By Daanish Anand
India’s second largest car maker in terms of market share — Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) — on Tuesday launched the ‘Samarth’ programme. Through Samarth, HMIL will create awareness and enablement of people with disabilities in India. The automaker has partnered with GoSports Foundation & Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled to provide all-rounded support to people with disabilities.
Hyundai India has also onboarded actor Shah Rukh Khan for ‘Samarth’. The actor has been associated with the automaker for more than two decades.
Speaking exclusively to CNBC-TV18, Tarun Garg, COO of HMIL pointed out that India needs to do more for the differently abled, a lot is being done internationally. He said, “We believe a lot needs to be done for this societal change, we need more empathy in the society towards the differently abled. We need to do much much more. Hyundai has a global vision of progress for humanity, this is the driving force behind it.”
The company intends to create awareness towards the differently abled. Shah Rukh Khan who is the brand ambassador will launch films on the programme along with the automaker. Hyundai will also make all its dealerships and workshops friendly for the differently abled including the website. Garg feels that awareness will create a good narrative. He added, “We’ve introduced some accessories through which differently abled people will be able to get in the car easily. We’re working on many initiatives to make this a movement.”
“For passengers In July this year the company introduced a swivel seat which makes it easy for the differently abled on the wheelchair to enter the car. When asked about whether the company is planning to modify its products as well, Garg said, “We’re working on product modification. As time passes, we will announce progress on that. We need to take baby steps and not get bogged down. Today, we’ve made a big start. We will come out with more initiatives.”
On plans of expanding the program with monetary support Tarun Garg added, “We don’t want to look really far ahead, we need to take it step by step. This is not just Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), we need to do a lot of marketing as well. We need to change the mindset. We believe this will have an organic growth.”
When asked whether he expects the industry to follow suit, Garg said, “Why only the auto industry, all individuals and corporates and as a society this needs to be adopted. We’re hopeful we’ll be joined by more people. Today is the beginning, we’re sure this will turn into a movement.”
Speaking at the launch Shah Rukh Khan said, “This programme will support a mix of emerging & elite athletes in both team events and individual sports to promote equity for the community of people-with-disabilities, foster a culture of innovation, upskill through vocational education, and positively impact the para-sports ecosystem to inspire the nation.”
Under the partnership HMIL will assist disabled individuals with assistive devices. The company will also create a program which will utilise blind cricket as a platform for physical & social development of the visually impaired in India. The company will support visually impaired cricketers by organising training camps for grass root and national level visually impaired cricketers. International bilateral series for the national blind cricket team will also be organised. The company will also provide support to para-athletes in India.