New Delhi [India], February 4 (ANI/SRV Media): India Diversity Forum (IDF) is an independent company-agnostic and industry-agnostic body created to spread awareness about, and bring single minded focus to, diversity and inclusion (D&I) in India at a company, government and national level. The Section 8 company kickstarted its journey with its first Advisory Board meeting on January 27, 2021.
Present at the advisory board meeting were Dr Ritu Anand, Chief Leadership and Diversity Officer, Tata Consultancy Services, Sudha Ravi, Head Compliance, Piramal Fund Management, Gautam Chainani, Group President, Human Resources - Strategic Initiatives and Workforce Automation, JSW, Harshbeena Zaveri, Vice-Chairperson and Managing Director - NRB Bearings, Anisha Motwani, Founder and Director, STORM the NORM Ventures, and Ankit Bansal, Founder and CEO, Sapphire Human Solutions.
The meeting focused on the goals of IDF, its structure and various activities that aim to enrich the workplace ecosystems. IDF works towards blurring out the various divisions of geographies, genders, languages, religions, disabilities, sexual orientations (LGBTQ+), castes, classes, occupations, backgrounds and cultures at workplaces.
This is done through various activities including sensitisation workshops, sharing and rewarding of best practices, job fairs with a focus on diversity and inclusion, speeches of national and international luminaries, surveys and a mega annual event, India Diversity Conclave that will be host to over 5,000 delegates. The first virtual edition of India Diversity Conclave will be held in the second week of April, 2021.
IDF, through its ten industry councils that will have organizations of specific ecosystems as their members, will also focus on multi-generational diversity, cognitive diversity, women empowerment through gender diversity, pay parity, safety and wellbeing of employees and equal opportunity employment.
Extolling the virtues of a body like IDF that is much needed in today's workspaces, Dr Ritu Anand said, "India Diversity Forum for me, first of all, holds a unique differentiator that is the word 'India'. It is focused on what happens, what is happening and what will happen in my country. That is what excited me to join this forum. And the second thing that I am very excited about is that while we have a broad-based focus, all of us in the advisory board are rolling up our sleeves and getting down to share whatever experience we have learnt and unlearnt and also will learn in the bargain with a wide variety of companies that will join IDF".
Harshbeena Zaveri echoed the sentiments and said, "I am extremely passionate about helping create a more inclusive world. So, to me, this is one of the most important, fundamental things that organisations and individuals should be putting a lot of effort into. This is a forum that helps bring people who care about D&I together. It is also a forum for people who have not thought much about D&I to understand why we care so much about these issues. Equality requires a level playing field which needs to make up for the inequalities which you have faced. And that is something that India Diversity Forum is very particular about".
"There is another aspect too - we cannot achieve our business goals unless we have a truly equal company. People just cannot put in their best if they are not feeling safe and if they cannot concentrate on their work. Collaboration and working together requires mutual trust and mutual respect. This initiative is built around that, and hence, I really believe it is going to be very successful," she added.
Ankit Bansal said, IDF is a decisive step towards moving the needle on diversity and inclusion at workplace in India. We are confident that, in the coming years, India can shine as a model for the world to follow.
IDF will be launched officially at its first-ever annual meet, India Diversity Conclave (IDC) 2021, to be held in the second week of April. A recurring event, IDC will be a meeting ground for experts on diversity and inclusion, the Advisory Board, the member organizations of the ten industry councils and the industry at large.
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