CRY organises '9th Cadence Corporate Citizenship Challenge'

Company Brief

New Delhi, December 06, 2008

Noted boxer and Olympic medallist, Vijender Singh flagged off the 9th CRY - Cadence Cadence Corporate Citizenship Challenge at Modern School, Barakhamba Road today. This is the ninth successive years that, CRY - Child Rights and You and Cadence Design Systems combine sport and corporate citizenship to bring this unique event.

Endorsing the message and flagging off the inaugural match of the 9th 5Cs at the Modern School Grounds, Barakhamba Road, Mr Vijender Singh , who won a bronze medal in the 75kg category at the recent Beijing Olympics said, “I associate with the CRY-Cadence Corporate Citizenship Challenge because I believe that education is really every child’s birthright – it’s not a favour we are doing to ensure this. Seeing that every child gets free and equitable education should be one of our principal concerns.”

Reiterating Cadence commitment, Mr Jaswinder. S. Ahuja, Corporate Vice President and Managing Director, Cadence Design Systems (I) Pvt. Ltd., reiterated the power the Indian middle class has to bring about change and that they must exercise this vehemently in the area of child rights. Speaking of this event, he said “Sports is just an excuse, children are the future and we truly need to catch them young and give them a fair chance and a meaningful future. Do enjoy the sports,” he said “but don’t forget the reason why we are here.”

This CRY-Cadence union stands apart in the area of corporate NGO partnerships because it goes beyond giving out a cheque. It is a process of engaging and entering a partnership where both parties feel responsible for the cause of India’s underprivileged children. The participation of teams from other corporate houses causes this message to reach a wider audience.

The fact that this engagement has evolved and deepened is demonstrated by the fact the partnership is now in its 9th year, without a gap.

The spirit of this partnership is all about creating awareness and sensitizing people to child rights in India. This year, uniting 12 teams on the pitch in Delhi, 5Cs endeavours to focus on the crucial issue of free and quality education for all Indian children. The teams are from Cadence, The Oberoi, FreeScale, Market Rx, OPTO Group, Radisson MBD, KPMG, RBS (The Royal Bank of Scotland Group), QA InfoTech, RockWell Automation, Polaris Software Lab Limited, DSCL (DCM Shriram Consolidated Limited).

While in earlier years the focus has been on cricket, this year, the event pans out as an Olympiad, including multiple sports like Cricket, Soccer, Table Tennis, Badminton, Mini Marathon and Basket Ball.

The diversification is deliberate: It epitomizes the multidimensional nature of child rights and underscores the point that child rights is not the preserve of the development sector but can and should be actualized by all sections of society.

Adding to this, Bondana Dutta, Regional Director, CRY, spoke of the long association with Cadence “At CRY we view the association with Cadence as an abiding one that shows deep commitment and an understanding of the issues of child rights. In a sense this illustrates the extent to which corporate houses can work towards greater social justice.”

Elaborating on the issue, Anita Bala Sharad, General Manager, Resource Generation, CRY says, “We have concentrated on education in this event… At CRY, we believe that it is the right of every child to receive quality education and not something dolled out in varying levels. We as citizens, speaking in one voice can ensure this.”

In the past eight years, the CRY Cadence Corporate Cricket Challenge, has raised 2.4 crores, impacting the lives of numerous underprivileged children and their communities across India.

In its 9th year the CRY Cadence Corporate Citizenship Challenge will raise close to Rs. 30 lakhs. A major chunk of this will be given to specific CRY projects that are powered by a common vision to remove the root causes that lead to deprivation, exploitation and abuse, thus ensuring all children, their basic rights to live, learn, grow and enjoy childhood.

All this would not have been possible without the support of organisations such as Foundry Networks, Avocent India, Tyco Electronics, Polaris Software Lab Limited, Ahluwalia Contracts (India) Ltd, QAI InfoTech, APARA, PCI Limited, Orange Business Services, D-Link, Sun Microsystems, RBS and CMC

For further information, please contact:

Genesis BM

Archana Chojar

Mobile: 9810216171

Email: archana.chojar@bm.com