TURNING THE TIDE
Coca-Cola India is infusing its pioneering spirit into expansive CSR initiatives that cultivate prosperity, health, and dignity, transforming communities and igniting a brighter future for thousands
Agust of change is sweeping through the dry regions around Aurangabad, thanks to Coca-Cola and the S M Sehgal Foundation for providing clean water solutions across the region, improving the health of the villagers, encouraging the reuse of wastewater and fostering community empowerment
“Panyanicha nahi pran, Pancyache tu mahatva jaan” (There is no life without water; learn the importance of water)
Dongargaon Kawad, a small village in Aurangabad in Maharashtra, is replete with slogans like this.
Several states and regions in India, particularly in Maharashtra, are on the brink of a drought owing to growing water scarcity. Depletion of groundwater resources and a lack of access to drinking water are an ominous threat to communities in this belt. For Aurangabad, which has faced drought-like conditions for years, water is a particularly precious commodity; clean drinking water even more so.
It was no different in Dongargaon Kawad until 2023, when the clouds lifted, ushering bright new rays of hope in the form of clean drinking water for the villagers at one-fourth its cost. This was accompanied by rising groundwater levels, thanks to construction of check dams and recharge shafts
To address the water crisis, the Coca-Cola India Foundation, Anandana, partnered with the S M Sehgal Foundation to implement drinking water initiatives in five villages of the Aurangabad district in Maharashtra. This collaborative effort has resulted in the installation of RO + Ultra Filtration (UF) units, benefiting over 10,000 villagers and more than 1,500 households, ensuring enhanced and sustained access to safe drinking water across the region.
And the benefits are manifold. Ask the Sarpanch Ujjaya Ishwar Daable, a patient woman with a warm smile, much loved by the villagers. “We now get clean drinking water from our water ATM without spending time, energy and resources travelling to another village. So not only are we saving money but also seeing manifold benefits. Our lives have turned around.”
It’s no surprise to see villagers queuing up at the water ATM, their highly prized ATM cards in hand and smiling. They fill their containers (buckets, tins, or water jars) with five litres of water and happily transport their containers home on their heads, shoulders, or bicycles.
The reasons for smiles might vary, but the source remains the same.
Meet Yogita Ajna Daable, a woman battling kidney stones who struggled daily for clean water. Her doctor prescribed RO water, and her family would fetch it daily from a neighbouring village, rain or shine, spending Rs 40 – Rs 20 on water and Rs 20 on travel. This additional cost strained their budget, which was already burdened by medical expenses. With the installation of an RO unit in her village, Yogita expresses relief, “Now that we have our ATM for water, it has changed our lives.”
The relatively easy availability of water in the village has had a salubrious impact on the health of its people, resulting in several positives, including a fall in absenteeism in the schools.
If there is anyone besides the parents who is pleased with this outcome, then it is Dr Mangesh Kumar Ambiwade, the principal of the village school, Zila Parishad Uccha Pratmik Shala, Dongarwal Kawad. “Ever since Coca-Cola India and Sehgal Foundation began the water ATM in the village, children are not falling as sick. This has led to better attendance and better results.”
Even smaller children who are so much more susceptible to waterborne disease have been doing well. Says Sheela Subhash Somane, an Anganwadi worker for the past 33 years. “Earlier, just 15-17 children could attend Anganwadi because they would fall sick every 3-4 months. Now that number has gone up to 25.” Besides better health, clean drinking water has benefited different people differently.
Kavita Jaganath Bodle recalls a past when guests at weddings and other functions would refuse to drink water, fearing for their health. However, today, everyone knows that the villagers have access to clean water at their homes, and they take pride in serving it to their guests. It feels great to have made such progress. This sense of euphoria can be seen elsewhere, too.
“ Earlier, just 15-17 children could attend Anganwadi because they would fall sick every 3-4 months. Now that number has gone up to 25.”
(Above) Coca-Cola and Sehgal Foundation’s safe drinking water initiative against the backdrop of progress
(Below) Empowerment in every drop: Kavita Jaganath Bodle carries home the promise of clean water
S M Sehgal Foundation’s commitment to clean water shines in the smile of a local steward by the water ATM
Anjali Makhija, Trustee and CEO of S M Sehgal Foundation, highlights the critical issue of clean drinking water in Aurangabad communities. “With support from Coca-Cola India, we have implemented safe drinking water projects in select villages and succeeded in identifying and planning interventions where most needed.”
In Babra village, a notable intervention involves storing wastewater from the RO plant for reuse. This water serves various purposes in the village and surrounding areas, from washing vegetables to bathing cattle and clothes.
Asifa, a Babra resident, emphasises the importance of the water storage tank, stating, “Water is precious for us, and we can’t afford to waste it.” Nearby villages like Babul, Sonari, Waman, and Chincholi also utilise this stored water.
In Kowad village, interventions include building gatta (check dams) and recharge shafts to store rainwater. Farmer Bhasker Dalli credits Coca-Cola and the S M Sehgal Foundation for improving the water table and benefitting crops and wells.
What makes these interventions unique is that the villagers themselves actively manage them. Regular committee meetings emphasise water conservation, encourage experience-sharing and foster widespread participation.
Seema Anskush Banse, director of the water committee in Babra village, finds significance in these interventions. “I feel heard and encouraged. It feels good to participate in my village’s growth. Water is crucial, and ensuring everything runs smoothly is a great feeling,” she affirms.
Amidst the verdant landscapes of Uttarakhand, the Unnati Apple Project, a beacon of Coca-Cola’s Fruit Circular Economy initiative, is silently reshaping the destinies of many young people, including those displaced by the Covid pandemic and lifting the lives of hundreds of families in a rising tide of hope
The Covid lockdown set off an exodus of young people returning to their families, towns, and villages, searching for work in their hometowns, their futures uncertain. However, from this upheaval emerged several stars like Shaswat Bisht, 22. On this sunny day, this professional footballer who returned from Bangalore stands amidst deep red apple orchards in his picturesque village of Uchura in Uttarakhand.
When he returned to his village in June 2020, a world apart from his footballing career, he was greeted by lush green hills, caressed by rolling mists,
The Unnati apple project cultivates hope in Uttarakhand’s hills
The juicy promise of Coca-Cola’s Unnati apples flourishing in the Himalayan soil
even as the bells jingling from the cows’ necks made their music. “I realised what I was missing. I knew I wanted to be here, at home in the hills,” he smiles.
And don’t they say fortune favours the brave? He met a farmer growing a unique variety of apples and seemed very happy with it. That is what he would do, he announced to his family. The farmer was sourcing the seeds for the Unnati apples from the Indo Dutch Horticulture Technologies (P) Ltd., he found out. A visit to the company turned his head: These trees, he was told, yielded five times more than the traditional apple varieties. Sashwat was instantly hooked.
Today, three years after he began growing apple trees, Sashwat couldn’t be happier. And yes, he finds time to play professional football and live a far more enriching and peaceful life in the hills.
“Unnati apples have been a game-changer in my vision of settling back in my village. What’s most rewarding is that so many other farmers are inspired by my orchards and success. It’s a great feeling to live in the land of my ancestors, make a decent living and follow my passion. Life couldn’t have been better.”
Rooted in tradition, growing the future: A farmer nurtures prosperity with Unnati high-yield Apples
A glimpse into the future of farming at Indo-Dutch horticulture technologies, the cradle of Unnati apples
Parvati Devi balances tradition and innovation in Uttarakhand’s flourishing orchards
“ Today, over 45,000 farmers have been trained to grow the Unnati high-yield apples. The apples start fruiting in a year, each tree yielding 12-15 Kg of fruit.”
Sashwat is among many farmers who are part of a quiet revolution sweeping across Uttarakhand, all thanks to Project Apple Unnati, a component of Coca-Cola India’s Fruit Circular Economy, one of its CSR initiatives.
This Fruit Circular Economy initiative in India, a key pillar of Coca-Cola’s ESG practices, aims to aid the Indian agri-ecosystem by enhancing farming efficiency, strengthening forward linkages, and building food-processing capacity in the country. In the process, it addresses challenges of low-farm productivity, poor technology adoption and fruit wastage in the horticulture sector. Over the years, it has proved to be an enabler.
Ask Sudhir Chadha, Founder and CEO of Indo Dutch Horticulture Technologies (P) Ltd., who brought the revolutionary Dutch technology of high-yield apples to India in 2006. “It was during a trip to Europe in 2003 when I saw these beautiful red Dutch apples. Initially, when I saw them, I thought they were tomatoes. I learnt they were high-yield apples. I was hooked and knew I had to work with them.”
Chadha, also known as the Papaya Man, got an award-winning Dutch farmer to his setup in Bhimtal, and the 40-day assignment led to the grafting of 5,000 trees to prepare a nursery of 70,000 plants. Today, over 45,000 farmers have been trained to grow the Unnati high-yield apples. The apples start fruiting in a year, each tree yielding 12-15 Kg of fruit.
“Coca-Cola’s support has gone a long way in helping create awareness and ensuring more and more farmers benefit from these ultra high yield apples based on rootstock technology. These apples are unique because they can also be grown at 12,00 metres of height, which was unheard of thus far. They start fruiting from the first year and give excellent returns to the farmers. If Unnati apples keep spreading this way, the problem of migration from the hills of Uttarakhand can stop, and in four years, India will stop importing apples,” he adds with confidence.
Similar smiles are spreading wide across the region. Ask Parvati Devi, a farmer in Chaukuta village in Nainital District of Uttarakhand. At 67, Devi has a spring in her step even as she treks uphill to her orchards. “I was amazed when I first saw these trees. I had never seen anything of this
Shaswat Bisht revels in the blossoming promise of Uttarakhand’s Unnati orchards
sort in my lifetime of farming. They grow fast and give the sweetest, juiciest apples. Moreover, because they are thin and tall, it also gives us space for intercropping. My husband and I have been growing potatoes, cauliflower, peas and more with our apple trees. We are elated.”
Prakash Charnal in Ghingrani village would have given up farming if it hadn’t been for Unnati apples. “I work as an electricity mechanic and also do farming to sustain my family. I grew potatoes earlier. The seeds cost Rs 70 a kg, and potatoes only sell at Rs 20 per kg. So, even 40 quintals of potatoes earned me just Rs 60,000 yearly after back-breaking work. The story changed when I saw another farmer grow these apples. I got curious and asked him. I then bought these plants and also got trained. Today, I have 250 apple trees and am looking to earn lakhs of rupees. I can’t thank Coca-Cola and Indo-Dutch enough, for helping me return to my roots.”
From triggering reverse migration to better earning capacity, the stories of Unnati are many, but the strength remains its promise of a better life.
As Rajesh Ayapilla, Senior Director, Sustainability & CSR stated, “Along with our partners, we have been working with fruit farmers since 2011 Project, Unnati, which currently covers seven crops – mango, apple, orange, grapes, and lychee, sugar and coffee . The project has been successfully extended to 13 states/UTs, spread across 100,000 acres and benefiting 400,000+ farmers. For us, the smiles on the farmers faces along with their families are the sweetest deal.”
Eco-warriors in action: Chintan and Coca-Cola’s joint efforts in waste management turning trash into hope
The faces behind Zakhira’s transformation through integrated waste management solutions
“ Spread over 5,000 square feet, the project diverts 60% of wet waste generated from households to landfills.
Chintan’s team at work, a testament to Coca-Cola’s commitment to sustainable waste management and dignified labor
In the heart of Zakhira in Delhi, a good practice of resilience and transformation is being written. Amidst squalor and makeshift workplaces, workers like Tetri Devi embody a quiet revolution heralded by Coca-Cola’s Integrated Waste Management Solutions, which not only enhance livelihoods but also reshape societal views on waste, emphasising dignity and sustainability for many.
With her lipstick and kajal in place, she put on her trousers and T-shirt, a smile lighting up her face. She no longer needs to wade through piles of trash or fear feeding her little one with soiled hands. “I now have a uniform, gloves and fixed work timings. Most of all, I have dignity,” she smiles.
Just a stone’s throw away from the bustling Zakhira flyover, where cars and bikes zoom past, another world coexists. In this slum, overflowing drains, garbage, stand-alone halls and rooms that serve as godowns are the norm. Here, children as young as eight and 10 pick their way through filth, garbage bags on their backs.
A little further down the road is a huge tin hall in Chara Mandir, neatly painted green. This is the workplace of Tertri Devi, her husband, Dharamvir Das and many others.
Tetri is among the over 80 workers associated with the Coca-Cola India Foundation’s Integrated Waste Management Solutions (IWMS), an initiative that the soft-drink giant runs in partnership with the award-winning NGO Chintan.
The integrated waste management infrastructure, which includes Material Recovery and Segregation Facilities (MRFs), is a blessing to the bylanes of Jakhira, bestowing dignity, better earning capacity and enhanced quality of life to the local residents.
Tetri Devi and her husband personify this transformation. Before joining this facility, they earned just Rs 200 each daily. With three children to feed and educate, rent to pay, and a home to run, life for them was an unending struggle. Also, since they worked in dirt and muck, their children fell ill often, “Now we earn Rs 500 per day, have gloves, shoes and a proper uniform. I feel a sense of pride coming to work. The work is the same as earlier, but it feels so different,” she says.
The Coca-Cola India Foundation’s IWMS is a three-pronged initiative: It helps people earn a dignified livelihood, promotes recycling waste and supports the Government’s Swachh Bharat vision.
Sample this: The MRF currently manages 5-7 tons of waste daily, potentially scaling up its operations to handle 10+ tons/day. The waste is collected primarily from North MCD, particularly its bulk generators and nearby upcoming residential areas. Once collected, the waste is brought to the facility where the wet trash is segregated from the dry by machines and then by the dedicated employees.
The dry waste is recycled, while the wet waste goes for composting. The compost is given to North MCD for its parks and other green spaces. The recyclable waste, essentially PET, goes to authorised recyclers. Spread over 5,000 square feet, the project diverts 60% of wet waste generated from households to landfills.
This 360-degree waste management model is transforming how society looks at waste. “The initiative turned the informal waste sector into a formal one, raising awareness of source segregation, influencing attitudinal changes in waste disposal, and protection of natural habitats, among others,” says Rajiv Gupta, Senior Director, CSR, Anandana, The Coca-Cola India Foundation.
And the efforts are paying off. Ask Saurabh Kumar, who moved to Delhi from Bihar four years ago in search of work. When he started out as a rag picker, he hadn’t even heard of the phrase waste segregation. Today, he has a consummate understanding of the term. “When waste is not segregated at source, it can’t be recycled effectively. Burning waste can increase air pollution. These are things I learned only when I began working here. I have been working here for over three years. Not only am I proud of contributing to the cleanliness of our nation, but I am also happy to be able to support my family and save money.”
Ketan Narang, a supervisor from Chintan, says, “The staff has been well-trained to segregate waste. We also have a compressor machine to compress the waste plastic bottles. From the wet waste, we get rich manure. This waste segregation and recycling is helping the community and environment
It is a win-win for all.
“ Now we earn Rs 500 per day, have gloves, shoes and a proper uniform. I feel a sense of pride coming to work.”
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Rajiv Gupta, Senior Director, CSR, Anandana, The Coca-Cola India Foundation
“GIVING BACK TO SOCIETY IS A FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLE FOR COCA-COLA INDIA”
Rajiv Gupta, Senior Director, CSR, Anandana, The Coca-Cola India Foundation, the CSR arm of the soft drink giant, has led several transformational initiatives centred around his company’s life-altering water strategy, sustainable agriculture, and plastic circularity
How does Coca-Cola India choose the issues to focus on through CSR activities?
Coca-Cola India’s CSR initiatives are driven by a commitment to creating a sustainable and shared future by making a positive difference in people’s lives, communities, and the planet, revolving around four important pillars which are: Water stewardship, waste circularity, sustainable agriculture and climate resilience.
Water is Coca-Cola India’s top priority, given its essential role in life, beverages, and communities. Through its ‘2030 Water Strategy’, the company works towards water security by stewarding initiatives that address the growing demand for safe, usable water across regions for drinking and water.
In waste circularity, Coca-Cola India leverages its scale and reach to implement recycling, effective plastic waste management, and sustainable packaging initiatives across markets. This aligns with the company’s broader sustainability objectives, emphasising responsible environmental practices.
Sustainable agriculture is equally imperative, and projects like Project Unnati empower farmers with the best agricultural practices to enhance their incomes, livelihoods, and overall productivity.
Sustainable agriculture is equally imperative, and projects like Project Unnati empower farmers with the best agricultural practices to enhance their incomes, livelihoods, and overall productivity.
Moreover, acknowledging the impacts of climate change, Coca-Cola India has set a science-based target to reduce carbon emissions by 25% by 2030 and aspire to achieve net-zero carbon by 2050. The company aligns its business practices with environmental responsibility.
What does CSR mean at Coca-Cola India, and what impact are you aiming for through these projects?
Coca-Cola India’s CSR approach integrates business objectives with societal and environmental impact. The ‘2030 Water Strategy’ aims to achieve water security in operations, watersheds, and communities. Sustainability strategy is linked with fundamental business goals, emphasising innovation and sustainable choices to drive growth while ensuring a positive impact on society and the environment.
Coca-Cola India adheres to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards. The ‘Return and Recycle’ initiative with Zepto collects PET bottles at major cities’ delivery hubs, achieving complete plastic circularity. To date, the initiative has rounded up 1000 kgs of PET bottles.
How does Coca-Cola India measure the impact of its projects?
Coca-Cola India assesses CSR projects based on the transformation in beneficiaries’ lives and outcomes in water management, sustainable agriculture, and plastic circularity. For example, the ‘Jaldhara Project’ earned Coca-Cola India a National Award for Water Stewardship. ‘Project Unnati’ reached over four lakh farmers across 13 states, reflecting our commitment to sustainability.
Why are you undertaking such projects in the first place?
Coca-Cola India believes in giving back to society and making a difference. It is committed to creating a sustainable future and improving the lives of people. The company addresses socio-economic challenges and contributes to the betterment of communities.