Education plays a crucial role in developing children who in turn bring about a developed society. In rural education scenario, where majority of the children are first generation learners, many childern receives no proper guidance or motivation from their parents, inadequate facilities in local schools and the distance a child needs to travel for higher education thwarts the aspiration of children to access to higher education.
Towards ensuring quality & continuous education to rural children, MARG has evolved a three-pronged strategy to address the issue holistically i) Improving school infrastructures to enhance teaching and learning environment ii) Facilitating children's education through guided evening study centres at villages and iii) providing hassle free timely and safe journey between school and home.

 

School Infrastructure & Amenities

Compound wall for Panchayat Union School, Seekinankuppam	Renovated Anganwadi centre at Vellore village	Classrooms constructed & fully furnished, Govt. High School Karapakkam
Landscaping & Gardening, RC school Poonjeri	Water tank for RC school Poonjeri	Computers for Govt. Schools, Karaikal

Educational Aids

Bicycles to school children

Cash award for top performers in public exams, Karaikal

Free school shuttle service

After school support

Mela Vanjore, Karaikal

North Vanjore, Karaikal

Madayambakkam village, Kancheepuram

MARG's efforts towards improving healthcare and its delivery systems enable rural poor access to quality health services.

 

Medical camp supported under Varummon Kaapom Thittamm	General Medical Camp - K.Vanjore, Karaikal on 31st Jan'10	Round the clock health care service, MARG Swarnabhoomi
MARG’s village health centre at Vanjore, Karaikal.	Ambulance service, MARG Swarnabhoomi	Eye screening camp, Seekinankuppam

Growth of a country largely depends on its social infrastructure standards. MARG as an infrastructure developer is aware of the fact that private sector involvement and investment is essential to supplement Government's efforts.

 

Community Infrastructure developed under Namaku Namey Thittam

 

Flood protection wall, Thiruvathur

Concrete road at Perunthuravu

Concrete road at Madayambakkam

Direct Intervention

Bus shelter at Karaikal aesthetically designed with seating facility

Street lights helps illuminate 3 panchayats around MARG Swarnabhoomi

Water conservation - Pond at Karaikal

We believe in the adage "Give man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime". While the changing new economy has opened up job opportunities across sectors, the need of the hour is training and skill development. The rural poor who have no means to learn are given training in the areas of their interest and competence. We help them find employment across industry segments.

 

GLSDI-MARG
MARG in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) initiated - Grassroots Level Skill Development Initiative (GLSDI) that targeted the Kancheepuram district's unskilled workforce by imparting basic training on employable skills. Through this initiative 800 youth were given a 15 day intensive pre - employment training with over 60 % being placed in jobs at a job fair.

 

GLSDI-MARG signed an MOU with CII

A section of the youth at the Job Fair, April 2008

30 youths trained in four wheeler driving

Coffee Kiosk run by SHG women groups in Karaikal Port

Tailoring training centre, Vanjore village

Food & Nutrition training to women group, Seekinankuppam

Knowledge Connectivity" to empower rural populace - A joint pilot project between MARG Karaikal Port & MSSRF

The project titled "Knowledge Connectivity for providing Integrated Agricultural and Micro-Enterprises Advisories" is a joint initiative by MARG Karaikal Port & MSSRF. This unique program utilizes the positive aspects of science for the good of the society. The project targets a geographical spread of 12 – 15 km radius of MARG Karaikal Port directly impacting lives of 20,000 population in Karaikal & Nagapattinam districts. The project provides need based locale specific demand driven dynamic information in vernacular language using various communication methods such as audio messaging on mobiles, phone-in-programmes, capacity building training, fortnightly news papers, help line etc.

Tree plantation is part of our endeavor to constantly improve of our environment. Our commitment is to plant 2 lakh trees across our areas of operations.
		Green Kalam initiative - MARG collaborated with ExNoRa international for Actor Vivek’s ambitious project - ‘Green Kalam’, a mega environment friendly initiative undertaken to plant 1 million saplings across Tamil Nadu. The Green Kalam project was the brainchild of former President of India, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, who wanted to see a greener Tamil Nadu by planting one million saplings. As an environmentally responsible corporate, MARG planted 25,000 saplings at MARG Swarnabhoomi. The neighboring community, residents at MARG Swarnabhoomi, students of MIDAS, MARG Navajyothi Vidyalaya and a host of visitors and invitees participated in the mass plantation drive.
GRK Reddy, CMD, MARG Group and US Consul General Ms Jennifer Mclntyre at the launch of Green Chronicle campaign on e-waste management		Strategic ‘Green chronicle’ initiative in association with Deccan Chronicle & ExNoRa - Technological advancement and increased usage of Telecom, IT, Electronic digital equipments etc. have created an alarming situation of increased stream of electronic waste (e-waste). The high rate of obsolescence of these electronic equipments and the fast changing technology gives rise to replacement of the products, thereby increasing e-waste. The disposal of e-waste containing hazardous substances in an environmentally sound manner has become a challenge in India. Chennai being a major Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Hub, it is felt that for an urgent need of awareness and solutions on e-waste management. MARG an environmentally conscious organisation in association with Deccan Chronicle, Madras University and Youth ExNoRa has launched a month long campaign that aimed at spreading awareness about e-waste and its consequences. This public initiative seeks solutions through people-to-people partnership which motivate & educate the public about dangers of e-waste, importance of reduce, reuse and recycle. Experts, Government officials and environmental activists are roped in to interact with the public to manage e-waste at the household level. The campaign was kick started at the Madras University on 1st April 2011. The campaign will be spread to the other parts of the country gradually.
		Mahayagnam of Tree Sapling Plantation - On the occasion of Children’s Day 2010, MARG in association with Indian Telegu Association (ITA), a non-profit Telugu cultural organization, organized a mass tree saplings plantation drive. 900 school students actively participated and planted 5000 saplings at MARG Swarnabhoomi.

 

MARG Lightsout Campaign (10:10:10:10:10) - MARG partnered EXNORA’S Lightsout campaign popularly called ‘5 tens Lights Out campaign’ to motivate people to switch off their lights for 10 minutes on 10.10.10 thereby acknowledging the importance of protecting our planet and our role in mitigating global warming.

 

MARG Swarnabhoomi Puduvai Marathon - Thousands gathered in Puducherry on 14.02.10, to run around the town and show their solidarity to global warming. The Puduvai Marathon 2010, organised jointly by MARG Swarnabhoomi and the Rotary Club of Pondicherry Charitable Trust received a whopping response, with around 8500 people “going green to save the earth”.

 

EARTH HOUR 2012 - MARG in association with World Wild Federation India (WWF-India) organized Earth Hour 2012 – the global campaign inspiring governments, businesses, communities and individuals to take a stand against Climate Change in the city of Chennai. Enthusiastic and Environment friendly people of Chennai switched off the lights in their home to take part in the campaign. Famous youth icon and a popular actor from the Tamil film industry Dhanush joined hands with MARG and WWF-India to support Earth Hour 2012 in Chennai. The Earth Hour 2012 was observed in Chennai from 8:30 – 9:30 PM at Spencer Plaza, Anna Salai, Chennai. Over 250 School Children, Elite audiences across the city, film personalities, celebrities and media attended the Earth Hour event to support the noble cause. The event kick-started at 7:30pm by a cultural performance by the school children and followed by lighting of candles and switching off the lights. Over 350 people including the children took pledge on the energy conservation and to responsible actions that benefit our planet.

MARG has responded to emergency situations & disasters by providing timely help to affected victims and their families. The intervention has included provision of food grains, clothes, vessels, school books, uniforms etc - all with the aim to help affected families bounce back to normal life as soon as possible.

 

Kerosene pump stoves distributed to 3000 flood affected families at Kurnool, Andra Pradesh, March'10

10kg of Rice bags distributed to 530 families affected by flood at Vanjore villages - Nov'09

Temporary shelters for the fire accident victims, Karaikal

MAHABALIPURAM - Unfinished poetry in stone This is a coffee-table book authored by Prof. S. Swaminathan. The book is a study on the architectural and sculptural achievements of the Pallavas. It describes the form, content and style of the art in stone, conceived and wrought by the genius of the Pallava kings. To understand the significance of Mahabalipuram architecture and to preserve its rich cultural heritage, MARG has attempted to bring to the fore, this book, which is a unique study on Pallava architectural and sculptural achievements.

558 families were gifted with dhotis & sarees on Independence day celebration, 2009 at Karaikal

Differently-abled supported with tricycle

Sewing machines donated to women self-help groups (SHG) from Vanjore villages, Karaikal

The MARG CHENNAI MARATHON, 2008 was partnered by MARG in aid of Give Life Charity that supports the cause of underprivileged children for their Right to education and health. Around 1.75 Lac people from various walks of life across different cities participated in this run.

A.R.RAHAMAN'S JAI HO WORLD SERIES in aid of The Sakthi Foundation and AR Rahman Foundation organised by MARG at MARG Swarnabhoomi saw over 75,000 people standup for the cause of the physically challenged. Apart from raising funds for medical equipments, the Adhiparasakthi Medical and Research Hospital at Melmaruvathur, this event sensitized the people of the need to include differently abled into the mainstream.

MARG CHENNAI MARATHON’ 2010 - The event on 29.08.10 was in aid of GiveLife Charity, which takes care of the education of 8,000 underprivileged children. Over 1 Lakh enthusiastic participants cutting across different age groups made the annual event a roaring success.

Celebrating 100 years of Satyagraha
MARG in co-ordination with the Gandhi Study Centre, organized a one-day programme for underprivileged children to celebrate Gandhi Jayanti and 100 years of Sathyagraha (8th Oct 2006).

World AIDS Day – A mass campaign aimed at spreading awareness to bring an attitudinal change among public towards people living with HIV / AIDS. "Accept, Act, and Achieve" was the message delivered (1st Dec 2006).

EmployABILITY 2006 - A job fair for specially-abled people aimed at ‘looking beyond disabilities and breaking barriers together’. The event saw several young job aspirants attending their first job interview (16th &17th Dec 2006).

AbilityFEST - Organized by Ability Foundation from October 5th to 8th, 2007. AbilityFEST is an international disability film festival. This is a biannual event of Ability Foundation to sensitise the community about their perception on disability. AbilityFest 2007 enabled the viewers to enjoy films from 24 countries - some funny, others moving – but every one of them thought provoking.

BYST & MARG- Best Business Idea Contest Programme – 2008
The contest encouraged young men and women in and around Chennai to come up with creative and viable business ideas that could be converted into successful dynamic micro-enterprises. The contest gave a boost to the entrepreneurial culture in Chennai and promote new business ideas among the youth.