In fact, the corporates on their own can supplement the efforts of the Government to ensure inclusive growth in the country and industry in both public and private sector can adopt one village each towards speeding up the process of inclusive development in the country. Union Minister for heavy industries and public enterprises, Anant Geete called upon the industry people at a CII seminar on CSR on September 15 to respond to his call for adopting villages in a more vigorous manner.

Appreciating CPSEs work in CSR Activities and their support to Government in initiatives such as the Swachh Bharat Mission, under which PSE have contributed in building of large number of toilets, the Minister said that such efforts will go a long way in realizing a transformation in public health, sanitation and hygiene. the Minister urged the Public Sectors and other Corporates to take initiatives in similar scale in other areas which would contribute in the development of rural areas. He also highlighted the need for building an environment of trust with the local partners while engaging with them in their development. He cited the example of Ratnagiri where the local people and industry came together as partners in development.

While the locals supported with land for setting up the industry, local youth were provided the requisite skills which benefitted both the locals and the industry. He urged the companies on coming up with innovative ways of partnership which can be a win –win situation for all stakeholders. This will go a long way in further improving the quality of lives of people, said Geete. the Minister also unveiled a compendium prepared by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) - Transforming Lives through CSR, highlighting the historical journey of CSR within CPSEs. Shri Geete said that, CPSEs have played a leading role in discharging their CSR obligations.

The Compendium showcases the various areas of development where PSEs have been voluntarily spending time and resource to benefit their surroundings, even before the concept of mandatory CSR was introduced. Efforts of public sector enterprises towards subsidizing the cost of education, public health, building infrastructure, providing drinking water has improved the quality of life of people and has been profiled in the Compendium.

Official sources say that it is not only funds that are important, but the way in which we leverage inherent expertise and the human resources to innovate and spend in the areas where there is maximum incremental impact, is also important. The companies have to leverage this opportunity and build bridges by bringing together different stake holders for the cause of nation building. emphasizing on the renewed thrust of companies on CSR, Mr B Prasada Rao, Chairman, CII Council on Public Sector Enterprises and Chairman and Managing Director, BHEL said that evolving from mere philanthropy to social responsibility, the recent years have witnessed the role of CSR developing significantly. There appears to be a discernible trend that while CSR remains largely restricted to community development, it is getting more strategic in nature and is getting linked with business in which the companies are engaged in. He also highlighted BHEL’s novel efforts in the area of organ donation. He shared that all BHEL employees had pledged their eyes and had benefitted around 500 families already, he said.

As the CII leaders see “a tremendous surge in the progress of the concept of CSR has been witnessed over a span of quite a number of years, elevating it to the highest pedestal of importance in all aspects of business and production, be it private or public. However there is still a long way to go in the arduous journey of CSR and would require continuous innovation and value creations which will provide opportunity for knowledge sharing.

According to CII direction general Chandrajit Banerjee, over a period of times, CSR as a concept has evolved into social responsiveness from the mere role of responsibility. As an activity, it is on longer an act of adherence to legalities or as an ethical and philanthropic function. Today, CSR as process is not separated from the core business of company, but expresses itself in the very nature of the business.CII had envisaged a national movement for mainstreaming CSR for sustained inclusiveness as part of its social development agenda and the CII national Committee on corporate Social Responsibility & Community Development was constituted in 2001 to make CSR an actionable business agenda.(IPA service)