Hundreds of men, women and children were enrolled in these Literacy Centres and turned out literates successfully.
The activities of the social education and literacy Centres by the Human Welfare Mission of the Ansals attracted attention not only from top Indian leaders but also from several foreign diplomats who were keenly interested in all official and voluntary efforts to bring about social change and transformation in India after decades of colonial rule.
Later on, Human Welfare Mission has expanded its activities to start Healthcare and Healthcare Education activities under its purview.
Mr Sushil Ansal, Chairman of Ansal API Group, has been actively associated with the social welfare activities of the Human Welfare Mission, founded by his father Shri Chiranji Lal Ansal, from a very early age. Taking off from where his father has left, Mr Sushil Ansal has expanded the scope of the welfare activities of the Group to help and reach out to lakhs and lakhs of people belonging to the socially and economically backward strata of our society.
In order to give a wider ambit to the human welfare activities being carried out by the Human Welfare Mission, Mr Sushil Ansal has also changed the name of the Mission to Chiranjiv Charitable Trust in 1976.
Mr Sushil Ansal, being the visionary he is, has realized the importance of evolving the Ansal API Group into a responsible and respected Corporate Citizen, along side expanding the businesses of the Group. Towards this, Mr Ansal has set in place an institutional framework to carry out the social service activities. There is a dedicated team to carry out the various Corporate Social Responsibility activities of Ansal API, in a range of areas such as education, healthcare, providing housing for economically weaker and senior citizens and promotion of literature.
Ansal API Group, under the Corporate Social Responsibility, has provided approximately three thousand plots for economically weaker section of the society in the various townships being developed by the Group. The plots were allotted through open public lottery system at highly subsidized rates and easy interest free instalments. The rates were less than 10 per cent of the market rate.
The Group has also built homes of approx. 200 sq ft. for the economically weaker section at a subsidized rate of Rs. 50,000 per dwelling unit. The Group has also made bookings and is developing more than 3000 affordable homes in their projects in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan and has plans to develop approximately ten thousand dwelling units in the affordable housing category.
A plot of 1000 sq mtrs was donated to establish a senior citizen’s home in Palam Vihar, Gurgaon. Free technical and engineering support was provided to build this home called Chiranjiv Karam Bhoomi. Several senior citizens are staying in this home which is being run by Divya Chhaya Trust through Mrs Kusum Ansal and other members of the Trust.
In order to encourage Hindi writers and literature, Ansal API Group has been supporting SAMVAD – a literary organization for over twenty five years now. Samvad provides an opportunity for creative writers where their literary works are discussed and analyzed. The collection of various works by members of Samvad has been compiled into a book for permanent record and distribution in the community. This forum encourages and supports number of emerging Hindi writers.
Ansals API Group is also supporting an NGO, Shanty Sahayog, in their health care programmes in and around Delhi for the last over five years, as part of its CSR initiative. The Group has helped Shanty Sahayog in renovating and re-starting a dysfunctional health centre in Kalkaji area of New Delhi. The health centre provides free preventive and curative health care, with a focus on women’s health. It caters not only to the 850 families that reside in the nearby slum areas, but also to those living in poverty and deprivation in and around Kalkaji. Patients have easy access to a general practitioner, a dentist and a gynaecologist.Every year, several thousands of people belonging to the economically weaker section, residing in and around Kalkaji are being treated at this health centre for various ailments. This health centre also doubles up as a vocational training centre in the afternoon where women are taught tailoring by a professional teacher. Under the vocational training programme, it imparts training in income generating skills such as tailoring, designing and embroidery so as to empower the women residing in and around the area to be economically self reliant and build self confidence.
The Chiranjiv Charitable Trust, set up by the Ansals in 1976, currently runs schools in Palam Vihar and Sushant Lok in Gurgaon. Currently over 6000 students are studying in these schools.
The Trust is also in the process of setting up a large number of schools which will provide quality education. These schools will come up in the township and colonies being developed by Ansal API Group in various parts of the country.
Chiranjiv Charitable Trust, under Chairmanship of Mr. Sushil Ansal, also promoted the Ansal Institute of Technology (AIT) in Gurgaon in the year 2000. AIT, an institution for higher education, today conducts undergraduate courses in Engineering in affiliation with Guru Gobind Indraprastha University and post graduate course in management in affiliation with Tilak University of Pune.
In a short span of 10 years, AIT has come a long way and established a good reputation for itself. Besides the regular programmes in engineering and management, AIT is also conducting academic twinning programs both at undergraduate and post graduate levels in engineering, technology and management in association with many reputed and accredited universities like the Clemson University, North Dakota State University, Tarleton State University, North Carolina State University in USA, University of Windsor, and St. Mary’s University in Canada, University of Canberra and Deakin University of Australia. Hundreds of students have moved to these universities in pursuit of higher education after their successful stint at AIT.
Besides AIT, Chiranjiv Charitable Trust, under the leadership of Mr. Ansal, also runs Sushant School of Art and Architecture. Set up about twenty years back to impart education in the field of architecture, to inspire the students to experiment, create and refine their ideas, Sushant School of Art and Architecture today is considered to be one of the finest institutes in the country imparting education in the field of architecture. The synergy between education and practical training has enabled the students to have an edge over others in securing much sought after professional positions in the field of architecture.