Bandhan-Konnagar, a not-for-profit organisation, is at the moment working towards establishing a university for greater education and a hospital which will cater to all types of basic needs but concentrate more on diabetes.
“The Bandhan University will aim at creating future leaders and policymakers who will be equipped with all the skills and knowledge to create large scale social impact on the ground by serving various communities,” stated Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, founder and mentor, Bandhan-Konnagar.
Ghosh was speaking at a webinar, organised by Bandhan, as it celebrated its 20th anniversary on Sunday. Through its two decades of existence, Bandhan transformed from its original avatar Bandhan-Konnagar, an NGO, to an NBFC, and ultimately to a pan-India universal bank, referred to as Bandhan Bank.
“At Bandhan, we are also working towards establishing a hospital which will cater to all kinds of general requirements but focus more on diabetes.
Initially, the hospital would cater to out-patients including complete diagnostic facility, along with daycare services,” stated Ghosh, adding with knowledge and with demand, there was a strategy to expand it to a 200-bed hospital in about 5 years.
Bandhan-Konnagar nevertheless exists as an NGO and is committed to operating developmental interventions across healthcare, education, livelihood promotion, monetary literacy and employment generation. Currently, it runs programmes across 12 states in India and employs more than 3,000 staff.
Nobel Laureate Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, who has been related with Bandhan for the final 15 years, spoke about his work with the organisation to assess how the latter’s Targeting the Hardcore Poor (THP) programme helped uplift the poorest of the poor by providing them access to economically productive assets. “… Thanks to Bandhan, we have been able to build a global tool for fighting poverty,” Banerjee stated.
ITC chairman & managing director Sanjiv Puri stated Bandhan’s journey more than the final two decades embodied the correct spirit of an enterprise, which must serve not only an financial objective but also a social objective.