By Sekhar Seshan. Consulting Editor, Business India

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) has been proactive in battling the Covid-19 crisis right since the onset of the pandemic, according to Vikram Gulati, the company’s country head in charge of corporate social responsibility. Working according to the needs of the community as well as by supporting the government’s efforts, the Bidadi, Bengaluru-based company has distributed health and hygiene kits to 25,000 families – totalling about 100,000 individuals.

The kits, containing a sanitiser bottle, three-ply masks and hand-wash soap, were given to 5,000 volunteering employees, each of whom distributed them to five families in their neighbourhoods in Bengaluru urban and rural areas. The employees also created awareness on the safety precautions vital to contain the viral outbreak, with special emphasis on maintaining health and hygiene. The intention behind involving the employees, Gulati says, was to propagate important hygiene practices and the use of masks to as many people as possible in their neighbourhoods.

The CSR initiative, Sanjeevini, involved the distribution of the health and hygiene kits a month-long period. The programme, one of many aimed at empowering the community, was meant to safeguard not just the company’s employees but also the other families in their neighbourhoods.