Getting the site operational and taking it live was relatively straightforward. And did I mention it? We had all of five days, from scratch to going live, to accomplish the task!”

An appreciative Ms Sagarika, of NASSCOM Foundation in an e-mail, had this to say – “I am really happy with the way the site shaped up and the support we have received from Iridium”.

About NASSCOM Foundation (NF)

The Foundation represents the information technology industry commitment to leverage Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for empowering and transforming the lives of the under privileged. The Foundation also facilitates and strengthens the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) space to a wider understanding of contribution to development

NASSCOM Foundation’s primary aim is to become an enabler and harness information and communication technologies to transform lives of the underserved.