Apeejay Trust and iCongo announce Apeejay Karmayuga – A Movement to Inspire Solid Character amongst Indians

New Delhi, July 25th, 2014 : Apeejay Trust and iCongo come together to announce Apeejay Karmayuga, a national character building initiative that aspires to democratize heroism in India. It aims to identify and reward individuals with Solid Character; people who through their virtuous and voluntary actions (Karma) demonstrate exceptional determination in discharging their Fundamental Duties against all odds, and through their practice of Individual Social Responsibility™, build not only their own character but also inspire the pursuit of a Solid Character among their friends, family and the community at large.

Seeking to expand the impact and scope of the Group’s CSR outreach, Apeejay Karamyuga is the Group’s effort to help build the national social fabric. Announcing the Initiative, Karan Paul, Chairman of Apeejay Surrendra Group said,” Apeejay Karmayuga will be a catalytic agent in our society that will ignite a virtuous cycle and build the capacity to do good at a larger scale. Scale and Impact is critical in this endeavour and I hope that Apeejay Karmayuga will set off a chain reaction that will have significant positive outcomes on our character as a Nation and as Individuals. Apeejay Karmayuga will inspire in the new generation of India the pursuit of Solid Character by giving them role models to practice their Individual Social Responsibility in everyday life and enrich not only the people who they come in direct contact with, but the whole society. If as an organization we can foster caring citizens Apeejay Surrendra Group will be delivering its corporate social responsibility in a way that is meaningful, sustainable”.

Opening the program Priya Paul, Director Apeejay Surrendra Group led the panelists, media and participants to take a pledge to follow the Constitution of India and said that “Karma is ingrained in our consciousness – the Constitution of India to which we took a pledge, lays down our Fundamental Duties and these Fundamental Duties, in other words Karma, provide a roadmap to Character Building. An Indian who discharges his/her Duties towards state and society is a Karmaveer, a person of Solid Character, who inspires the pursuit of solid character in his/her family and community. Apeejay Karmayuga will scout for such Indians across the country and bestow on them the coveted Karmaveer Chakra, instituted by iCONGO in partnership with the UN in 2008.”

Commented Jeroninio Almeida, Founder, iCongo “iCongo and Apeejay Trust have found common synergies in their recent initiatives focused on rewarding and encouraging citizen action and decided to collaborate to create Apeejay Karmayuga that takes forward their common intent and common values. This is the first time that iCongo is collaborating with a company and taking its support to achieve its social goals and this is due to meeting of minds. I believe that the combined resources of Apeejay Surrendra Group, with its existing strong focus on Individual Social responsibility and Corporate Social responsibility and our grassroots contact through member organizations and partnerships that will result out of this initiative, should make Apeejay Karmayuga a strong nationwide game changing movement.

Apeejay Karmayuga is a humble endeavour to Inspire Solid Character by preserving and living our moral values that were given to the world from wisdom created from the place which is now called India, he said adding that All holy books be it the Quran, Bible, Granth Sahib, Tanakh, Ramayana, Bhagvad Gita and others have taught us humanity and the need to practice human values and duties as human beings. Quoting from the Gita – When you feel the suffering of every living thing in your own heart that is consciousness- he regretted that the world and society are becoming increasingly hedonistic and unsafe today. “We must not wait to experience suffering ourselves, before we do something to right wrongs. We must begin righting wrongs when we see others suffering also as this may happen to us also tomorrow. I feel that this is due to the lack of self awareness, consciousness and understanding of living the human & moral values and fulfillment of our fundamental duties as citizens,” he said.

Almeida quoted the example of Fundamental Duty no.5 of the Indian constitution that speaks about renouncing practices derogatory to the dignity of women and the human value of having respect for women adding that “because we are not aware of our duties, every practice in India is derogatory to the dignity of women. The country has become very unsafe for women and in our society we are now seeing huge cases of rape and sexual crimes even with 6 year old children. Each of us has a role and responsibility towards creating a safe society, not because it is altruistic and selfless, but because a better society surely would benefit each and all of us and all young children in our families. So its not selfless and we must each do our part to create a better society and environment. Hence each of us must fulfill our Individual Responsibility and live the human values and fulfill our duties as great citizens. Only then we shall be able to work towards creating a safe, egalitarian, responsible society. “
We are delighted to partner with Apeejay to launch of the Apeejay Karmayuga which will incorporate 3 kinds of parallel outreach plans. These are Karmayuga Joint Awards Program Collaborations Plan as well as the Karmayuga Evangelists and Karmayuga Ambassador Evangelists Plan, said Meenu Chopra Executive Director of Apeejay Karmayuga and iCongo. “Institutions such as Schools, Colleges, B-schools, Companies, SMEs, PSEs, NGOs, Media Houses, Government Bodies, Village Panchayats, Housing Societies, Citizen Initiatives, Events, Marathons, Film Festivals can all approach us to partner to start their collaborative programs. We hope that many organizations will come forth to collaborate with us to create a ripple effect of positive change. “said Chopra