Experts offer modified CSR model

Companies should focus on individual social responsibility (ISR) as against corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a tool for social development.

"As a part of ISR, each individual working in a corporate devotes or is forced to devote time, energy and little funds to a socially productive activity. Sustainable ISR can actually help in nation building while sustainable CSR can touch more than just the skin of the problem. ISR projects could be more successful as there is passionate involvement of the individual", said Harish Bijoor, the brand strategist who has promoted Harish Bijoor Consults Inc, a Bangalore based business strategy advisory firm working with companies in CSR related areas.

"The width of the programmes an average corporate would engage itself in has been a worry, and so has been the depth of the programmes", he pointed out.

Talking at the CSR debate organised by the American Chamber of Commerce, R K Pachauri, director general of The Energy Resources Institute, mentioned that around 985 million Indians earned below $1 a day.

Investments in the social sector were required, and not charity. "Corporates should do what they are best at, and not indulge in excess of social responsibility activities. It is up to the government and the society to decide how to spends funds raised from corporate taxes", said Sugato Marjit, director of the Centre of Studies in Social Sciences.

Companies present at the conference claimed that as contributors of more than half of the nation's gross domestic product, they had the right to know how the government took decisions relating to greater social good.

Highlighting the commitment of companies, Timothy Tucker, vice-president for sales at Ford India, pointed out that Indian companies had consistently ranked amongst the top three Asian corprates in CSR activities for the last eight years in a study conducted by Asian governments.

Tucker said that Ford India had launched a pilot of its Megacity Mobility project in Bangalore this year from its earlier experience in Cape Town, South Africa to offer transportation solutions.

The programme would combine software technology, global positioning systems, as well as mobile telephones to offer a holistic transport solution for busy cities based on traffic flow and density data. "While the knowledge and expertise would come from companies like Ford, a public-private partnership model involving the state agencies is required for effective running of the programme", he added.