9th CRY Cadence Corporate Citizenship Challenge
Giving Free and Quality Education a Sporting Chance..
New Delhi, December 6, 2008: For the ninth successive year, CRY - Child Rights and You and Cadence Design Systems combine sport and corporate citizenship to bring the 9th CRY Cadence Corporate Citizenship Challenge - 5Cs on December 6 and 7, 2008.
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).
Endorsing the message and flagging off the inaugural match of the 9th 5Cs at the Modern School Grounds, Barakhamba Road was boxer and Olympic medalist, Vijender Singh, who won a bronze medal in the 75kg category at the recent Beijing Olympics.
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 feet 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. 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.
Speaking on this occasion, Mr Jaswinder. S. Ahuja, Corporate Vice President and Managing Director, Cadence Design Systems (I) Pvt. Ltd., says, "Education helps open window of opportunities for growth and development. The event has grown from strength to strength over the past nine years. Cadence is pleased to be associated with CRY on this initiative and help realize dreams of underprivileged children."
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."
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, PC[ Limited, Orange Business Services, D-Link, Sun Microsystems, RBS and CMC
About CRY (Child Rights and You):
CRY - Child Rights and You earlier known as Child Relief and You - is India's leading advocate for child rights. Over 28 years CRY has partnered with NGOs, communities, government, the media and is dedicated to mobilising all sections of society to eliminate the root causes of deprivation, exclusion, exploitation and abuse. For more information please visit us at www.cry.org,
About Cadence Design Systems
Cadence enables global electronic design innovation and plays an essential role in the creation of today's integrated circuits and electronics. Customers use Cadence software and hardware, methodologies, and services to design and verify advanced semiconductors, consumer electronics, networking and telecommunications equipment, and computer systems. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with sales offices, design centers, and research facilities around the world to serve the global electronics industry. More information about the company, its products, and services is available at www.cadence.com.
About Jaswinder S. Ahuja
Jaswinder S. Ahuja is a Corporate Vice President and the Managing Director of Cadence Design Systems in India. Jaswinder leads Cadence's India Operating Region. He is also responsible for defining the globalization strategy for Cadence and developing REtD centers in Russia, Taiwan and China. From 2002 to 2004 Jaswinder was based at Cadence headquarters in San Jose, California and was responsible for establishing and leading the Strategic R&D partnerships and the RftD Central Operations functions for the company. Jaswinder started his career with Cadence in 1988 as a software engineer and has led the India operations since 1996. Under his leadership the India center has grown from an RETD site of around 120 to a corporate resource center of over 700 employees across R&tD, Corporate IT support, Global Customer Care and Field Operations. He has led the India center to be recognized for its operational excellence and as the #1 IT Employer in India among the small companies for four years in a row from 2002 to 2006 based on the DQ-IDC annual best employer surveys. Jaswinder serves on the board of advisors of FirstRain, Inc. and Zafesoft, Inc., and is the Chairman and a member of the Executive Council of the India Semiconductor Association. Jaswinder has a B.Tech in Electronics Engineering from IT-BHU, Varanasi and an MS in Computer Engineering from Northeastern University, Boston, USA. He also holds an Executive MBA from Stanford University, USA.