NEW DELHI: Dr. Nayan Mitra, Founder-Director of Sustainable Advancements (OPC) Private Limited organised India’s first workshop of its kind on Corporate Social Responsibility discussing perspectives from Europe and India, that was held at the Marigold Hall of India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on March 25, 2019.
It witnessed Dr. Rene Schmidpeter, Dr. Juergen Meyer Endowed Chair of International Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility at Cologne Business School (CBS) and Dr. Bhaskar Chatterjee, former DG & CEO of the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) conduct an intensive one-day workshop with an eclectic mix of senior participants from academic, corporate as well as the non-governmental sector coming together for the first time under one roof to understand and work together for a better implementation of CSR in India.
Dr. Rene Schmidpeter presented a detailed structure of European CSR, explaining as to why and how CSR is not a mandate in Europe. He also shed light on how the face of business has completely changed in Europe due to the presence of CSR and how the new term of Corporate Citizenship is shaping the European society and businesses. He pointed out that CSR in Europe is reducing corporate risk and helping businesses create value and competitive advantages and thus sustainability is coming in fashion for successful ventures in Europe.
The session with Dr. Bhaskar Chatterjee proved to be a real eye opener for the participants. Dr. Chatterjee opened his session with an urge upon the importance of research in the continuity of a subject. He enlightened the participants with some fresh data on CSR in terms of compliant companies, top and least spenders, areas of CSR indulgences to name a few.
He elucidated further some of the least known basics about CSR laws, adding on the future unfolding practice of CSR jurisprudence and upcoming ISO number to CSR. He shared that the true core of CSR law is to make the corporate India think in terms of national development. Dr. Chatterjee expressed his delight on the ‘NGO-isation of Corporates’ and ‘Corporate-isation of NGO’s’ through the new CSR mandate.
It is said that if you enjoy doing something, you learn more. Hundred percent of the participants in this niche workshop rated it as enjoyable and having met and exceeded its expectations!
