csr in india
How CSR activities in India can contribute to urban renewal?
The growth rate of the Indian population over the past few years has led to predictions that by 2030, about 40 per cent of India’s population will be living in the cities. This has led to mixed feelings among demographic analysts that although this indicates positive growth, this shift could lead to major problems such as overcrowding in cities, shortage of civic amenities, degradation of the environment, development of slums, increase in crime, increase in the number of diseases, deterioration in general heath conditions etc.
Keeping these possibilities in mind, the new Government of India recently announced the development of smart cities and the launch of a revised edition of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission to bolster its efforts in revamping cities by strengthening its infrastructure and providing improved amenities and facilities to its residents. For this corruption has to be eradicated from within the system. The initiatives taken by the government and the funds utilised for this purpose should not be wrongly utilised.
There are several NGOs in India, which along with the Government of India, work for urban renewal. Some of the works that these NGOs do is as follows.
- NGOs help government bodies in the planning and envisioning of public spaces to help bring about positive changes in the lives of people. The redevelopment of the Goda Park in Nashik is one such activity undertaken by an industrious NGO.
- There are several other instances in which NGOs have partnered with government organisations and further strengthened their efficiency. For instance in Mumbai, the Mumbai Police were approached by an NGO to set up a social media lab, which focussed on connecting and creating easier and better channels of communication between the public and the police.
- This also had the objective of providing faster security services to the common man.
Another way of ensuring efficient implementation of urban renewal initiatives is through corporate social responsibility or CSR in India. With CSR in India being announced as a mandatory spend by corporate, government bodies could tie up with major corporate in the country to make them make these spends in the development sector.
Several corporate giants have stepped in by setting up educational institutes, in their effort to give back to the society and help in uplifting the community. World class institutes like Reliance Foundation School and Dhirubai Ambani University are the results of the relentless corporate efforts to provide the best of the education with state-of-the-art facility to Indian students and thereby, shape a responsible citizen of tomorrow.
In other example of sensible CSR activity, an NGO in Mumbai partnered with the Municipal Corporate of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) in setting up a CSR cell. This CSR cell will help in channelizing corporate entities to design their CSR projects in India to support civic services. This is a major step and will go a long way in ensuring better urban renewal in the country.
Work done by Nita Ambani foundation
The idea of trade value aligned with the hypothesis that a firm is best seen as a network of relationships both interior and exterior. These networks are now and then called a value network or value chain. Each joint in the network could be a stakeholder group, a reserve, an association, end-consumers, interest groups, regulators, or the surroundings itself. In a value network, value creation is viewed as a combined, imaginative, synergistic process rather than purely robotic or a result of command-and-power. If the company is seen as a system of worth creating entities, then the question becomes how does each joint in the system add to the overall firm show and how does it perform and react to its own interests. When the joints are independent organizations (e.g., suppliers) or agents (e.g., customers), it is supposed that the firm is seeking an accommodating, win-win association where all parties receive worth. Even when joints in the network are not fully free, it is supposed that incentives are significant and that those incentives go beyond direct financial reimbursement.
If you want to become a great businessman, you are supposed to fall in love with the idea of business value like those of Reliance Foundation. Become an obsessive lover in this case and you are sure to succeed. You may have a great creation or package, but to be taken sincerely, customers need to consider that you are on the same playing waters as the bigger fishes. Like it or not, business value counts.
Create an online office. Even though you might be responding a call on your cell phone from your bed room, it’s significant that your customers believe they are calling an international headquarters situated in a skyscraper overlooking Marine Drive stretch. Online offices are an efficient answer for businesses that carry out most of their everyday connections via cell phone calls and emails, and infrequently need to host their clients on-site. For only a few thousand dollars per year, virtual offices offer small trade prestigious mailing addresses on product name streets in major urban areas. In addition, they comprise mail delivery and forwarding services, receptionists and options for on-location meeting space, as a replacement for paying fees like the offices of Nita Ambani Foundation.
Merging a tax free numeral with automatic cell phone systems and online assistants enables small trade to look and feel like a unified Fortune 500 company while functioning in multiple sites anywhere in the earth. These forces use efficiently recorded voice over talents to routinely route callers to the suitable party and provide callers with product messaging and data while they are on hold. While big industries pay tens of thousands of dollars for their phone services, small trade phone systems, such as those offered by many a CSR in India.
CSR activities in India and Reliance Foundation
Many businessmen want to see their empire grow and thrive but what about the environment and the society at large? They are supposed to grow with you. So are you doing what is necessary?
Patrons want more than high-quality service or products; they want to be acquainted with the change they are making in the society. Demonstrate to them how they can do that through your company. Socially responsible companies are intentional about having a positive impact on the world around them. Whether you are opening a new business or building on a company’s on hand build-up, it is vital to consider your CSR activities in India and the world when you consider how to start a communally responsible corporation.
Political honchos became involved in ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ in the framework of theories of corporation, neo-liberalism and late free enterprise. Some sociologists viewed Corporate Social Responsibility as a form of industrialist legitimacy and specifically point out that what began as a social association against unconstrained commercial power was altered by corporations into a ‘business replica and a ‘threat management’ machine. Often with dubious results ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ is titled to aid an organization’s charge as well as a canal to what the business stands for to its patrons. Commercial ethics is the part of applied principles that studies ethical principles and moral or principled problems that can happen in a business setting. ISO 26000 is the documented worldwide standard for CSR in India. Public sector organizations (the United Nations for example) adhere to the triple bottom line (TBL). It is widely accepted that ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ adheres to similar principles, but with no formal act of law. The idea is now comprehensive beyond purely profitable businesses.
Corporate Social Responsibility also indicates that the shareholders/owners in a company are eager to give away some of their income they have made for themselves. Shareholders/Owners who are not hungry will often employ ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ to give their company a good name with their patrons and mean that customers knowing the currency they are paying is not all going into the pockets of the rich people at the top of the association. They will be keen to buy of that specific trade rather than another and therefore augment the profits to the shareholders/owners and augment their donations to the communities around them and charitable organizations like the CSR of reliance.
Realize what is meant by ‘publicly responsible’. Corporate social responsibility is about using each feature of your business to better the planet around you. Though many correctly think of public responsibility in terms of the surroundings and worldwide issues, there are many other features of being publicly responsible. Put money into staff members. A publicly responsible company shows its employees that they are significant and appreciated members of their group. Find ways to show your employees that you care. Guard their health and safety by contributing realistic health insurance, set up standard health clinics, and sustain proper safety laws to make sure that your employees and their loved ones are cared for. Encourage them to sustain a work-life balance. Allow staff members to take time off, spend time with family, and assure suitable rest. This will go a long way toward building business loyalty and friendliness.
NGOs are an integral part of all development programmes in India
India has a large population that lives in the villages. A large section of this population usually migrates to larger cities in search of employment and better life. This has led to overcrowding in the larger cities of the country. To tackle this problem, the new Government of India has launched several programmes that are dedicated to uplift the lives of people in the rural areas and also refurbish the amenities in urban areas.
To support government agencies in this endeavour, a number of NGOs too are working on this initiative. NGOs are an integral part of all development programmes in India. This is because NGOs have an advantage of flexibility and being location specific. In addition, NGOs have trained and skilled professionals who are adept at designing the right approach for implementing these development programmes.
There are several initiatives that NGOs are working on to promote rural development in India. One such initiative is empowering farmers in villages by connecting them to the right sources of information regarding cultivation and marketing. Although India is one of the leading agricultural producers of the world, farmers in the country have to face utter poverty. NGOs working in the field of rural development in India serve as facilitators in connecting information sources who can educate farmers about the best practices in agriculture. This helps farmers in growing better crops and generating bigger yields.
Corporate social responsibility or CSR in India can play a major role in driving these development programmes successfully. According to a recent Government of India regulation, profit-making corporate entities are to spend at least 2 per cent of their profits on CSR in India. NGOs working in these fields work with government organisations to create channels in which a PPP model can be used to utilise CSR contribution to the betterment of the society.
For instance, the Reliance Foundation has tied up with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai to create a channel for corporate entities to engage in CSR activities in India. This is an effective way of bringing about good changes in the society using CSR funding from leading corporate.
The role of NGOs in developmental activities in India was first recognised during the sixth year plan. Ever since, the government has strengthened the responsibilities of NGOs in the development sector. The advantageous position of NGOs helps them to effectively implement schemes and policies by involving the public. NGOs are, in a nutshell, a facilitator between the people and the government.
Social Media Lab by Mumbai Police – CSR projects in India
The growth rate of the Indian population over the past few years has led to predictions that by 2030, about 40 per cent of India’s population will be living in the cities. This has led to mixed feelings among demographic analysts that although this indicates positive growth, this shift could lead to major problems such as overcrowding in cities, shortage of civic amenities, degradation of the environment, development of slums, increase in crime, increase in the number of diseases, deterioration in general heath conditions etc.
Keeping these in mind, the new government of India recently announced the development of smart cities and the launch of a revised edition of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission to bolster its efforts in revamping cities by strengthening its infrastructure and providing improved amenities and facilities to its residents. To make urban renewal happen, corruption has to be exterminated within the system.
There are several NGOs in India, which along with the Government of India are working on various projects to get urban renewal done. These NGOs are helping government bodies in the planning and envisioning of public spaces to bring about positive changes in the lives of people. The redevelopment of the Goda park in Nashik is one such activity undertaken by one such industrious NGO. There are several other instances in which NGOs have partnered with government organisations and further strengthened their efficiency.
For instance, in Mumbai, the Mumbai Police were approached by an NGO to set up a social media lab, which focused on connecting and creating easier and better channels of communication between the public and the police. This also had the objective of providing faster security services to the common man.
Another way of ensuring that efficient implementation of urban renewal initiatives is through corporate social responsibility or CSR in India. With CSR in India being announced as mandatory by corporate, government bodies could tie up with major corporate in the country to make them invest more in development sector.
In fact, there is a particular NGO in Mumbai which has partnered with the Municipal Corporate of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) in setting up a CSR cell. This CSR cell will help in channelizing corporate entities to design their CSR projects in India to support civic services. This is a major step and will go a long way in ensuring that there is better urban renewal in the country.
Donations for CSR activities in India
We live in a period in which companies comparable in prosperity to countries call the shots and manage much of the earth’s property. Because corporate get involved in so many areas of social life, they must be accountable towards society and the environment. In India as in the rest of the world there is a mounting consciousness that capital markets and corporations are, after all, shaped by society and must for that reason serve it and not merely profit from it. Thereby CSR activities in India should not be considered benevolence but a submissive task.
In the times of globalization, corporations and business enterprise are no longer restricted to the conventional margins of the nation-state. One of the key uniqueness of globalization is the reach of the market and the alteration in the mode of production. The centralized mode of production has given way to a highly decentralized mode of production spread across the world. It is thereby noted that there are several perspectives when CSR projects in India are concerned. There are continuous revolutions going in multiple sectors of different industries and corporate agencies are adding to the prosperity of individual divisions.
Study upholds CSR activities in India –
The up to date exploration has made an attempt to recognize the score and growth and proposals projected by large firms of the nation in viewpoint of corporate social responsibility credentials and implementation. Data has been assembled from the authorized sites of the corporations, private meeting assemblies and through prior assessments. The CSR activities in India are in perspective to health, education and environmental zone. On the foundation of the data drawn together and planning, a pattern of diverse tactic facets has been created.
History of CSR activities in India –
India has the world’s richest custom of Corporate Social Responsibility. The term CSR may be comparatively new to India, but the idea dates back to Mauryan history, where philosophers like Kautilya underlined on moral practices and values while performing business. CSR has been casually experienced in ancient times in form of assistance to the poor and underprivileged. Indian scriptures have at numerous places revealed the significance of sharing one’s earning with the deprived section of society. Thus we realize that CSR activities in India aren’t a contemporary matter.
Required funding for CSR activities in India –
A unit or business that meets the particular thresholds must spend on CSR activities no less than two percent of its average net profit for its foregoing three financial years. Net profit indicates a company’s profits as per its profit and loss account prepared in accordance with the New Act, but excludes profits from a company’s operations outside India or dividends received from an Indian company that has itself met its requirements for CSR activities in India.
How CSR activities in India can boost urban renewal?
India is the second country in the world with largest population. According to a report published by the United Nations, about 41 per cent of the country’s population will live in cities by 2030.
The four metro cities of the country – Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata- feature in a list of the 20 largest cities in the world. 
Overcrowding in these cities can lead to several problems such as shortage of civic facilities, deterioration of living conditions, increase in the number of slums, environmental degradation, increase in crime etc.
Urban renewal can be helpful to solve the problems effectively.
- The above mentioned problems can be dealt tactfully with an urban renewal Urban renewal basically stands for infrastructural and cultural changes to accommodate such shifts. There are several NGOs working in this sector.
- The new government of India has expressed its desire to bring about urban renewal through its proposition of smart cities. Also, it may launch a strengthened version of the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Programme in the near future.
However, implementation of all these plans at the ground level is not an easy task. This is why NGOs function in tandem with government agencies to effectively bring about urban renewal.
Reliance Foundation is giving its significant contribution for the renewal programme.
- The Reliance Foundation has undertaken several activities for urban renewal. It has associated with several municipal bodies in Maharashtra to plan public spaces and enhancing public and environment security. One of the best examples of this initiative is the redevelopment of Goda Park in Nashik.
- Another such initiative is the setting up of a first-of-its-kind social media lab in association with NASSCOM. This portal will serve as an interface between the Mumbai Police and the public.
- Another unique way the foundation has devised to channelize CSR activities in India is by setting up a CSR division with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. This allows the corporation to engage with corporate entities and implement CSR activities for the benefit of the society.
Corporate houses on India are mandated to spend about 2 per cent of their profits on CSR activities in India. All major corporate entities undertake activities that are aimed at benefiting the community. NGOs ensure that these funds reach the right people and the programmes are implemented efficiently.
There are several NGOs in India. From local to international, there are a number of non profit organisations that are working for the betterment of the community. Because of their significance in the implementation of development programmes in the country, the number of NGOs in the country stands at about 25,000 to 30,000 today!
Best social foundations of India
The India is still in its take off stage. It means that it can’t be called a fully developed nation, nor can we call it an underdeveloped one. It is in fact the developing one. A developing country needs to invest the maximum fund in infrastructure and other avenues. This leads to lower budgetary allocation in social sectors.
Various social and not-for-profit organizations work continuously to help people from all strata of the society. These people are the unexplored human resources of the country having huge potential, but they are yet to be properly utilized. Every social foundation of India aims to bring out the best from these people.
What social foundations do in India?
- They give gainful employment to rural people.
- Many such social foundations are fully or partially funded by corporate companies.
- These organizations work in some crucial areas like the health, education and jobs.
- These days, every social initiative aims towards making women empowered.
- Many social initiatives focus towards poverty alleviation.
Companies also participate in such an endeavor. This is called a corporate social responsibility (CSR). It also aims at the welfare of the masses. These include a wide variety of activities under the aegis of big corporate houses.
Why CSR activities in India are very important?
- In recent past, there has been a huge growth in CSR activities in India. Companies directly intervene towards reducing poverty through such an initiative.
- CSR projects have tremendously helped to raise the standard of living of people.
- No longer is GDP growth the sole priority of the government. Today the government fully applauds the efforts of corporate houses towards their effort to make India an all round developed nation.
- Usually the vital areas of health and education are covered under social initiatives in India.
The history of CSR in India is very old. It can be traced back to the unrecorded historical days of the Vedic days, when the king used to fulfill the demand of his subjects through direct intervention. King directly helped the people while the merchants of those days used to fund the expenses of building religious places, wells, etc.
Few social programs also aimed at solving the problem of daily needs too. The Urban renewal initiative focused to bring peace in the lives of urban people. Urban people have to suffer with numerous problems that are identical to city life. Some CSR projects intend to look into these aspects.
Equally interesting is the way how any CSR in India looks into the prospect of enriching lives of rural people. Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy. More than 60 % our rural workforce is engaged in the agriculture. Many stay unemployment at the latter part of the year due to seasonal variation, in such a time the CSR initiative goes on to provide employment to these people.
Reliance Industries NGO 