The
Centre on Wednesday nudged companies to divert a part of their mandatory
contribution towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) into government
schemes such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and Sansad Gram Yojana.
“The corporate sector must provide renewed impetus to CSR initiatives towards cleanliness, health and education. The government has launched several schemes in this direction. The corporate sector can work at various models to develop a synergetic relationship in the implementation of these schemes,” President Pranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday while addressing the ‘National Summit on CSR’ organised by Confederation of Indian Industry.
He said the CSR provision of the Companies Act, 2013 has the capability to unlock Rs 8,000-20,000 crore for the social sector.
Under the Companies Act, 2013, certain class of profitable firms is required to shell out at least two per cent of their three-year average annual net profit towards CSR activities in each financial year.
Following Mukherjee’s suggestion, a team of four secretaries of the Union government laid down a roadmap through which companies can channelise a part of their CSR spend in government-run programmes.
Ram Sewak Sharma, secretary in the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (Deity) under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, said corporates could contribute towards Disha — the Centre’s efforts to make one person in every family digitally literate.
Lov Verma, secretary, Department of Empowerment of the Disabled, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, called upon India Inc to contribute towards purchasing and distribution of sophisticated cochlear implants to children with hearing disabilities.
“Just a contribution of Rs 6 crore can enable almost 100 children get cochlear devises and change their lives permanently,” said Verma.
He also urged the companies to help make disabled-friendly toilets. Sunil Arora, secretary in the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship said companies could adopt industrial training institutes (ITIs) for which his department is willing to ensure all paperwork related to the same is completed in a week’s time.
“Our existing demographic dividend could become a demographic nightmare if we do not do skilling,” said Arora.
He said surveys and studies have shown that current interface between industry and ITIs is at a very minimal stage.
Secretary in the Ministry of Women and Child Development, V S Oberoi, said India’s corporate sector could come forward and adopt a district or a village, or block or even a gram panchayat for gender sensitization under the ambitious ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ aimed at changing the skewed sex ratio.
He said between 1961 and 2011, the sex ratio in India dropped from 976 females per 1,000 males to 918 females per 1,000 males.
“A lot of this is in the mindset, which needs to change,” said Oberoi.
He also urged people from the corporate sector to employ more women in boardrooms and create better working environment for the female staff. The officials also said they are coordinating among themselves to ensure that government programmes are implemented effectively.
“We are working on portal for missing children called ‘khoya-paaya’ along with Deity,” Oberoi said.
The corporate sector, however, is of the opinion that proper direction and clarity should come from the government to participate in the Centre’s initiatives.
“The corporate sector must provide renewed impetus to CSR initiatives towards cleanliness, health and education. The government has launched several schemes in this direction. The corporate sector can work at various models to develop a synergetic relationship in the implementation of these schemes,” President Pranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday while addressing the ‘National Summit on CSR’ organised by Confederation of Indian Industry.
He said the CSR provision of the Companies Act, 2013 has the capability to unlock Rs 8,000-20,000 crore for the social sector.
Under the Companies Act, 2013, certain class of profitable firms is required to shell out at least two per cent of their three-year average annual net profit towards CSR activities in each financial year.
Following Mukherjee’s suggestion, a team of four secretaries of the Union government laid down a roadmap through which companies can channelise a part of their CSR spend in government-run programmes.
Ram Sewak Sharma, secretary in the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (Deity) under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, said corporates could contribute towards Disha — the Centre’s efforts to make one person in every family digitally literate.
Lov Verma, secretary, Department of Empowerment of the Disabled, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, called upon India Inc to contribute towards purchasing and distribution of sophisticated cochlear implants to children with hearing disabilities.
“Just a contribution of Rs 6 crore can enable almost 100 children get cochlear devises and change their lives permanently,” said Verma.
He also urged the companies to help make disabled-friendly toilets. Sunil Arora, secretary in the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship said companies could adopt industrial training institutes (ITIs) for which his department is willing to ensure all paperwork related to the same is completed in a week’s time.
“Our existing demographic dividend could become a demographic nightmare if we do not do skilling,” said Arora.
He said surveys and studies have shown that current interface between industry and ITIs is at a very minimal stage.
Secretary in the Ministry of Women and Child Development, V S Oberoi, said India’s corporate sector could come forward and adopt a district or a village, or block or even a gram panchayat for gender sensitization under the ambitious ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ aimed at changing the skewed sex ratio.
He said between 1961 and 2011, the sex ratio in India dropped from 976 females per 1,000 males to 918 females per 1,000 males.
“A lot of this is in the mindset, which needs to change,” said Oberoi.
He also urged people from the corporate sector to employ more women in boardrooms and create better working environment for the female staff. The officials also said they are coordinating among themselves to ensure that government programmes are implemented effectively.
“We are working on portal for missing children called ‘khoya-paaya’ along with Deity,” Oberoi said.
The corporate sector, however, is of the opinion that proper direction and clarity should come from the government to participate in the Centre’s initiatives.
-Business
Standard
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