It focuses on four key areas:

Healthcare
Infosys Foundation undertakes several healthcare projects for the rural and urban poor such as funding the construction of hospital wards and donating hi-tech equipment, providing free medicines to the aged and the poor.

Some of its special projects include:

• The construction of accomodation facilities for relatives and attendants of patients at the Kidwai Cancer Institute in Bangalore
• Funding the Infosys Super-specialty Hospital for the poor at the Sassoon Hospital in Pune
• Installing office management software at the KEM Hospital in Mumbai to automate store requirements, accounts, and publish hospital papers and other information on the Web
• Financing the expansion of the Swami Sivananda Centenary Charitable Hospital at Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu
• Financing the construction of additional blocks at the Bangalore Diabetic Hospital
• Financing the construction of a paediatric hospital for the poor at the Capitol Hospital in Bhubaneswar and the donation of a CT-scan machine to the hospital

Social rehabilitation and rural development:

• To empower destitute women to become financially independent the Infosys Foundation distributes sewing machines every year at Bangalore and Sedam in Karnataka, and Chennai in Tamil Nadu. Prior to handing over the machines it conducts tailoring classes and provides free material at some centres
• In 2005, the foundation undertook extensive relief activities in the tsunami-affected areas of Tamil Nadu and the Andaman Islands, earthquake-affected areas of Kutch, cyclone-devastated areas of Orissa, malnutrition-prone tribal areas of Kalahandi in Orissa and drought-hit areas of Andhra Pradesh
• It has established counseling centres to rehabilitate marginalised devadasis (temple dancers) in North Karnataka
• The foundation works with the Red Cross Society to supply free equipment to the physically challenged in rural areas and economically weaker sections of Karnataka
• The foundation provides monetary aid to the Divine Life Society, based in the Himalaya Uttaranchal region to help senior citizens and destitutes

Learning and education:

• In among the largest rural education programmes in the country, the foundation donates books to schools in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Kerala, under its 'Library for Every Rural School' project. Through this programme, the foundation has set up more than 10,150 libraries in rural government schools. A minimum of 200 books is provided to each school. In Karnataka alone it has provided 10,200 sets of books with between 200 to 250 books per set. The cost of each set ranges from Rs2,000 to Rs3,000
• To simplify the standard of computer education for students in rural areas, a separate book has been written and is being distributed under the library project. This book has also been translated into Hindi, Tamil and Telugu
• To facilitates higher learning, the foundation has set up libraries stocked with the latest books prescribed in hi-tech streams like medicine and engineering in Hubli and Bangalore for poor and underprivileged students
• The foundation recently provided an index Braille printer to the Sharada Devi Andhara Vikasa Kendra in Shimoga, Karnataka
• The foundation works with various organisations in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Orissa, to facilitate the education of slum children in in these states
• The foundation has collaborated with the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Bangalore, for the orientation of teachers specialising in science and the environment linking the Science and Social Studies curriculum with the environmental perspective. Around 15 teachers' training camps have been conducted in various parts of Karnataka over the last three years, where around 1,000 teachers have been trained

Arts and culture
The foundation regularly assists in organising cultural programmes to promote artists in rural areas of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh; locates and felicitates artistes from different parts of India and; identifies underprivileged writers, painters, poets or musicians and provides them financial assistance and promotes their talents.

• The foundation has helped revive the traditional crafts for the weavers of Pochampalli village in Andhra Pradesh
• It organises programmes like puppet shows and other cultural events to encourage artistes and performers in rural areas of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, and offers them financial assistance to carry forward their art
• To revive the traditional gamaka form of music in Karnataka the foundation has coordinated a project to donate over 200 sets – comprising a gamaka cassette and record player – to 100 rural schools in Karnataka
• It sponsors art exhibitions and performing arts programmes in Dharwad and Bangalore in Karnataka

Compiled by Shubha Khandekar