India CSR Network
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • Register
SUBSCRIBE
  • Home
  • CSR
    • Art & Culture
    • CSR Leaders
    • Child Rights
    • Culture
    • Environment
    • Education
    • Gender Equality
    • Health
    • Skill Development
    • No Poverty
    • Safety
    • Covid-19
    • Safe Food For All
  • Sustainability
    • Sustainability Dialogues
    • Sustainability Knowledge Series
    • Plastics
    • Sustainable Development Goals
    • Circular Economy
    • BRSR
  • Corporate Governance
    • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Articles
  • Interviews
  • Events
  • BOOKS
  • More
    • Technology
    • Lifestyle
    • Case Studies
    • Knowledge
    • Social Sector Leaders
    • Social Entrepreneurship
    • Philanthropy
    • Sports
    • Gaming
  • Prime
  • Home
  • CSR
    • Art & Culture
    • CSR Leaders
    • Child Rights
    • Culture
    • Environment
    • Education
    • Gender Equality
    • Health
    • Skill Development
    • No Poverty
    • Safety
    • Covid-19
    • Safe Food For All
  • Sustainability
    • Sustainability Dialogues
    • Sustainability Knowledge Series
    • Plastics
    • Sustainable Development Goals
    • Circular Economy
    • BRSR
  • Corporate Governance
    • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Articles
  • Interviews
  • Events
  • BOOKS
  • More
    • Technology
    • Lifestyle
    • Case Studies
    • Knowledge
    • Social Sector Leaders
    • Social Entrepreneurship
    • Philanthropy
    • Sports
    • Gaming
  • Prime
  • Login
  • Register
No Result
View All Result
India CSR Network
No Result
View All Result
Home Articles

Why CSR Today is Confused Social Responsibility

by India CSR Network
7 years ago
in Articles

By K Yatish Rajawat

NEW DELHI: There is a new urgency plaguing corporates these days, the Companies Act says that they have to report a spend of 2 percent of their profits as deployed in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

According to Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013 all companies with revenues above Rs 1,000 crore and profit above Rs 5 crore have to now compulsorily report CSR spends.

Please note it is reporting only and not mandatory for companies to spend it, they have to report also if they are not able to spend. CSR is a confused endeavor which should ideally help properly monitor passionate but directionless spending. Most companies would do CSR as a ‘do-good’ activity to show their employees and investors that they are not rapacious greedy profit seeking entities (which they actually are).

Companies would use CSR as a brand building exercise, employee engagement, placating a local community around their factory, or even as a parking spot for the pet themes of the chairman’s wife. PSUs, particularly the oil companies, are famous for disguising the social activities of the spouses of the top bosses under the guise of CSR.

Worse still is the case when CSR, as a brand building exercise, is headed by brand head or is under the marketing communication/ public relations head. In several cases, the CSR function is even headed by the corporate affairs or the person heading government liaison.The government has asked PSUs to deploy 80 percent of their CSR funds in Swachh Bharat campaign

If CSR is under the brand function, the only role that it plays is to see whether the company’s logo is properly displayed at the location of the activity. The brand guys are least worried about the impact of the initiative but are very concerned if the NGO also raises money from a rival company. To give the CSR responsibility to branding officials kills the very purpose of the initiative.

On the other hand, if CSR is under corporate affairs, it becomes a tool for appeasing politicians, by launching initiatives in their constituencies. It is an official way of bribing without giving money directly to the politician. For instance, a search giant appeased a cabinet minister in the last government by building an online market place for traders in his constituency. There are more blatant ways: every politician has an NGO, the easiest way is to hand over a grant to these NGOs.

Corporate affairs and government relations department are the worst places for parking CSR. Though the law does not prescribe yet, sooner or later auditors should question this practice while writing the notes to accounts for companies which do this. The hypocrisy of bribing under the guise of CSR should be dis-continued.

CSRBooks.com CSRBooks.com CSRBooks.com

HR departments working on CSR is lesser of the above two evils but the department has to be capable of handling such activities. HR professionals are not trained to conceptualize or execute projects. MBA students who choose HR function do it because they do not want bottomline responsibilities. CSR also needs to have targets and quantifiable outcomes.

At a National conference on CSR organized by the software lobbying body Nasscom, it was interesting to note that confusion continues on CSR. Professionals debating about CSR came from all kinds of functions and almost none of the company had a dedicated CSR clearly.

Moreover, there is a complete aversion to the idea of diktats from the government for deployment of CSR fund. CSR head of a Delhi based telecom and retail company asked a pertinent question: The government has asked PSUs to deploy 80 percent of their CSR in Swachh Bharat campaign. Do you think this is the right way to go? Though, he did admit, publicly, that his own chairman has committed Rs 100 crore to the campaign, obviously out of the CSR fund.

The issue is that most companies are a little lost when it comes to deploying their CSR funds. A search giant says it allows it employees to nominate ‘outlandish and even crazy ideas’ as part of its CSR spend. An IT giant says it looks at education, training and skills for its CSR functions.

Skilling is interesting as there is National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) that is a government and private sector enterprise with a huge budget and mandate to do it. And NSDC, in its immense wisdom, is also channelizing CSR funds for skill development.

The issue is the one raised by the telecom CSR head. If the companies do not have a vision and focus isn’t it proper that they follow where the government wants to build scale, instead of frittering away their resource on pet themes directed by misguided enthusiasm?

For instance, a CSR head of another IT company talked about building and installing nests for sparrows in Pune. Little realizing that the decline in the sparrows population is not because of lack of nest but is due to a combination of issues ranging from pesticides in grains, increase in population of cats, rodents and pigeons, etc. Building nests will not increase the population of sparrows.

The reason such initiatives take place is because most companies do not spend money on research of a problem or the solution. They go by the feel-good proposals of their employees and just go out installing nests. There are exceptions, of course. NIIT, for instance, ploughed in all its CSR into building a university. Now, if NIIT University also did research on social problems and identified solutions it could really set the ball rolling.

Research into social problems is ignored almost even though it is the best way to create sustainable solutions. Not only should CSR funds be spend on research it should also be spent on advocating solutions that the research throws up. As it will never be possible that with so little funds widespread research can happen. Only when the government moves in tandem will there be any impact in a country as large as India.

Research into urbanization and its impact on citizens, quality of their life, policies needed to improve the status of our cities is one of the most important area. India is urbanising at a pace never seen before. We are tilting the global scale on climate change, water and usage of natural resources.

While it is fashionable for NGOs to work in slums, or villages as they feel that people there require it, 40 percent of our population is in cities and also require help. Though it might not be fashionable to help them, it at least deserves 40 percent of our attention.

(This Article of K Yatish Rajawat First appeared  in The Firstpost )

Tags: CSR in IndiaK Yatish Rajawat
ShareTweetPin

India CSR Network

India CSR is the largest tech-led platform for information on CSR and sustainability in India offering diverse content across multisectoral issues. It covers Sustainable Development, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Sustainability, and related issues in India. Founded in 2009, the organisation aspires to become a globally admired media that offers valuable information to its readers through responsible reporting. To enjoy the premium content, we invite you to subscribe it.

Related Posts

Engaging employees in sustainability initiatives
Articles

Engaging employees in sustainability initiatives

June 14, 2022
Articles

ESG is about something deeper than justice; it’s about human solidarity

June 6, 2022
Articles

CSR at Inflection Point: Board’s Strategy for Maximising Impact & Triple bottom-line Growth

May 15, 2022
Industries Thriving in India despite the Pandemic
Articles

IoT for Good: Connected Devices Support in Fulfilling UN Sustainable Development Goals

May 10, 2022
Articles

A Reflection on the Human Goal and Influencing Factors

April 15, 2022
Global development, social issues, and legal modernism in the light of Indian Jurisprudence
Articles

Global development, social issues, and legal modernism in the light of Indian Jurisprudence

April 12, 2022
How CSR decisions get taken in India
Articles

CSR; The Harnessing Fertility For Corporate Sustainability

April 2, 2022
Reorienting environmental concerns under CSR in India
Articles

Reorienting environmental concerns under CSR in India

March 30, 2022
CSR in India
Articles

In the Age of Purpose – How CEOs can Learn great things from NGOs

March 29, 2022

Popular Stories

  • Lupin Terminates 300 Staff

    Lupin Terminates 300 Staff

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • What is liberalization?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • 7 Reasons Why Smartphone Can Make Your Life Easier

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • QNET CSR Arm Supports Electrification Project to light up the lives of 470 villagers in Meghalaya

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • MCA amends Schedule III of Companies Act on disclosure norms in financial statements and Details of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
India CSR Network

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Team
  • Partnership
  • Contact
  • Terms of Use
  • Subscribe

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • CSR
    • Art & Culture
    • CSR Leaders
    • Child Rights
    • Culture
    • Environment
    • Education
    • Gender Equality
    • Health
    • Skill Development
    • No Poverty
    • Safety
    • Covid-19
    • Safe Food For All
  • Sustainability
    • Sustainability Dialogues
    • Sustainability Knowledge Series
    • Plastics
    • Sustainable Development Goals
    • Circular Economy
    • BRSR
  • Corporate Governance
    • Diversity & Inclusion
  • Articles
  • Interviews
  • Events
  • BOOKS
  • More
    • Technology
    • Lifestyle
    • Case Studies
    • Knowledge
    • Social Sector Leaders
    • Social Entrepreneurship
    • Philanthropy
    • Sports
    • Gaming
  • Prime
  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • Cart

Welcome Back!

Sign In with Facebook
Sign In with Google
Sign In with Linked In
OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Sign Up with Facebook
Sign Up with Google
Sign Up with Linked In
OR

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In