Community Development

January 2022

Sankara Nethralaya-Sanmar Centre of Excellence for Stevens Johnson Syndrome - Vijay Sankar inaugurated the SN-Sanmar Centre of Excellence for Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS) at the Sankara Nethralaya. Inaugurating the centre, Vijay Sankar pointed out that this was a unique initiative that would have global reach. Sanmar has been donating regularly to Sankara Nethralaya for over two decades and this joint venture aims to propel clinical research towards understanding the disease, he said.

Books in Tamil and English and a desktop computer were donated to the library at Mottur by Chemplast Sanmar. The library which was unused for want of books has since been revived and is open to the public.

A donation of Rs 4.8 crores was made towards, MRI Scanner to be installed at the ‘The Madhuram and KS Narayanan Department of Imaging’.

October 2021

Sanmar donated towards purchase of a paediatric multi-diagnostic machine consisting of Echo cum Ultrasound at the Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children, an associate of the Tamil Nadu Madras Medical College.

An educational scholarship of Rs. 2 lakhs were sponsored by The Sanmar Group for the children of the Ramakrishna Mission Matriculation Higher Secondary school, T Nagar, Chennai.

During the 2nd wave of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, Sanmar distributed dry ration kits worth Rs.1,20,000 for women with disabilities in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu districts.

April 2021

Financial support was given to:

Three special schools - The Clarke School for the Deaf, Swabodhini Charitable Trust and V-Excel Educational Trust - organisations working with people with neurological disabilities.

Minding Tiny Hearts Foundation, for conducting heart surgeries on ten children.

Udhavum Nanbargal, towards equipping the Vocational Training Centre with smart classroom board, photocopy machine and furniture.

Mrs Ellen Sharma Memorial Nursery and Primary School, Karapakkam (Unit of The Children Garden Society) for buying a new school bus.

Amar Seva Sangam (ASSA) in Ayikudy Village in Tirunelveli District for conducting civil work for the Spinal Injury Post-Acute Care Building, to rehabilitate people from across the country

New CRRT machine was donated by Sanmar to Kanchi Kamakoti Childs Trust Hospital

July 2021

The Sanmar Group contributed Rs 1.5 crore to the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund, helping the Government of Tamil Nadu in their efforts to fight the COVID pandemic.

January 2021

A new imaging department was established at The Voluntary Health Services (VHS) with a state-of-the-art CT Scanner at a cost of Rs 1.62 crores at Tharamani, Chennai by The Sanmar Group through its CSR Trust.

Sports

Tennis - 28th Sanmar-TNTA Chennai City League Championships

October 2021

Vijay Sankar, Vice President, TNTA, gave away the prize money and the trophies to the winners and runners-up of the Sanmar-TNTA Chennai City Club Regular and Veterans League.

COVID relief fund

The Sanmar Group made a contribution of Rs 1 crore to the Government of Tamil Nadu towards COVID Relief. A cheque was presented to N Muruganandam IAS, Principal Secretary, Industries, Government of Tamil Nadu on 16 April 2020.

‘Electronic Eyes’ to enhance City vigilance

The Sanmar Group has donated CCTV Cameras to the Chennai City Police to enhance the surveillance system in the city. This is in keeping with the Chennai City Police Commissioner AK Viswanathan’s aim to monitor Law and Order and Crime with ‘electronic eyes’ by installing CCTV Cameras every 50 metres and with minimum police men on the road.

‘KS Narayanan Pediatric Intensive Care Unit’ at the Childs Trust Hospital

The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Childs Trust Hospital has been renovated at a cost of Rs 2.4 crore and has been named KS Narayanan Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, in memory of the Chairman Emeritus of the donors, The Sanmar Group, at a function held at the hospital premises on 24 September 2019.

The Madhuram Narayanan Centre for Exceptional Children celebrated its 29th annual day

The Madhuram Narayanan Centre for Exceptional Children celebrated its 29th anniversary on 12 December 2018. Chief guest L Lakshman, Chairman Emeritus, Rane Holdings, spoke highly of the mothers of the children for their patience and perseverance in managing their wards despite disability.

Exceptional Children excel at Special Olympics

The Exceptional children of the Madhuram Narayanan Centre took part in the Special Olympics conducted by the Madras West Round Table 10 and the Special Olympics Bharat ‘MWRT 10 – Unified Special Olympics 2019’ in the presence of Chief Guest Banwarilal Purohit, Governor of Tamil Nadu on 9 February 2019 at the Nehru Indoor Stadium. Forty four children participated and thirty three of them won home certificates and medals.

Chemplast Sanmar ZLD Research Lab inaugurated at IIT-M

Coinciding with the golden jubilee of Chemplast Sanmar, a state-ofthe-art Research Laboratory at an outlay of Rs 1 crore has been set up by Chemplast in the Department of Environment Engineering at IIT Madras. The laboratory aims to carry out research on Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) in close collaboration with user industries by providing the necessary test facilities for evaluating new/modified technologies related to ZLD.

Mrs. Madhuram Narayanan Charitable Foundation

Mrs. Madhuram Narayanan Charitable Foundation funds the ‘Save-a-child’ scheme and provides a lifeline to children with heart disease through Apollo Hospitals Charitable Trust. The foundation works with the philanthropic wings of industry associations such as the Confederation of Indian Industry and NGOs such as The Banyan and REACH for tuberculosis research.

Volunteers attending to the special Children at the Madhuram Narayanan Centre

Sankara Nethralaya, Cancer Institute

Support to health care facilities and research institutes such as Voluntary Health Services, Sankar Nethralaya and Cancer Institute

Honoured with national and regional NGO awards

The Madhuram Narayanan Centre for Exceptional Children bagged both national and regional awards at the India NGO Awards 2012-13 organised by The Resource Alliance and supported by Rockefeller Foundation and Edelgive Foundation.

Jaya Krishnaswamy, Director, MNC, received the national award from Preneet Kaur, Minister of State, External Affairs, Government of India, at a function held on 13 August 2013 at the India Habitat Center, New Delhi.

Education

Madhuram Narayanan Centre for Exceptional Children

The 27th Annual Day of Madhuram Narayanan Centre for Exceptional Children was celebrated with great gusto at the Bengal Association Hall, Chennai.

Samyam: A Coming Together of Past and Present Students

Samyam, a reunion of past and present students, has been celebrated at Madhuram Narayanan Centre since 2013 during the month of July. While past students find guidance and reassurance from MNC teachers, the new entrants find motivation in coming together with past students. As a platform for bringing children and parents together, Samyam helps them to ideate and maintain continuity with MNC for guidance and counselling. Parents of new entrants are motivated to face challenges in bringing up and training special children.

Vardah Cyclone relief - donation to Ellen Sharma School, Karapakkam

Sanmar Engineering, Karapakkam, has been sponsoring the educational institution Ellen Sharma School for several years now. B Visweswaran, Vice Chairman of Sanmar Engineering Technologies Limited, took time to visit the school and inspected the damage post Vardah cyclone. Sanmar had previously donated to the school kitchen and now the school compound wall had been damaged by the cyclone. Visweswaran presented a cheque to the school correspondent, Sakhunthala Sharma, who conveyed her appreciation for the support provided by Sanmar.

Sri Sankara Schools

The Sankara Schools (Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School, Adyar and Sri Sankara Vidyashramam Mat. Hr. Sec. School, Thiruvanmiyur) in Chennai have made a name for themselves as well-known institutions. These schools offer curriculum, which are of the highest standards, and are professionally run by a Board of Trustees.

RV campus and VSD auditorium at Sankara Vidyashramam

Sri Sankara Vidyashramam Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Tiruvanmiyur, Chennai, now has a state-of-the-art auditorium that can accommodate up to 300 persons, complete with air-conditioning and acoustics facilities.

Named after VS Dhandapani, the Managing Trustee of the Sankara Schools for more than two decades, the auditorium was inaugurated on 31 October 2013 by Mrs Gomathy Dhandapani.

Padma Venkataraman, daughter of R Venkataraman, former President of India, unveiled a plaque which has inscribed on it the words ‘R Venkataraman Campus’ for the Sankara Vidyashramam school premises.

N Sankar, N Kumar, V Sriram, Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar, Trustees of the Indian Education Trust, Mrs Dhandapani, Chandra Sankar and other family members, Principals and teaching faculty of both Sankara schools were present. Children of both schools gave song and dance rendition which enthralled the audience for almost two hours.

N Sankar, N Kumar, V Sriram, Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar, Trustees of the Indian Education Trust, Mrs Dhandapani, Chandra Sankar and other family members, Principals and teaching faculty of both Sankara schools were present. Children of both schools gave song and dance rendition which enthralled the audience for almost two hours.

(L to r): Kalpalatha Mohan, V Sriram, N Kumar, Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar, Gomathy Dhandapani, Subala Ananthanarayanan, Padma Venkataraman and N Sankar at the inauguration.

Madhuram Narayanan Centre

The Madhuram Narayanan Centre for Exceptional Children founded by The Sanmar Group in 1989 provides early intervention and specialised training for children with various types of developmental delays and associated conditions.

Training at the Centre is based on the ‘UPANAYAN' – Early Intervention programme developed indigenously by a team of experts. The Centre in its 20+ years service has on its journey, guided, counseled and trained parents in the care of over 3,500 children.

Teachers and MNC students participating in an annual day function

Mrs. Jaya Krishnaswamy, Director, Madhuram Narayanan Centre for Exceptional Children, Chennai, received the "Best Social Worker Award - 2012" in the field of Differently Abled Persons from the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Selvi. J. Jayalalithaa on 15th Aug. 2012 at Fort, Chennai.

The Madhuram Narayanan Centre (MNC) for Exceptional Children's ‘moving ahead' programme enables children with developmental delays to continue school education in special and mainstream schools after completing the early intervention programme. Over the last few years, students have been successfully enrolled in mainstream schools. It is a graduation day of a different kind indeed at MNC.

51 children from Madhuram Narayanan Centre for Exceptional Children join mainstream schools over the past 6 years

11 children from the Madhuram Narayanan Centre for Exceptional Children (MNC) will be moving into mainstream schools in the coming academic year. To mark this, MNC conducted 'Moving Ahead', an event to mark the successful completion of the early intervention programme on 19 April 2013. Director of the Centre of Training and Resources in Early Childhood Education, Chennai, Prema Daniel was the chief guest for the event.

Of the 11, two are from Govt El Centre, two from SRTC Autism Centre and seven from MNC. In addition, two children will be moving to Little Flower School for the Visually Challenged.

These children had developmental delays of different types and degrees, and through early intervention they have now been integrated in mainstream schools.

The institute has successfully enrolled 51 children in mainstream schools over the past six years. The children are guided and directed by therapists and special educators, with the aid of music, yoga and play therapy.

The children proudly went up on stage, clad in graduation hats and overcoats, to receive gifts from the chief guest. Their parents were, understandably, at a loss for words as they shared the experience of the improvement witnessed in their wards.