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NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (NCCSR) New Delhi - A Report

Introduction

The Centre for Social Responsibility and Institute of Directors organized the first National Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on 9-10 November, 2004 in partnership with World Council for Corporate Governance, Times Foundation, SustainAbility, NQAQSR Certification, World Environment Foundation, Centre for Corporate Governance, Foundation For Good Governance, S M Charitable Trust, Quality Management International, World Quality Council and was sponsored by Life Insurance Corporation of India, Oil & Natural Gas Commission, Gas Authority of India Limited, Samsung, Indian Airlines, Air India etc. The theme of the conference was "Bridging the gap through Corporate Social Responsibility." The immense topical value of the conference drew a large participation from the business community, government agencies, NGOs, academia, media, international organizations and other stakeholders. There were 238 participants. Expert deliberations by speakers and interaction with the floor effectively brought out the relevance of CSR in the context of the fast changing socio-economic scenario. The conference was thus a huge success.

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Inaugural Session

The conference was inaugurated by Union Home Minister, Hon'ble Shri Shivraj V. Patil and chaired by former Chief Justice of India, Hon'ble Justice P. N. Bhagwati at an illustrious gathering of corporate leaders, policy makers, CSR experts and NGOs in the evening of 9th November, 2004. Earlier, Mr. Ashok Kapur, IAS, Vice President, Centre for Social Responsibility opened the conference and introduced the dignitaries.

Dr Madhav Mehra, President, World Council for Corporate Governance in his keynote address called for a 180-degree shift in our understanding of CSR. He said, CSR was no longer a fringe philanthropic business activity. CSR is business. He called for Poor-Oriented Innovation for a Sustainable and Eco-friendly Development (POISED). He said this could be achieved through an eleven-point programme called PROACTIVATE. Dr Mehra made a telling statement, "I can walk out of this room, take a flight to any destination I want, hire a room in the best hotel, stay for weeks, may be even months- all this without a rupee in my pocket. But, if all the air is sucked out of this room, I cannot survive for more than a few minutes. Yet, while we have a price tag for all the goodies that I can live without, the things that are most crucial for my survival are free. Market economy is meaningless if it can not count the price of non-financial goodies that are far more valuable."

Dr Mehra stressed further on the importance of bringing transparency in governance, rather than allocating subsidies and government handouts, as an instrument to root out poverty. He advocated an entrepreneurial approach for empowering the poor. He made an impassioned plea to corporates not to treat poor as begging bowls but an opportunity. He said, "800 million poor of India represent one of the largest untapped consumer markets on this planet. Their combined economic power is greater than the economy of some sovereign nations. They are an immense source of innovation offering the biggest business opportunity of our times."

Hon'ble Justice A. M. Ahmadi, Former Chief Justice of India, Mr. P. Shanker, IAS, Central Vigilance Commissioner of India, Mr. Pradeep Baijal, IAS, Chairman, TRAI, Mr. Vinod Dhall, IAS, Member, Competition Commission, Mr. Mark Runacres, Dy. High Commissioner, British High Commission delivered the special addresses and brought home the relevance of CSR. Mr. Shanker said, "adherence to laws and paying taxes while earning profits is the first step towards CSR." Mr. Baijal pointed out how telecom majors have made CSR as their business goal and are providing connectivity to rural India, which will transform the rural landscape. Mr. Mark Runacres said, "All three of the major institutions of the British government in this country-the High Commission, the Department for International Development and the British Council-have for some time been involved with specific programmes, as have British businesses here in India. We do see CSR as a critical means for addressing international development issues and in particular in pursuing the Millennium Development Goals. Our Department for International Development has recently released a paper on CSR and international development and this can be found on their website."

Hon'ble Justice P. N. Bhagwati, in his Chairman's address, emphasized the role of public-private partnerships in serving the society better. Corporate sector should not work with profit as the only motive. Law must protect the public from the nexus of corporate and political power. He referred to some landmark judgments of the Supreme Court of India regarding the obligations of corporates to the society and penalties for violation of safeguards to environment in discharging CSR obligations.

In his inaugural address, Hon'ble Minister Shri Patil reminded the audience about the vision of Mahatma Gandhi in re-establishing the supremacy of life above wealth to bring in nobility and happiness and drawing therefrom the indispensable relevance of CSR in today's context. He complimented the efforts of the Institute of Directors for establishing the Centre for Social Responsibility.

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Golden Peacock Awards

Earlier, the minister presented the Golden Peacock Awards 2004 for Corporate Social Responsibility and Excellence in Corporate Governance under various categories. Following were the winners:

On 10th November, other speakers included Mr. Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman & MD, Bharti Teletech Ltd., Dr N. M. Kondap, Vice Chancellor, NMIMS and Mr. Dileep Ranjekar, CEO, Azim Premji Foundation.

Quoting Tagore, Mr. Rakesh Bharti Mittal drew a vital analogy to the CSR theme emphasising the importance of poor masses and the need to recognize them in building a sustainable strong nation. He described his company's twin objective of 'education' and 'child welfare.' Motivating and engaging workforce is part of their CSR initiatives to improve the quality and lives of people. He cited the case of 'Airtel Ashiana,' the school built by them for slum children, for Punjab Airtel. Bharti School for Technology and Management, Certified by IIT Delhi is their second initiative for which they don't get any return on investment that shows their dedication to the CSR cause. The third initiative in line with their dedication to the welfare of the people is Bharti Telecom Institute of Technology. They have realized that they could not survive in an island of wealth alone and therefore adopted 'developing every individual' as one of their mantras.

Quoting our first President, Dr Rajendra Prasad, the Vice Chancellor of NMIMS, Dr N. M. Kondap spelt out NMIMS's vision that led them to recognizing the changing role of corporates. He identified three factors, namely, business communities, donations with religious perspective, and looking beyond business. He cited two case studies: EXCEL and SHROFF FOUNDATION. Excel is a study in excellence in charting growth in a remote corner of Kutch district in the western frontier of India where ambient air temperature touches as high as 46 deg. C. Virtues of unfailing service and implicit self-respect prominently figured in the study. He described the Excel CSR model involving community, consumers, stakeholders, employees and the government in implementing their various social initiatives, namely, research & training as the heart of Excel industry for integrated rural development, Shrujan to bring in traditional lifestyle into the main stream, Shroff Foundation(institutional education initiative that produces IAS, IPS officers who offer to return to serve the organization with which the Foundation is credited), and Social Audit(considered a key to progress, also encouraged by huge foreign funding and started Credit Rating of NGOs). Dr Kondap outlined the facors considered in doing a social audit that are: Sustainability, Delivery on Time, and Environment & Health issues. He concluded his presentation attributing to the success of 'Excel', an organization started by employees themselves.

Mr. Dileep Ranjekar, CEO, Azim Premji Foundation placed before us a gloomy picture of the Indian society in the backdrop of 'India Shining'. For example,

He then concluded his presentation with a Case Study focusing on the areas where the corporates could actually provide inputs which, according to him, should be primarily in the areas, input of knowledge and finance.

Dr Karan Singh made the concluding remarks, using his usual elegant oratory skills, as the Session Chairman. He also focused on the enormous disparities in the Indian society mentioning that one-third of the world's malnourished and undernourished children are in India and then asked for prioritization of health and education through parternerships amongst the government, civil society and committed individuals and the corporate sector to bring about social parity, citing the Jamshedpur model.

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Panel Discussion

The day's second session was a panel discussion on "Turning CSR Rhetoric into Reality" which was chaired by Dr N. M. Kondap, Vice Chancellor, NMIMS. Various panelists included Dr Sean Doolan, Environment Advisor, DFID; Dr Aparna Basu, President, All India Women's Conference, and Ms. Amanda Greene, Principal-Corporate Philanthropy Services, Give Foundation.

Dr Doolan spoke of CSR standards, guidelines and regulations, and he opined that the financial sector could be targeted in the promotion of CSR to produce common good.

Calling CSR a new phenomenon in India, Dr Aparna Basu asked for companies' dealings to be more transparent and accountable since corruption is a big problem in the society. She quoted UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan's vow to reduce and eradicate poverty in this century and wanted the corporates to charter their path of growth in this direction. "Poor don't want charity, what is important for them is Capacity Building," she thundered. She cited the work of Sudha Narayana Murthy opening schools in Karnataka and their(AIWC) efforts to spread education through computer education in schools in collaboration with Tata Consultancy Services. More is required to be done by the corporate sector, in collaboration with NGOs, since enough was not done, she felt. She also focused on the importance to be given to the health sector in accomplishing the objectives of CSR. She cited that China's poverty further diminished by 8 % below the poverty line! Then she mentioned that philanthropy had always been a part of Indian culture, for which we had been earmarking 10 % of our income towards catering to the social causes. She therefore concluded saying that "CSR is not totally a rhetoric, what is required is restoring our misplaced wisdom."

Ms. Amanda Greene spoke of the opportunities for sharing knowledge and the importance of even outsourcing when needed. She was frank enough to express her apprehension as to the performance of NGOs having good brand names, thereby being patronized with huge funding and entitled to other opportunities, in meeting the objectives of CSR. She felt that there are other hard working NGOs, little known, which should be identified, educated and helped as well to promote CSR. She also spoke of accreditation of NGOs as is being practiced in USA, where there are directors for doing that. Corporate volunteering needs to be monitored by NGOs as well, she emphasized.

In his concluding remarks, Dr N. M. Kondap, who chaired the Panel discussion summarized as follows:

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Winners' Forum

The post-lunch session included presentations of CSR initiatives by Golden Peacock Award Winners from ONGC, ICICI, Tata Motors, GAIL India, Railwheel Factory, Shipping Corporation of India and was chaired by Lt. Gen. J. S. Ahluwalia, PVSM(Retd.), Vice President & CEO, Institute of Directors.

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Case Study Presntations

The concluding session of the conference was presentation of Case Studies by ICICI Bank, SAIL, ITC Hotels, Bharti Enterprises and Shell India under the sub-theme of 'Key to Profitabilty' through CSR. Ms. Shilpa Deshpande, Mr. Ram Mohan, Mr. Niranjan Khatri, Ms. Mamata Saikia and Dr(Ms.) Shailaja D Sharma presented the papers for these organizations respectively. Dr Uddesh Kohli, Chairman, Consultancy Development Centre presided over this session.

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Summing up-Conference Recommendations

The two-day National Conference ended with closing remarks by Mr. Kuldip Nar of Times Foundation and thanks giving by Dr Mehra. Dr Mehra urged the participants to walk the talk and turn CSR rhetoric into reality. He advised all organizations to pool resources and prioritise actions to meet the CSR challenges.

The following was adopted as the New Delhi Declaration- 2004: