Business & Community Foundation, India

E - articles

February 2010

CSR Roundtable: CSR Guidelines

BCF & IIC organised a panel discussion on 8th February to discuss and obtain general feedback on the recently released Voluntary Guidelines for Corporate Social Responsibility by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India.

The distinguished panelists included Mr S.Sen from CII, Dr Aqueel Khan from Association for Stimulating Know How (ASK), Mr Viraf Mehta from Partners in Change (PIC), Mr Asheesh Shah from Delhi Business School (DBS), Ms Amita Joseph from BCF. The panel was chaired by Prof. Shri Ram Khanna from Voluntary Organisation in the Interest of Consumer Education (VOICE). The discussion was attended by over 60 participants from B-Schools, industry, civil society organisations etc Report

December 2009

Work for the Homeless in Delhi

St. Stephen's Hospital, Community Health Department (SSH CHD) has been appointed as Mother NGO by the Government of Delhi to support the work for the homeless people in the city. The article outlines SSH CHD's aims, objectives, services planned for the care of the homeless. Writeup

November 2009

CSR Roundtable: Mainstreaming CSR in Management Education

The Business and Community Foundation and India International Centre organized the third Open Discourse Series session on the “Mainstreaming CSR in Management Education” on Monday, November 30, 2009. The session was a panel debate followed by an open Q&A session. The event had around 130 participants from business schools, international universities, corporate houses, civil society, and non-profit organizations.

The objective of the session was to understand the challenges faced by B-schools in teaching CSR, importance of mainstreaming it into the course and exploring perceptions of CSR in India today. This report contains key points raised and debated upon in the session. Report prepared by Mr Joe Phelan, IBLF

October 2009

CSR Roundtable - The Relevance of Sustainability Reporting

BCFand India International Centre (IIC) organized the second Open Discourse Series session on the “Relevance of Sustainability Reporting” on Saturday, September 19, 2009. The session was a round table with representatives from business schools, international universities, corporate houses, lawyers, civil society, and non-profit organizations.

The objective of the session was to understand differing perspectives on the concept of sustainability reporting and its relevance and practicability in India today. The session was led by Dr Aditi Haldar, head of the Corporate Sustainability Management Group of the CII-Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development, Prof. Ritika Gugnani, Assistant Professor at Jaipuria Institute of Management & Koshish Club members from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT). Report prepared by Ms Antara Lahiri

September 2009

Abilities Mela in Leh

PAGIR (People’s Action Group for Inclusion and Rights} an organization based in Ladakh working towards creating an inclusive and prejudice free society organized an Abilities Mela from 1 st – 15 th September 2009 at venue of the Ladakh Festival, an annual event organized by the Department of Tourism, J&K. Details

August 2009

CSR Open Discourse Series Roundtable Session “CSR, Governance and Development”

BCF and India International Centre (IIC) organized the first CSR Open Discourse Series Roundtable session on Friday, July 3, 2009 in the spirit of making the CSR debate and discourse more mainstream and opening up spaces for dialogue and engagement. Titled “CSR, Governance and Development,” the first session was led by Prof. Ananya Mukherjee Reed, Associate Professor of Political Science and Development Studies at York University, Toronto, and attended by representatives from business schools, corporates, development agencies, civil society, and non-profit organizations. Details

March 2009

Why are human rights the business of Business?

A large corporation without CSR programmes or activities is a rarity. Increasingly, small and medium sized companies are also making CSR commitments. However, few South Asian companies, large or small, take a public stance on human rights. Many, if not most companies, are likely to perceive human rights obligations as residing firmly in the public domain, the responsibility of governments rather than private actors. There is also the perception that human rights concerns arise only in a few industries and sectors, such as security issues in the extractive sector or labour rights in clothing companies’ supply chains. Details

February 2009

Successful examples of Corporate Social Responsibility (Published in The Indian Journal for Industrial Relations- special issue on CSR, January 2009)

Today, we live in an age in which companies, businesses and society are more connected and interactive than ever before in the past. Corporations are more aware of their role towards the society. They are expected to be responsible bodies that feel a sense duty towards common resources and the environment that comes with a growing realisation that they, as an integral part of this society themselves, can contribute to its development. Consumers and citizens' campaigns can make all the difference. This is the foundation thought behind the golden handshake between tripartite relationships between companies, society and nation; Corporate Social Responsibility or CR.Details

January 2009

CSR- A Business Oppurtunity

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has recently taken flight into board/ conference rooms and has emerged a topic of concern in corporate, government and international business forums. The reasons are varied: global warming pressures, wide divide of wealth, customer preferences of ethical business practices etc. Media support has further fueled this fire. In this global age social, economic and political problems merge into one another – as do the solutions. In response, CSR has emerged as an inescapable priority for business leaders and a tool to respond towards new conditions, new challenges, and new opportunities.CSR in near future will play a key role in sustainable business development. Details

2008

December 2008

Shahri Adhikar Manch

Homelessness is both a result of inadequate state policies and response. Burgeoning property and housing prices, land speculation, the lack of affordable and public housing options in cities and towns, lack of livelihood options in rural areas, and demolitions and displacement without adequate resettlement forces many men, women, children and entire families to live on the streets. While there is no official government data on homelessness in India, the number of homeless people is on the rise.

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November 2008

Rehabilitation of Beggars in Hyderabad With Special Focus on Women and Children

Beggary: A Socio-Economic Concern

Is there a town in India where there are no beggars? Is there a place of worship in India where you do not find people asking for alms? In the Indian sub-continent, with its rich religious heritage, alms giving in various forms has been overtly and covertly nurtured. In addition, the traditional, cultural and religious forces led to the creation and sanction of religious mendicants like the Hindu Sanyasis and Sadhus, Bhikshus; and Muslim Fakirs.

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October 08

According to the International Labour Organisation, by 2020 India will have a labour pool of 116 million between the ages of 20 and 24. This population is now between 8 and 12 years old. There are currently 370 million Indians under the age of 15 who will be joining the workforce soon and an equal number will be added to the population in the next several decades. All these populations need to have right skills and literacy. Government,NGOs and corporates need to come ahead and take ownership for providing education.

The founders of Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, are heavily involved in educating children and actively working with government schools. But we need greater involvement form others including multinational corporations. The article “Educating the girl child” published in Sakal Times on 1 June 2008, by Rujuta Deshmukh gives detailed picture of rural education system.

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September 08

Roundtable on CSR Teaching and Practice

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August 08

The Seventh Annual CSR Lecture by Mr Rahul Bajaj,Chairman Bajaj Auto Ltd.

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July 08

Kaelo/ Business Day CSR Conference 2008,by Mr.Sanjeev Gupta, Senior Advisor, Business and Community Foundation

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June 08

Businessworld FICCI-SEDF CSR Award Assessment 2007

Report

May 08

Abilities Mela in Hyderabad: April 25th - 27th

Report

April 08

Two day Management Development Programme on CSR by IIFT & BCF on 22nd & 23rd April 08.

Report

March 08

Do you need Wings to Fly: Amita V Joseph

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February 08

Association For Social Service And Rehabilitation Of The Aged (ASSRA)

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January 08

Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living: Miloon Kothari; the document is available in six UN languages at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/housing/evictions.htm

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2007

December 2007

Abilities Mela 1st & 2nd Dec 07.

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November 2007

Integrated Rural Development activities of Janki Devi Bajaj Gram Vikas Sansthan, Pune.

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October 2007

Disability Workshop & HR sensitization meet.

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September 2007

Arrey Colony: Needs Our Helping Hand.

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August 2007

SAIL CSR Initiatives.

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July 2007

Vision Community: Zensar Technologies' initiative.

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June 2007

GANATAR, a voluntary organization registered in 1992, is actively working and advocating for the fundamental right to Education, Health and eradication of Child Labour.

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April 2007

The Hidden Genocide by Sabu M George: Five million girls were eliminated over the period 1986-2001 because of foetal sex determination done by thousands of unethical doctors. And the rate of extermination continues to increase after Census 2001. Sex determination and sex selective abortion started in an Amritsar clinic in 1979 and has now grown into a 1000 crore country wide industry!

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March 2007

Nourishing 'CSR' at its Roots by Vaidehi Krishnan: “Giving back to society” is deemed important these days by both socially responsible individuals as well as the corporations that have ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR) well etched into their conscience. This is being done so in a wide variety of forms from doling out alms to sponsoring a child’s education or buying products developed by the underprivileged to disbursing financial aid to projects run by NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and so on.

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February 2007

Smile Foundation: Twin E - Learning Project.
This a National Development Agency, registered as an Indian Trust in year 2002, works for children welfare. Smile Foundation, as its Mission, consciously advocates and works for Empowerment of masses through education- lack of which being at the crux of all problems in the developing world.

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January 2007

An Encounter with Extreme Poverty-A trip to Bawana
On December 5th afternoon a severe fire broke out in the slum colony of Bawana (a village in the outskirts of Delhi) razing over 350 jhuggies and completely devastating the lives of more than 2500 odd inhabitants including several hundred small children and women. The tragedy had severely hit these families who lost everything, whatever little they have had; leaving them merely with 10X10 sq. feet of land to rebuild their plastic made jhuggies or rather rebuild their lives yet again.

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