Chapter-4

EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPT OF CSR

AND ITS RELEVANCE TO WOMEN
EMPOWERMENT
In the previous chapter, the researcher has given the detail of research methodology and
justification of the same. The Concept of Corporate Social Responsibility all over the
world has transformed from Philanthropy to Stakeholder Benefit Approach. The
concept has evolved through theworldand India is no exception. Globally the
momentum started in 50s and great thinkers like Carroll (1999), Fredrick(1960),
Friedman(1962) and many others contributed for the evolution of the concept of CSR.
In India it was started as a Charity and Philanthropy in 1800 andstarted gaining
momentum due to the strict implementation of legal rules by Government of India.
Recently, the Provisions of Companies Act 2013 have imposed strict guidelines for the
effective implementation of CSR. Owing to threats like global warming, environmental
pollution, the efforts of the corporate are shifted from Community Development to
Sustainable Development (Swathi, 2016).In fact, how the CSR has evolved is the matter
of discussion of this chapter: (www.bartleby.com/topics/Corporate-Social-
Responsibility-Essay).

The chapter is divided into 4 parts:-

A) Evolution of the Concept of Corporate Social Responsibility at Global Level

B) Evolution of the Concept of Corporate Social Responsibility in India

C) Evolution of the Concept of Corporate Social Responsibility at West Bengal

D) Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility and Women’s Economic

Empowerment in India and West Bengal

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 A) Evolution of the Concept of Corporate Social
Responsibility at Global Level
The history of CSR is almost as long as that of firms. Concerns about the excesses of the
EastIndia Firm were commonly expressed in the seventeenth century. There has been a
tradition of benevolent capitalism in the UK for over 150 years, for example, Quaker
families such as the Cadburys, Rowntrees and Hersheys who sought to improve their
employees’ standard of living as well as enhancing the communities in which they lived
(Hancock, 2005).

In the 19th century, many of owners assumed an active, and indeed, a leading role in the
development of the local communities and society where they were based. Business
leaders helped get schools and universities built and made financial contributions over
and above their taxes to support infrastructure projects, museums, sports, and recreation
facilities. Great cities like Manchester, Bombay, New York, andSydney were given
many of their public assets such as libraries and concert halls bythe business leaders of
the time (Marcus and Oconnor, 2005). These business leaderssuch as, Carnegie,
Rockefeller and Wellcome went on to endow great foundations tocarry on the
community work that they saw as their―social responsibility or goodcitizenship and
established a new level in corporate charitable behavior (Hancock, 2005). This tradition
seems to have been based on two complementarymotives. First, the ethical imperative—
often articulated by religious groups—was thatthose who have wealth and power should
help those who do not, and so charitablegiving was expected of wealthy
industrialists(Saboji, 2011). Second, there was an element of socialinvestment in which
businesses would gain long-term benefits from having first-classschools, technical
institutes, and universities in their cities U.S. business schools, forexample, were often
started by business leaders and still receive extensive support from firms (Saboji, 2011).
However, these wider contributions to 19th-century society did not dispel a deep
dissatisfaction with capitalism on the part of workers and others. Some of the early
exercises in corporate power, coupled with the excesses of laissez-faire capitalism in the
industrial revolution, with its mass dislocation of people to squalid cities, provoked the
rise of communism and socialism (Saboji, 2011). There were moves to abolish the
combination of the economic power and charity of rich capitalists and replace it with

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public ownership of the means of production and a rational system of entitlements and
social services managed by the state (Saboji, 2011).

CSR before 1950s

From 1917 onward, in both the developed and developing world, this approach sought to
bring private economic power under the control of the state with the exception of the
United States, governments worldwide came to dominate social provision in developed
and developing countries alike. Business paid its taxes, while national and local
governments provided the services and took care of social and cultural affairs (Marcus
andO’Connor, 2005). Early proponents were CEOs,Business Leaders of Automobile, Oil
and Heavy energy firms, telecommunication firms played a significant role in the
development of welfare state (Frederick, 2006).In recent times, the trend has
significantly changed where, the rich industrialists, business tycoons and politicians set
up their own personal foundations to carry out their charitable and welfare activities
throughout the globe. Like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Clinton
Foundation, Warren Buffet Foundation etc. (Windsor, 2001) suggested that the Business
leaders since 1920 widely adhered to the conception of Corporate Responsibility and
Corporate Responsive practices. Others scholarsargue that CSR started since 1930s. The
expectations of society from business changed drastically. The idea of business’ duty
towards society was highly acknowledged. From 1950s onwards, scholars have provided
various landmark developments in CSR progression (Bowen, 1953; Woods and Jones,
1995).

CSR in 1950s

In the early writings on CSR, it was referred to more often as socialresponsibility (SR)
than as CSR. Perhaps this was because the age of themodern corporation’s prominence
and dominance in the business sectorhad not yet occurred or been noted. The publication
by Howard R. Bowen(1953) of his landmark book Social Responsibilities of the
Businessman isargued to lead the beginnings of the modern period of literature on
thissubject (Carroll, 1999). As the title of Bowen’s book suggests, there apparently were
nobusinesswomen during this period, or at least they were not acknowledgedin formal
writings.Bowen’s (1953) work proceeded from the belief that the several hundred largest

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businesses were vital centers of power and decision makingand that the actions of these
firms touched the lives of citizens in every aspect (Carroll, 1999).

Bowen(1953) set forth an initial definition of the social responsibilities of businessmen:

“It refers to the obligations of businessmen to pursue those policies, to make those
decisions, or to follow those lines of actionwhich are desirable in terms of the objectives
and values of our society”. Bowen’s (1953) book was specifically concerned with the
dogmas of social responsibility; it is easy to see how it marks the modern, serious
discussion of the topic. Bowen argued that social responsibility is no panacea, but that it
envisages an important truth that must guide business in the future. Because of his early
and seminal work, one would submit that Howard Bowen should be called the “Father of
Corporate Social Responsibility” (Carroll, 1999).

CSR in 1960s

The entire 1960s and 1970s, CSR was ravaged by the ideas of Keith Davis, Joseph W
McGuire, William C Fredrick and Clarence C Walton’s ideas (Gail and Nowak 2006).
Although there wasnot much significant literary development during 1950s, the entire
decade of 1960s marked the remarkable and significant approach towards the
development of the definition of CSR (Carroll, 1999).

This was made possible by Keith Davis (1960), the then professor of University of
Arizona, who wrote extensively on the topic of Business and Society. (Davis, 1960)
stated that Social Responsibilities acts as a part of Managerial Duties. He became famous
for his views on the relationship between Social Responsibility and Business Power.He
set forth the now famous ‘Iron Law of Responsibility’, which held that the social
responsibilities of businesspeople needed to be commensurate with their social power.
Davis’s contributions to early definitions of CSR were so significant that he could well
be argued to be the runner-up to Bowen for the “father of CSR” designation (Carroll,
1999).

Another significant contributor to the development of CSR, as a concept is Joseph

McGuire. In his book Business and Society (1963), he stated, “The idea of social
responsibilities supposes that thecorporation has not only economic and legal obligations
but also certainresponsibilities to society which extend beyond these obligations”
(Carroll, 1999). McGuire’s (1963) definition may be to some degree is more exact over

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past ones in which he characterized it similar to extending beyond legal and financial
matters.

In 1960, itself, William C Frederick wrote that, Social responsibility in the final analysis
implies a public posture toward society‘s economic and human resources and a
willingness to see that those resources are used for broad social ends and not simply for
the narrowly circumscribed interests of private persons and firms (Frederick,
1987;Gautam and Singh, 2010).

In a book titled Corporate Social Responsibilities, (Walton, 1967), a foremost thinker on

this subject, addressed many facets of CSR in a book series concerned with the role of
the business firm and the businessperson in modern society.In this significant book, he
presented a number of different varieties, or models, of social responsibility, including
his fundamental definition of social responsibility (Carroll, 1999).

Walton (1967) emphasized that the essential ingredient of the corporation’s social
responsibilities include a degree of voluntarism, as opposed to coercion, an argument
that business continues to put forth today. Walton highlighted the many facets of CSR.In
his book he underlined the different varieties and models of CSR. It included the various
definition of Social Responsibility (Carroll, 1999).

CSR in 1970s

The CSR concept became a favorite topic in management discussions during the 1970s.
One reason for this is because the respected economist Milton Friedman came out
against the concept(Carroll, 1999). In a 1970 article for the New York Times Magazine,
Friedman summarized his position well with its title—”The Social Responsibility of
Business Is to Increase Its
Profits”(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_social_responsibility). For many years since
and continuing today, Friedman has maintained his position. In spite of Friedman’s
classic opposition, the CSR concept has continued to be accepted and has continued to
grow. It is useful to include the quotation here because it is such a business-centric view
and is one end of a continuum that is still being debated today in terms of CSR (Carroll,
1999).There is one and only one social responsibility of business is to optimally use the
resources and utilize it for profit, it is to say that it’s for engaging in free and fair

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competition (Turner, 2006). Business role can be not only for churning economic
benefits, but for supporting and improving the social order (Eells and Walton, 1974).

In 1970s, Morrell Heald published a landmark book titled The Social Responsibilities of
Business: Company and Community, 1900-1960 Heald, (1970) in which he did not
discuss for a succinct definition of the social responsibility construct, but it is evident
that his understanding of the term was in the same line as the definitions discussed
during the 1960s and
earlier(http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/35689/14/14_chapter%205.pdf)
.

In the preface to his book, Heald presented that he was concerned with the idea of social
responsibility “as businessmen themselves have defined and experienced it”. He added
that the concept of social responsibility for businessmen must be incorporated into the
business policies(Carroll, 1999). Heald also puts forth that the corporate should engage
in community-oriented programs and policies as apart of social responsibility programs
(Carroll, 1999).

Harold Johnson, (1971) who wrote Business in Contemporary Society: Framework and
Issuesprovided a lot of descriptions on CSR and then went on to critically analyze the
concepts. He presented three CSR perspectives.He stated that “A socially responsible
firm is one whose managerial staff balances a multiplicity of interests. Instead of striving
only for larger profits for its stockholders, a responsible enterprise also takes into
account employees, suppliers, dealers, local communities, and the nation”. It is explicit
that Johnson is referring to the stakeholder approach as he referred a “multiplicity of
interests” and actually names several of these specific interests groups(Carroll, 1999).

Johnson, (1971) portrayed a second perspective of CSR. He stated that businesses carry
out social programs as part of social responsibility to add profits to their organization
which ultimately means that this is perceived as long-run profit maximization strategy.
He presented a third perspective of social responsibility which is synonymous to “utility
maximization” According to him, “The third approach of social responsibility assumes
that the prime motivation of the business firm is utility maximization; the enterprise
seeks multiple goals rather than only maximum profits” (Carroll, 1999).

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A landmark contribution of conceptualization CSR came from the Committee for
Economic Development (CED) in its 1971 publication Social Responsibilities of
Business Corporations. The CED got into this topic by observing that business functions
by public consent, and its basic purpose is to serve constructively the needs of society to
the satisfaction of society(Carroll, 1999).

Another noteworthy, CSR author of 70s, (Steiner, 1971).He tended to defer to Davis’s
and Frederick’s definitions of CSR, but put forth his perspective on the subject. (Carroll,
1999).On the other hand, Votaw, (1973) reviewed the scholars’ contributions to the field
of CSR and raised concern at par with other scholars that CSR is not always the same
thing to everybody. Manyscholars interpret this in line of legal dimension; others in line
with ethical responsibility; many other in causal mode and many value it in terms of
philanthropic contribution.

Eells and Walton (1974) too offered an elaborate discussion of the CSR movement and
the multiples of ways in which academics and practitioners regard the topic at that time
(Carroll, 1999).Sethi (1975) came up with his three level models, the concept of
Corporate Social Performance, and how is it been different from other corporate
behavior (Carroll, 1999).Sethi’s three tier model, social obligation (a response to legal
and market constraints); socialresponsibility (congruent with social norms); and social
responsiveness (adaptive, anticipatory and preventive);(Wheeler, et.al
2003)(http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/35689/14/14_chapter%205.pdf).

Bowman and Haire (1975) studied to make out CSR and ascertain the extent of
companies’ CSR engagement.They did not define CSR; rather they illustrated the kinds
of topics that represented CSR as opposed to those that were strictly “business” Bowman
and Haire (1975). The topics they exhibited were corporate responsibility, social
responsibility, social action, public service, corporate citizenship, public responsibility,
and social responsiveness and they usually appeared as subheads in sections of the
annual report(Carroll, 1999).

Secondly, Sandra Holmes (1976) conducted research in mid 1970s collecting “executive
perceptions of CSR.” She also did not focus on the definitional construct of CSR, rather,
she developed certain statements on CSR and presented these to the executives, soliciting
them to agree or disagree.

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In 1976, H. Gordon Fitch defined CSR in terms of solving social problems. He stated,
“Corporate social responsibility is defined as the serious attempt to solve social problems
caused wholly or in part by the corporation”(Carroll, 1999). Fitch(1976) invoked firms to
be socially responsible and they must distinguish social and non-social problems and
develop methods for solving social problems(Carroll, 1999).Abbott and Monsen, (1979)
made an attempt to understand the concept of CSR in a study consisting of a content
analysis of the annual reports of Fortune 500 companies (Carroll, 1999). Their article
developed a corporate “Social Involvement Disclosure” (SID) scale to measure firms’
CSR. Abbott and Monsen acknowledged as their measure of CSR self-reported
disclosures about social involvement dimensions that had been developed through a
content analysis of annual reports of Fortune 500 companies (Carroll, 1999). In 1979,
Carroll proposed Corporate Social Performance (CSP) Pyramid and he found a position
relation between firm’s social involvement and its performance. Therefore, he invoked
firms to engage in social actions. But before engaging in social actions the firms must
have (a) a basic definition of CSR, (b) an understanding of various issues for which a
social responsibility existed (or, in modern terms, stakeholders to whom the firm had a
responsibility, relationship, or dependency), and (c) a specification of the philosophy of
responsiveness to the issues (Carroll, 1999).

CSR in 1980s

Towards 1980s the concept of CSR was more tuned towards corporate strategy (Lucas,
et al., 2001).More emphasis given on exploring new or refined definitional construct of
CSR that paved its way to research on CSR. Out of which many alternative concepts and
themes such as corporate social responsiveness, corporate social performance, public
policy, business ethics, corporate citizenship and stakeholder theory/management, just to
mention a few, emerged in the 1980s.The research on CSR did not end here; rather the
core concerns of CSR started to be reflected in development of alternative concepts,
theories, models or themes.

TuzzolinoandArmandi, (1981) presented a mechanism for measuring CSR by proposing

a need-hierarchy model patterned after Maslow’s need hierarchy. The authors endorsed
Carroll, 1979 definition as “appropriate” for their purposes, and then stated that it would
be useful to have an analytical model for operationalization of CSR(Carroll, 1999).Frank
and Armandi, (1981) presented how organizations have physiological, safety, affiliation,

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esteem, and self- actualization needs that run parallel with those of need hierarchy as
presented by Maslow (Carroll, 1999). The authors illustrated the hierarchy as a
“conceptual tool whereby socially responsible organizational performance could be
reasonably measured” (Carroll, 1999).

Strand, (1983) developed a system framework of organizational adaptations to the social

environment. Although he did not offer any new or unique CSR definition, his model is
significant because it represented another in a continuing stream of endeavors to
associate such concepts as CSR to other similar notions such as social responsibility,
social responsiveness, and social responses and to the organization- environment
interface(Carroll, 1999).

Peter F Drucker offered new and novel meaning to CSR in 1984 where he stated that
profitability and responsibility were compatible notions(Carroll, 1999). Though there are
references to this point in early writings of the contributor, what was fresh in the Drucker
view was not only the nature of compatibility between profitability and responsibility,
but also the notion that business ought to “convert” its social responsibility into business
opportunity (Carroll, 1999). Drucker made this point explicit: “But the proper ‘social
responsibility’ of business is to tame the dragon, that is to turn a social problem into
economic opportunity and economic benefit, into productive capacity, into human
competence, into well-paid jobs, and into wealth” (Drucker, 1984;Carroll, 1999).

It was only during that time that Edward Freeman came up with the concept of
Stakeholder’s Theory (Post 2003; Windsor 2001).Freeman said meeting shareholders
needs as only one element in a value adding process and identified a range of
stakeholders (including shareholders) who are relevant to the firm’s operations (Lucas et
al., 2001).His sole concept of stakeholder theory is worth mentioning and it added a new
lease to the emerging concept of CSR. Freeman’s 1984 paper continues to be identified
as a seminal paper on stakeholder theory, and stakeholder theory as the dominant
paradigm’ in CSR (Williams and Siegel, 2001).

Aupperle, Carroll, and Hatfield’s (1985), studied the relationship between CSR and
profitability of the firm. This later on prompted Carroll to come up with his pyramidical
theory which consisted of economic, legal, ethical and discretionary responsibility
(Carroll, 1999).(StevenWartick and Philip Cochran 1985) presented their “evolution of
the corporate social performance model,” which extended the three-dimensional

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integration of responsibility, responsiveness, and social issues (Carroll, 1979). In
1987,one of the major contributions of these two authors was to recast my three
aspects—-corporate social responsibilities, corporate social responsiveness and social
issues—into a framework of principles, processes, and policies (Carroll, 1999). Edwin
M. Epstein provided a definition of CSR in his quest to relate social responsibility,
responsiveness, and business ethics. He pointed out that these three concepts dealt with
closely related, even overlapping, themes and concerns (Epstein, 1987;Carroll, 1999).

CSR in 1990s

During 1990s, the literature has not so much expanded the definition of CSR, but used
the CSR concept as the base point, building block, or point-of-departure for other related
concepts and themes, many of which embraced CSR-thinking and were quite compatible
with it(Carroll, 1999). It brought in new concepts of Corporate Social Performance
(CSP), Stakeholder-Theory, Business Ethics theory, and Corporate Citizenship etc., as
some of the major themes that took center stage in the 1990s(Carroll, 1999).Donna J.
Wood revisited the Carroll’s CSP pyramid in 1991(Carroll,1999). First, she noted that
the principle of CSR that encompassed Carroll’s four types of responsibilities (economic,
legal, ethical, and discretionary) and addressed how they related to the CSR principles of
social legitimacy (institutional level), public responsibility (organizational level), and
managerial discretion (individual level)(Carroll, 1999). Second, she explored the
processes of corporate social responsiveness, which move beyond Carroll articulation of
responsiveness categories (reactive, defensive, accommodative, and proactive) that
Wartick and Cochran (1985) had developed as policies, and she emphasized such
processes as environmental assessment, stakeholder management, and issues
management(Carroll, 1999).Third, she used Wartick and Cochran’s (1985) policies,
which were the elaboration of Carroll’s “social issues” segment, and reframed them
under a new theme of concern—outcomes of corporate behavior(Carroll, 1999).

In the 90s by a broadening discussion of the concept of stakeholder, and whether the first
priority of a corporation is to its shareholders’ (Nahan in Ryan,2002) or whether
policymakers should develop a flexible multi stakeholder approach to promoting CSRas
Aaronson suggests has occurred in Britain in response to concern about global corporate
responsibility (Aaronson, 2003).In 1997, Solomon wrote that since the business world
has become one of the most important institutions in the world, the scope for social

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responsibilities have had also expanded so much so to take over the formally established
domains of the government as well. The more powerful business becomes in the world,
the more responsibility for the well-being of the world it will be expected to bear
(Solomon in Joyner & Payne, 2002).As penned down in 1999, at the advent of the new
millennium, Carroll stated that, the CSR, as a concept will ever remain as a prominent
part of business practice today, because it is mandatory to note that many other theories
are constantly consistent with the expectations of the public about the business
community (Carroll, 1999).

There is a natural fit between the idea ofcorporate social responsibility and an
organization’s stakeholders (Carroll, 1999).Arguing that the term “social” in CSR has
been seen by some as vague andlacking in specificity as to whom the corporation is
responsible, Carroll, suggestedthat the stakeholder concept, popularized by R.
Edward(Carroll, 1999).Freeman(1984), personalizes social or societal responsibilities by
delineating thespecific groups or persons business should consider in its CSR
orientationand activities(Carroll, 1999). Thus, the stakeholder nomenclature puts “names
and faces” on the societal members or groups who are most important to business and to
whom it must be responsive (Carroll, 1999).

Although there is much debate on the relation between society and business, which is
still continuing till present times, but still there is no consensus on the commonly
accepted definition about CSR till now (Carroll, 1991; Jones, 1995; 1999; McWilliams
and Siegel, 2001).The concept ranged from CSR to Sustainable Development from
Corporate Accountability to Business in society, from Corporate citizenship to Corporate
Governance(Carroll,1999;OugaardandNielsen,2002,http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bits
tream/10603/35689/14/14_chapter%205.pdf).These terms are often believed to be in
relation with one another. But the main focus of business organizations and civil society
is CSR and Sustainable Development and its enormous partnership with stakeholders
(Lépissier, 2001).

CSR in 21st Century

Lantos (2001) in his article discussing the development, concepts and history of CSR
suggested the notion that business has duties to society is firmly entrenched, although in
the past several decades there has been a revolution in the way people view the

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relationship between business and society. Illustrating those scholars should judge
corporations on their financial success and also on certain non-economic criteria, a
concept referred to as the TBL, or triple bottom-line (Norman & MacDonald, 2003). The
TBL approach defines a company‘s ultimate worth in financial, social, and
environmental terms. Therefore, corporate social responsibility means that business and
society are interwoven rather than distinct entities and that a company is simply
responsible for its wider impact on society (Wood, 1991).

CSR has rapidly grown in the last 20 years, moving up the boardroom agenda of even the
most hard-headed companies. At its most passive, there is the 'hands-off' approach, with
charitable giving and patronage of charities decided by the chairman or a board
committee. Even where there is a more business-based approach a great deal of what
passes as CSR at top companies has been described as merely ‘passive box ticking
driven by external pressures rather than a genuine desire to do business in an ethical
way’ (Waller, The Times, 8 July 2003). The real spirit of Corporate Social
Responsibility is not just in planning and formulating programs, but the real essence lies
in improvement and upliftment of society through corporate actions(Clement-Jones and
Lord Tim, 2004).

Another milestone achieved in CSR during this era is the reporting style,
Bebbingtonet.al. (2008) use the term CSR reporting, which highlights the link between
the reporting function and the organizational functions and operations that are concerned
with, and impacted by, activities associated with CSR. CSR and CSR (or sustainability)
reporting are inextricably intertwined across an organization, and at various levels,
impact on strategic planning, governance, stakeholder engagement, risk management,
decision making, data collection and management systems, performance measurement,
performance management, public relations and communications(Gautam and
Singh,2010). On the other hand, (Luo and Bhattacharya,2009) highlighted on the
Corporate Social Performance (CSP), as the measurement rod, of organization’s overall
performance in improving and protecting social welfare compared to their leading
competitors in the industry, measured over a period of time (Borgohain,2013).

Therefore in a nutshell we say that CSR should deal with its role of improving and
protecting social welfare at the local, national and global level. Active companies can in
turn motivate employees to become active in their communities and provide a framework

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and focus for their efforts (Clement-Jones andLord Tim, 2004). Many companies now
back and organize specific schemes, often in conjunction with the not-for-profit sector,
with the belief that this will contribute to both the medium- and long-term success of
their business. It is argued that CSR strategy can help manage the effects of
globalization, cut environmental cost, raise productivity and improve staff recruitment
and retention rates (Clement-Jones and Lord Tim, 2004).

In recent times pressure groups with widespread popular support have successfully
targeted companies that have broken no laws but rather have offended modern norms and
standards, particularly with regards to human rights and employment practices, for
instance the use of sweatshop labor by Nike and Gap in Indonesia and Cambodia, the
campaign against Nestlé’s marketing of powdered milk in developing countries and
criticism of Shell’s disposal of the Brent Spar oil platform and conduct in
Nigeria(Clement-Jones and Lord Tim,2004). These campaigns marked a sharp increase
in expectation about the role of the company in society and declining faith in the power
of national governments to tackle social and economic problems that spread across
geopolitical borders (Clement-Jones and Lord Tim, 2004). The perceived power and
reach of multinationals make them appear a better target for pressure group campaigners
than domestic politicians. The biggest challenge that exists before CSR today is the
ability to reconcile the profit motive with fulfilling social obligation (Clement-Jones and
Lord Tim, 2004).

In the new millennium, CSR has been taken to the global level and the world leaders
invoked the corporate managers as well as politicians and activists to think of
Sustainable Development(Galliara, et.al. 2009).

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) stated on the place
of CSR in the world business, that “CSR is the continuing commitment by business to
contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce
and their families as well as of the community and society at large (Kulkarni,2014).” The
phrase sustainable development is assumed to be a normative value that promotes the
underdeveloped nations to develop. There are two main texts of sustainable development
in this context has been found: one is the Brundtland Report and another is Rio
Declaration. They put stress on reduction of penury environmental hazards, respecting
the rights of next generation and reasonable use of resources. These subjects are

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significant in terms of the common interests of humanity (UN Global
Compact).Discourses about CSR have always taken the center stage and discussed
parallel hand in hand with the discourses on sustainable development. Subsequently,
CSR also initiated to establish the links between social and environmental objectives
with economic imperatives(https://www.iisd.org/business/pdf/business_strategy.pdf).

The main drivers for CSR in 21st century is realized as have been the shrinking role of
government, demands for greater disclosure, increased customer interest, growing
investor pressure, competitive labor markets, and supplier relations. The companies
enjoy several benefits like improved financial performance, lower operating costs,
enhanced brand image and reputation, increased sales and customer loyalty, product
safety, material recyclability, and greater use of renewable resources, etc(Gautam and
Singh,2010;https://www.iisd.org/business/pdf/business_strategy.pdf).

Some Landmark Contribution to the Field ofCSR is the Codes and

Ethical Standards for CSR

 Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Adopted by United Nations, this

declaration paved way for many international human rights standards for all sectors
entities(Gautam, and Singh, 2010).

 Global Reporting Initiative (GRI): GRI has been addressing the need for
standardized approach to corporate sustainability reporting. In 2006, GRI published
Version 3.0(G3) of its Sustainability Reporting Guidelines emphasizing
performance indicators, which contain a separate section titled “Human Rights”
with nine performance indicators. It is an international, multi-stakeholder effort to
create a common framework for voluntary reporting of the economic,
environmental and social impact of organizational activities. Its mission is to
improve the comparability and credibility of sustainability reporting worldwide
(Gautam and Singh, 2010).

 UN Global Compact Initiative: Launched in 1999 by United Nations Secretary,

Kofi Annan, the Global Compact is a coalition of large businesses, trade unions,
environmental and human rights groups, brought together to share a dialogue on
corporate social responsibility. It consists of a minimum platform based on
fundamental values for disseminating good corporate practice in accordance with

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 universal principals. Companies‟ adhesion is on a voluntary basis and signatories
commit to a global pact of nine principles (Kundu, 2013).

 Social Accountability 8000: ‘SA 8000‟ standard for social accountability, created
in 2000 by Council on Economic Priorities Accreditation Agency (CEPAA). The
SA 8000 code of practice is broken down into nine key areas child labor,
management systems, working hours, compensation, disciplinary practices, forced
labor, health & safety, freedom of association & collective bargaining and
discrimination(Datt and Grewal,2017).

 Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI): A set of global best practice

principles for responsible investment. It provides a framework for achieving better
long term investment returns and more sustainable markets(Gautam and Singh,
2010).

 International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 26000: ISO an

International Standard setting body has developed a new standard on Social
Responsibility namely ISO 26000. ISO 26000 is intended for use by all types of
organizations and in all countries and to assist organizations to operate in a socially
responsible manner. According to ISO 26000, there are seven fundamental subjects
of CSR as follows: Environment, Labor practices, Human rights, Organizational
Governance, Fair operating practice, Consumer issuesand Social development
(Gautam and Singh, 2010).

 Occupational Health & Safety Advisory Services (OHSAS) Standard: OHSAS

18001 is applicable to any organization which aims to establish a health and safety
management system at work (Datt and Grewal, 2017).

 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines

for multinationalcompanies: OECD guidelines contains recommendations on core
labor, environmental standards, human rights, competition, taxation, science and
Technology combating corruption and safe guarding, consumer rights. These
guidelines acknowledge and encourage the contribution that MNEs can make to
local capacity building as a result of their activities in local communities (Datt and
Grewal, 2017).

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  Role of International Labor Organization (ILO): ILO seeks the promotion of
social justice and internationally recognized human and labor rights. It formulates
international labor standards in the form of conventions and recommendations
setting minimum standards of basic labor rights(Gautam and Singh, 2010;Datt and
Grewal, 2017).

 Others: ISO 9001:2000 (quality), ISO 14001:2004 (environment) and OHSAS

18001:2007 are generic management system standards‟, so that the same standard
can be applied to any organization, large or small, whatever its product or service,
in any sector of activity, and whether it is a business enterprise, a public
administration , or a government department. These standards have been developed
in the above sequence, they appear to be compatible to each other and hence show
some overlapping features (Kundu, 2013).

B) Evolution of the Concept of Corporate Social

Responsibility in India

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a term, which has attracted the attention of
academia-institutions and industries very recently. In India, especially Tata has been
implementing CSR activities since 1912. India has a rich history of close business
involvement in social causes for national development. CSR here started from ancient
time as social duty or charity, perhaps since the late 1800s as corporate philanthropy and
industrial welfare (Borgohain, 2013). This concept through different ages has evolved,
changing its nature in broader aspect, now popularly known as CSR (Borgohain, 2013).
From the origin of business, this leads towards excess wealth, social and environmental
issues havedeep roots in the history of business (Garg, 2014). Business practices in the
1900s that could be termed as socially responsible took different forms: from
philanthropic donations to charity, service to the community, enhancing employee
welfare and promoting religious conduct(Gautam and Singh, 2010). Corporations may
give funds to charitable or educational institutions and may argue that they are the great
humanitarian deeds, when in fact they are simply trying to buy community good will
(Garg, 2014;Borgohain, 2013).

In the first phase charity and philanthropy were the main drivers of CSR. Culture,
religion, family value and tradition and industrialization have an influential effect on
CSR. In the pre-industrialization period, which lasted till 1850, wealthy merchants

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shared a part of their wealth with the wider society by way of setting up temples for a
religious cause (Das,n.d.). In ancient times, it used to be called as charity in the name of
“Daan”. During the Gupta period, when philanthropy was at its peak where the emperor
used to donate a major chunk of treasury for the welfare of the common people.
Philosophers such as Kautilya from India and pre-Christian era philosophers in the West
preached and promoted ethical principles while doing business (Manikyam and Pavitra,
2016). Even during the Mughal period, the concept of philanthropy received its
promotion under the reign of Akbar. This scenario continued during the British period
also. In the pre-industrialization period, which lasted until 1850, wealthy merchants
shared a part of their wealth with the wider society by way of setting up temples for a
religious cause (Das,n.d.;Garg, 2014).

However, the beginning of the 19th century transformed this concept of philanthropy and
encouraged the industrialists to empower communities through different capacity-
building program (Jaysawal and Saha, 2015). In India, CSR has evolved to encompass
employees, customers, stakeholders and sustainable development or corporate
citizenship. The spectrum of CSR includes a number of areas as human rights, safety at
work, consumer protection, climate protection and caring for the environment, and
sustainable management of natural resources (Ahmed, 2011). From the perspective of
employees, CSR activities include providing health and safety measures, preserving
employee rights and discouraging discrimination at workplace (Miluwi and Hina, 2013).
This helps in fostering a healthy environment within the company. For example, after
1945, TATA implemented social welfare provisions for its employees that have since it
become the legislative norm. From the perspectives of customers, CSR activities may
include commitment to product quality, fair pricing policies, and so on (Ahmed, 2011).
CSR taken up by various genres of companies primarily focuses on poverty alleviation,
environmental protection and sustained development. Companies are taking initiatives
for developing infrastructure in rural areas (Miluwi and Hina, 2013;Ahmed, 2011).

Studies reveal that in India, the term Corporate Social Responsibility might be new but
the concept is not. It has been there since the earliest times, going back to an age when
society itself was in its formative stages. It has been incorporated in the various religious
laws where a part of one’s earnings were donated for the benefit of the poor and
community welfare.

Historically, the philanthropy of business people in India has resembled western

philanthropy in being rooted in religious belief. Business practices in the 1900s that

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 could be termed socially responsible took on different forms: philanthropic donations to
charity, service to the community, enhancing employee welfare and promoting religious
conduct. Corporations may give funds to charitable or educational institutions and may
argue for them as great humanitarian deeds, when in fact they are simply trying to buy
community good will. The ideology of CSR in the 1950s was primarily based on an
assumption of the obligation of business to society (Gautam, and Singh, 2010).

Chart 4.1-Journey of CSR- Indian Perspective

Phase 4
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 CSR in a Phase 5, CSR in
Pure CSR as social CSR under the globalized the era of
philanthropy development “mixed economy” World in a Liberalization,
and charity during the paradigm Confused State Privatization,
during independence
Industrialization struggle Globalization

Source – (Sundar, 2000)

The Phases of CSR Evolution in India

The First Phase (1850-1914)

The industrial families had a strong inclination towards charity and other social
considerations. Prominent business houses of India like Tata, Birla, Godrej and
Singhania industries changed the way philanthropy used to be seen. Influenced by
Gandhijee’s views of Trusteeship, these entrepreneurs turned their attention towards
building knowledge capital in the country (Jaysawal and Saha, 2015).The ideology of
CSR in the 1950s was primarily based on an assumption of the obligation of business to
society (Gautam and Singh, 2010). In initial years there was little documentation of
social responsibility initiatives in India. Since then there is a growing realization towards
contribution to social activities globally with a desire to improve the immediate
environment. It has also been found that to a growing degree companies that pay genuine
attention to the principles of socially responsible behavior are also favored by the public
and preferred for their goods and services (Shinde, 2005;Borgohain,2013).

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Moreover, these merchant helped the society in getting over phases of famine and
epidemics by providing food from their go downs and money and thus securing an
integral position in the society. With the arrival of colonial rule in India from 1850s
onwards, the approach towards CSR changed. The industrial families of the 19th century
such as Tata, Godrej, Bajaj, Modi, and Singhania were strongly inclined towards
economic as well as social consideration (Das,n.d.). However it has been observed that
their efforts social as well as industrial development were not only driven by selfless and
religious motives but also influenced by caste groups and political objectives (Garg,
2014).

The Second Phase (1914-1960)

In the second phase, during the independence movement, there was increased stress on
Indian industrialists to demonstrate their dedication towards the progress of the society.
This was when Mahatma Gandhi introduced the notion of “trusteeship”, according to
which the industry leaders had to manage their wealth so as to benefit the common man.
He desired to end capitalism as much as the most advanced socialist. But his methods
differ. His theory of trusteeship is no make-shift, certainly no camouflage (Das,n.d.). He
was confident that it will survive all other theories. This was Gandhi’s words which
highlights his argument towards his concept “trusteeship”. Gandhi’s influence put
pressure on various industrialists to act towards building the nation and its socio-
economic development. According to Gandhi, Indian companies were supposed to be the
“temples of modern India”(Das,n.d.). Under his influence businesses like TATAs, Birla’s
became committed to the cause of Nation building. They established trusts for schools
and colleges and also helped in setting up training and scientific institutions. The
operations of the trusts were largely in line with Gandhi’s reforms which sought to
abolish untouchability, encourage empowerment of women and rural development
(Garg, 2014).

The Third Phase (1960-1980)

The third phase of CSR (1960-80) had its relation to the element of ‘mixed economy”,
emergence of public sector undertakings (PSUs) and laws relating labor and environment
standards. During this period the private sectors was forced to take a backseat. The
public sector was seen as the prime mover of development. Because of the stringent legal

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rules and regulation surrounding the activities of the private sector, the period was
described as an ‘era of command and control”. The policy of industrial licensing, high
taxes and restrictions on the private sector led to corporate malpractices. This led to
enactment of legislation regarding corporate governance, labor and environmental issues.
PSUs were set up by the state to ensure suitable distribution of resources (wealth, food
etc.) to the needy. However the public sector as effectively only to certain limited extent.
This led to shift of expectation from the public to the private sector and their active
involvement in the socio-economic development of the country became absolutely
necessary. In 1965 Indian academicians, politicians and businessmen set up a national
workshop on CSR aimed at reconciliation. They emphasized upon transparency, social
accountability and regular stakeholder dialogues. In spite of such attempts the CSR failed
to catch steam (Garg, 2014;Das,n.d.).

The Fourth Phase (1980-2000)

In the fourth phase (1980 until the present) Indian companies started abandoning their
traditional engagement with CSR and integrated it into a sustainable business strategy. In
1990s the first initiation towards globalization and economic liberalization were
undertaken. Controls and licensing system were partly done away with which gave a
boost to the economy the signs of which are very evident today. Increased growth
momentum of the economy helped Indian companies grow rapidly and this made them
more willing and able to contribute towards social cause. Globalization has transformed
India into an important destination in terms of production and manufacturing bases of
TNCs, MNCs are concerned. As Western markets are becoming more and more
concerned about and labor and environment standards in the developing countries, Indian
companies who export and produce good for the developed world need to pay a close
attention to compliance with the international standards(Garg, 2014).

The last decade of the twentieth century witnessed a swing away from charity and
traditional philanthropy towards more direct engagement of business in mainstream
development and concern for disadvantaged groups in the society. This has been driven
both internally by corporate will and externally by increased governmental and public
expectations (Mohan, 2001). This was evident from a sample survey conducted in 1984
reporting that of the amount companies spent on social development, the largest sum 47
percent was spent through company programs, 39 percent was given to outside

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organizations as aid and 14 percent was spent through company trusts (Working
Document of EU India CSR, 2001). In India as in the rest of the world, there is a
growing realization that business cannot succeed in a society which fails. An ideal CSR
has both ethical and philosophical dimensions, particularly in India where there exists a
wide gap between sections of people in terms of income and standards as well as socio-
economic status (Bajpai, 2001).

According to Infosys founder, Narayan Murthy, ‘social responsibility is to create

maximumshareholders value working under the circumstances, where it is fair to all its
stakeholders,workers, consumers, the community, government and the environment’.
Commission of theEuropean Communities 2001 stated that being socially responsible
means not only fulfillinglegal expectations, but also going beyond compliance and
investing ‘more’ into human capital, the environment and the relation with
stakeholders(Bajpai, 2001). Over the time four differentmodels have emerged all of
which can be found in India regarding corporate responsibility(Kumar et al., 2001).CSR
needs to be understood within this context captured in the development oriented(Gautam,
and Singh, 2010).

Models of CSR

Table-4.1: The four models of Corporate Responsibility

Model Focus Champion

Ethical Voluntary Commitment by Companies M.K Gandhi

Statist State ownership and legal requirements Jawaharlal Nehru

determine corporate responsibilities

Liberal Corporate responsibilities limited to Milton Friedman

private owners (shareholders)

Stakeholder Companies respond to the needs of R. Edward Freeman

stakeholders-customers, communities etc.

Source: (Arora&Puranik 2004; Gautam, and Singh, 2010).

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 Ethical Model (1930s –1950s): The pressure on Indian industrialists to demonstrate
their commitment to social development increased during the independence
movement, when Mahatma Gandhi developed the notion of ‘trusteeship’, whereby
the owners of property would voluntarily manage their wealth on behalf of the
people. Gandhi’s influence prompted various Indian companies to play active roles in
nation building and promoting socioeconomic development during the twentieth
century (Sharma, S. 2011). The idea prompted many family run businesses to
contribute towards socioeconomic development. The efforts of Tata group directed
towards the wellbeing of the society are worth mentioning in this model (Sharma, S.
2011).

 Statist Model (1950s –1970s): Under the aegis of Jawaharlal Lal Nehru, this model
came into being in the post-independence era. The era was driven by a mixed and
socialist kind of economy with a large public and state owned company (Borgohain,
2013). The important feature of this model was that the state ownership and legal
requirements decided the corporate responsibilities (Prabhakar and Mishra, 2013;
Makhija, 2010).

 Liberal Model (1970s –1990s): The model was encapsulated by Noble Laureate
Economist, Milton Friedman in 1958. As per this model, Corporate Responsibility is
confined to its economic bottom line (Borgohain, 2013). At that time there was a
worldwide trend towards privatization and deregulations which shaped the third
model of CSR: The model as expounded by Friedman states that the sole
responsibility of business lies towards its private owners (Prabhakar and Mishra,
2013).

 Stakeholder Model (1990s to Present): This model was propounded by Freeman.

He stated that the rise of globalization has brought in the advent of social obligations
of business along with its economic rights. With growing awareness of the citizens
and their rights and campaign against the irresponsible corporate behavior, consumer
action and shareholder pressure, gave rise to stakeholder model of corporate
responsibility. This has transcended the corporate world as CSR.Thus for decades
after that the business houses like TATAs; Birla s has made CSR as the very part of
their strategic business plan. These companies are heart and soul committed to social
welfare and is involved in social development activities and initiatives in and around

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 their industrial premises. Such commitment are shown by other corporate like
Mahindra and Mahindra, ITC, Dabur, Godrej, Bajaj, Reliance, Ranbaxy, Arvind
Mills, Infosys, WIPRO, HUL,etc to name a few. Many PSUs also joined the league
for doing social good. Worth mentioning are IOCL, BPCL, NTPC, ONGC,etc
(Prabhakar and Mishra, 2013;Gautam and Singh, 2010).

 The Fifth Phase (2000-2010)

Some of the Landmark Contributionsof the Historical Development of CSR in India

that led to the formulation of CSR Actare as follows:

CSR Initiatives:

 Industry Association Initiative: Leading Chambers of Commerce and Industry

of India are traditionally active in social and environmental norms. Federation of
Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), CII works closely in
partnership with Government. CII in partnership with UNDP set up India
Partnership Forum to promote multi stakeholders approach to CSR. Social
Development Council (SDC) set up by CII, ensures corporate participation in
social development and provides an institutional base for social activities of the
corporate sector. Progress, Harmony and Development chambers of commerce
and Industry (PHDCCI) has major interventions in family welfare and rural
development. Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India
(ASSOCHAM) through their members provided drinking water in 110 villages by
1996 on occasion of its platinum Jubilee. Bombay Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (BCCI) have been consistently on issues of populations and civic
conditions in Mumbai(Gautamand Singh2010).

 Company Initiatives: An internet-based survey was conducted to understand the

philosophy & deployment of CSR as practiced (innovatively and in a sustained
manner) for National and International organizations(Gautamand Singh,
2010;Makhija, 2010).

 Roundtables and Networks in India: Corporate Roundtable on Development of

Strategies for the Environment and Sustainable Development - Business Council
for Sustainable Development (CoRE-BCSD) of India is a grouping of Indian

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corporate trying collectively and individually to build in sustainable development
concepts into their operations. The British Council’s CSR Network: Towards
promoting CSR and generating awareness and interest amongst young future
business leaders(Gautamand Singh; 2010;Makhija, 2010).

CSR Based Surveys—In the context of India, CSR studies were few and limited.
Singh and Ahuja 1983 conducted the first study in India on CSR of 40 Indian
public sector companies for the years 1975-76 and found that 40 percent of the
companies disclosed more than 30 percent of total disclosure items included in
their survey
(http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/35689/14/14_chapter%205.pdf)

Raman (2006)used content analysis technique to examine the chairman’s message

section in the annual reports of the top 50 companies in India to identify the extent
and nature of social reporting. This study concluded that the Indian companies
placed emphasis on product improvements and development of human resources
(Raman, 2006).

According to a survey done by Partners in Change 2000, which covered 600

companies and 20 CEOs for judging Corporate Involvement in Social
Development in India 85 percent agreed that companies need to be socially
responsible; only 11 percent companies had a written policy; over 60 percent of
the companies were making monetary donations; health, education and
infrastructure were most supported issues(Gautam and Singh, 2010).From 2000
onwards, 4 important surveys have been conducted, which give significant
macrolevel conclusions about Indian
corporate:(http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/35689/14/14_chapter
%205.pdf) In the past few years, some surveys have been conducted in India by
different organizations to understand the perception of CSR among companies and
their different stakeholders, and to define the drivers and barriers of CSR in India.
Some of the prominent surveys include ‘Corporate Involvement in Social
Development in India’ in the year 1996-1997 by Partners in Change (PiC), Altered
Images: the 2001 State of Corporate Responsibility in India Poll by “Tata Energy
Research Institute (TERI),(Borgohain,2013).Corporate Social Responsibility:
Perceptions of Indian Business’’ by Centre for Social Markets (CSM), and

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 Corporate Social Responsibility Survey, 2002 – India‟ presented jointly by the
British Council, UNDP, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Price
Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) (Arora and Puranik,2004). In another survey
conducted by Partners in Change (2004) from a sample of 536 companies across
India reveal that philanthropy is the most significant driver (64 per cent) of CSR,
followed by image building (42 per cent), employee morale (30 per cent) and
ethics (30 per cent) respectively(Arora and Puranik,2004). The 2004 survey
findings present a marked increase in the number of companies developing and
adopting CSR policy as against the earlier findings in 1999 and 2000. At the same
time, the survey also shows that the initiatorof a policy across types of companies
is largely the CEO, except in the case of public sector undertakings where the
government policies determine the need to develop a CSR policy (Ghosh, 2003).

 The first and second surveys were carried out in 2001 and 2002 by Business
Community Foundation for TERI-Europe. The survey sought to explore the
perception of workers, company executives and general public about social,
economic and environmental responsibilities. It was found that all companies
irrespective of size or sector have awareness of CSR and its potential benefits.
Many companies were collaborating with NGOs, have labor and environmental
policy guidelines in place (Ahmed, 2013).

 A third survey was jointly conducted in 2002 by CII, United Nations

Development Program (UNDP), British Council (BC) and Price Water
Coopers (PWC).The most striking features of the responses to the survey is that
the respondents are in near unanimity that CSR is very much a part of the
domain of corporate action and the passive philanthropy is no longer sufficient.
A significant proportion of respondents, recognize CSR as the mean to enhance
long-term stakeholder value (Ahmed, 2013).

 The fourth survey, the Karmayog CSR Rating 2007-08 is for the largest 500
companies in India. Karmayog research (fourth survey) was kept as base and
further research was extended to find out the current scenario of CSR activities
in India. For this, firstly the social aspects by organizations like OHSAS, GRI,
and ISO etc were streamlined for compilation and better understanding (Gautam
and Singh, 2010).Then, a list of 500 companies taken by Karmayog from Dun

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 and Bradstreet’s 2006 edition of ‘India’s Top 500 companies’ was made.
Karmayog rated these companies on a ‘0-5’ scale based (5 being the highest) on
information from the company’s website and latest annual report. Out of 500
companies, 229 companies got a ‘0’ rating and thus were filtered out for not
showing any CSR activity or producing cigarettes/tobacco products and liquor.
For the rest 271 companies annual reports/CSR reports were downloaded and its
content analysis was done (Gautam and
Singh,2010;Borgohain,2013;http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/35689
/14/14_chapter%205.pdf).

 It was found that around 26 companies are reporting on environment in the name
of CSR. These were dropped out from the list, so a final list of 245 companies
was obtained on which the further work was performed like downloading CSR
related reports from the websites and studying the same, etc. The assessment of
245 companies was done by mapping their reported aspects against the 18 GRI
social aspects which are globally accepted and most widely used. The GRI
social aspects were clubbed as Society Performance Indicators, Human Rights
Performance Indicators, Labor Practice and decent work Indicators, and Product
Responsibility indicators(Borgohain, 2013). The assessment was based on four
criteria: the social indicators tracked by the company, the innovativeness in CSR
on a 5 point scale, linkage of CSR initiatives to business, and focus area of CSR
in each company(Gautam and Singh,2010;Borgohain, 2013).

 Observations

It was observed that 46% companies got zero rating (no reporting), around 8%
scored 3/5 & 4/5 Karmayog rating. Around 49% companies out of 500 largest
Indian companies were reporting on CSR. Most of the companies report on
donations, renovating schools in villages, mid day meals etc. It is expected from a
company to at least spend a minimum of 0.2% of income on CSR activities
annually. But in most reports there is no mention of the amount spent in any of
their balance sheets or annual reports(Gautam and Singh, 2010) .Well defined
expenditure on CSR has been shown by very few companies. Companies reach
for CSR activities was also unsatisfactory in the sense only 25% companies CSR
activities were for employees & rest were focusing on vicinity & society at

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 large(Gautam and Singh, 2010). Many companies are only making token gestures
towards CSR in tangential ways such as donations to charitable trusts or NGOs,
sponsorship of events, etc. believing that charity and philanthropy equals to CSR.
Most companies use CSR as a marketing tool to further spread the word about
their business, for instance, donation of a token amount to some cause on
purchase of a particular product. The fact that companies are hiring advertising
agencies for their CSR further highlights this. Companies hesitate to state the
processes followed by them, the damage caused by these processes, and the steps
taken to minimize this damage(Gautam and Singh, 2010).

Very few companies have a clearly defined CSR philosophy. Most implement their
CSR in an adhoc manner, unconnected with their business process. Most
companies spread their CSR funds thinly across many activities, thus somewhere
losing the purpose of undertaking that activity(Gautam and Singh, 2010). Special
CSR initiatives were taken by some companies like structured CSR etc. Generally
speaking, most companies seem either unaware or don’t monitor their company’s
CSR. However, all companies can be considered to be an upward learning curve
with respect to CSR.The overall approach still seems to be driven by philanthropy
rather than integrating it with business as has been happening in the west(Gautam
and Singh, 2010).

The results suggest that CSR is often guided by the commitment of the top
management. With compliance and enforcement slack, employee’s care is just
employers’ benevolence, environment care and total quality management are
driven by market forces and legislation, CSR is considered as an additional activity
of Human relation and public relation department
(http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/35689/14/14_chapter%205.pdf).
Another important landmark development of evolution of CSR in India is the
formulation and enactment of CSR Act(Gautam and Singh, 2010).

Sixth Phase (2010-2020)

 Salient Features of Company’s Act 2013

The Companies Act, 2013 (‘2013 Act’), enacted on 29 August 2013 on accord of
Hon’ble President’s assent, has the potential to be a historic milestone, as it aims to

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 improve corporate governance, simplify regulations, enhance the interests of
minority investors and for the first time legislates the role of whistle-blowers. The
new law will replace the nearly 60-year-old Companies Act, 1956 (‘1956
Act’)(http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/35689/14/14_chapter%205
.pdf). In India, the subject of CSR is governed by section 135 of the Companies
Act, 2013 according to which every company.

 Provisions of the Act

The provisions of the CSR Act apply to all companies that have any one of the
following in any financial year ■ Net worth of INR 500 crores or more ■ Turnover
of INR 1,000 crores or more ■ Net profit of INR 5 crores or more.

 An average of the previous three financial years’ PAT will be considered for
calculating the 2% for CSR.

 CSR policy of a company should ensure that surplus arising out of a CSR activity
will not become part of business profits.

 CSR policy should specify that the CSR corpus will include the following: a) 2%
of average net profit; b) any income arising thereof; c) Surplus arising out of CSR
activities.

 Companies may collaborate or pool resources with other companies to undertake

CSR activities and any expenditure incurred on such collaborative efforts will
qualify for computing CSR spending.

 All companies falling under the provision of Section 135 (1) of the Act should
report, in the prescribed format, the details of their CSR initiatives in the director’s
report and on the company’s website(Hussain., 2015).

 In case a company has failed to spend 2% of the average net profit, the reason for
doing so should be mentioned in the annual board
report.(www.slideshare.net/ConfederationofIndianIndustry/handbook-on-csr-in-
india; http://docplayer.net/24785570-Evolution-of-csr-in-india-jana-
foundation.html).

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  CSR Committee

All such companies doing business in India in any form are also required to
constitute a CSR committee consisting of at least three directors, one of whom
must be independent except unlisted company or private company for which
appointment of independent director is not required under the new Companies Act,
2013. Such Flexibility in form of constructive development is welcomed as
removal of hindrance in the way of effective implementation of law (Hussain,
2015). In case of a foreign company CSR committee consists of at least two
persons, one of whom will be nominated by the foreign company and the other
must be the person resident in India (Hussain, 2015). The CSR committee is
required to formulate CSR policy as well as recommend the expenditure to be
incurred on CSR projects to the board of directors in accordance to the
specifications made under the Act and at the same time monitor and implement the
CSR policy effectively from time to
time(Hussain,2015;http://docplayer.net/24785570-Evolution-of-csr-in-india-jana-
foundation.html).

 Board of Directors

It is the board which must approve and adopt the CSR policy recommended by CSR
committee after due consideration and bring the same in public domain by publishing
it in the company’s website.

It is the painful duty of the Board to ensure the successful execution of activities
mentioned in the CSR policy putting its best efforts to spend the allotted amount as
applicable(Hussain,2015).

The Board will also be responsible to include a CSR report as a part of its annual
Board report containing the details of CSR committee, CSR policy, explanations for
not complying with the requirement of the law to spend on CSR activities, and the
efforts made to implement its CSR obligations as per the prescribed format in the
CSR rules, 2014. CSR regulation under the said Act actually makes the reporting
mandatory of two per cent of the average net profit for the specified CSR activities,
not the spending (Hussain, 2015).

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 In case company fails to explain reasons for noncompliance of CSR law, the company
will be punishable by a fine not less than 50,000 rupees and may be extended up to 25
lakh rupees. Even the officer responsible for making such default on reporting CSR
provision could be sentenced up to three years in prison or fine of not less than 50,000
rupees and may be extended up to 5 lakh(Hussain, 2015).

 The Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rule, 2014

The issue of the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rule, 2014 is an
appreciated initiative byMinistry of Corporate Affairs which has clarified many unclear
points raised by several representing authority of industry about CSR and has played a
pivotal role in making amendments to schedule VII of the Companies Act 2013 but also
in making the Companies Act 2013 fully operational(Hussain, 2015). It guides the list of
CSR Projects Company intend to undertake falling within the purview of schedule VII
along with the execution model within time bound framework for the projects and
reflects the outcomes. Undoubtedly compliance with the mandate CSR law will work as
a marketing tool in favor of the company. Strict adherence to the CSR rule, 2014 will
work as a miracle for the uplifting of the economically underprivileged society and
thereby wiping out the sufferings of the humanity and mankind in India. Point worth of
mentioning is that the surplus arising out of CSR projects will not be the part of business
profit of the company instead such surplus will have to be ploughed back into CSR
activities (Hussain,2015).

 CSR Activities as per Schedule VII of the Companies Act, 2013

CSR activities aim at improving the lives of underprivileged in an environment friendly

and socially acceptable manner. Companies can build CSR capabilities of their own
personnel as well as those of their implementing agencies through institutions with a
good track record of at least of three years, provided that the expenditure for such
activities does not exceed 5% of the total CSR expenditure of the company in a single
financial year As per the Ministry of Corporate Affairs notification dated 27th February,
2014 (effective from 1st April, 2014) these activities include (Hussain, 2015).

 Eradicating hunger, poverty and malnutrition, promoting preventive health care

and sanitation and making available safe drinking water;

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  Promoting education, including special education and employment enhancing
vocational skills especially among children, women, elderly, and the differently
able and livelihood enhancement projects;

 Promoting gender equality, empowering women, setting up homes and hostels for
women and orphans; setting up old age homes, day care centers and such other
facilities for senior citizens and measures for reducing inequalities faced by
socially and economically backward groups;

 Ensuring environmental sustainability, ecological balance, protection of flora and

fauna, animal welfare, agro forestry, conservation of natural resources and
maintaining quality of soil, air and water;

 Protection of national heritage, art and culture including restoration of buildings

and sites of historical importance and works of art, setting up public libraries,
promotion and development of traditional arts and handicrafts;

 Measures for the benefit of armed forces veterans, war widows and their
dependents;

 Training to promote rural sports, nationally recognized sports, Paralympics sports

and Olympic sports;

 Contribution to the Prime Ministers' National Relief Fund or any other fund set up
by the Central Government for socio-economic development and relief and
welfare of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, other backward classes,
minorities and women;

 Contributions or funds provided to technology incubators located within academic

institution which are approved by the Central Government;

 Rural development projects (Hussain, 2015).

CSR activities (either new or ongoing) must be conducted in project or program mode
only in India.CSR activities must be based on CSR policy and schedule VII of the
Companies Act 2013.CSR activities must be preferably conducted in local region where
the company operates (Hussain,2015). CSR activities can be undertaken through a
registered trust, registered society or charitable company having a good track record of at

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least three years in undertaking similar programs or through its own foundation operating
within India. Companies can jointly undertake CSR projects in collaboration in such a
manner that each company can report separately on such project. It will positively help
companies to conduct CSR project of a large scale (Hussain, 2015). CSR rules focuses to
have a transparent monitoring and reporting mechanism for bringing positive social and
environmental changes to bridge the welfare gap in India in order to attain the
sustainable development (Hussain, 2015).

So here we see the mention of GenderEquality and Empowerment of Women through

various Livelihood Enhancement Projects as mentioned in Schedule VII of CSR Act
which relates closely to the topic of the research. So the relevance of the research with
the newly enacted Company’s Act (Hussain, 2015).

Ways to Implement CSR Obligations

 CSR activities (either new or ongoing) must be conducted in project or program

mode only in India.

 CSR activities must be based on CSR policy and schedule VII of the Companies
Act 2013

 CSR activities must be preferably conducted in local region where the company
operates.

 CSR activities can be undertaken through a registered trust, registered society or

charitable company having a good track record of at least three years in
undertaking similar programs or through its own foundation operating within
India.

 Companies can jointly undertake CSR projects in collaboration in such a manner

that each company can report separately on such project. It will positively help
companies to conduct CSR project of a large scale.

 CSR rules focuses to have a transparent monitoring and reporting mechanism for
bringing positive social and environmental changes to bridge the welfare gap in
India in order to attain the sustainable development(Hussain,2015).

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Measuring CSR:

Measuring social responsibility can be categorized as: 1. Community Projects: Those

that the company played a significant role or provided substantial support for. These
include civic and cultural programs, youth activities, student and social activities and
local earth programs. 2. Contributions: These include those made to federated drives,
education program, urban/civic affairs and cultural activities. 3. Equal employment
opportunities: These should cover disadvantaged men, women and minority groups 4.
Environmental concerns and energy conservation: This is defined as the existence of
policies or procedures directed at energy conservation. 5. Voluntarism: This measure
according to the number of hour contributed by persons loaned to or a given lease time
for public service work, this is to encourage individual involvement. 6. Social
Investment: These include those that would not otherwise have been made under the
company’s customary lending standards or those in which social consideration played in
the investment decision organizations that are focused on corporate social responsibility
would proactively promote the public interest by encouraging community growth and
development. By having and positive impact to the society, the organizations are also
making a difference to themselves. It is not only when it comes to profits but also how
the employees think and the economy (Mourougan, 2015).

C) Evolution of the Concept of Corporate Social Responsibility

in West Bengal

West Bengal is an agriculture-dependent state; it occupies only 2.7 percent of India’s

land area, though it supports over 7.8 per cent of her population, and is the most densely
populated state in the country. The state has been ruled by the Communist Party of India
(Marxist)-led Left Front for three decades, making it the world’s longest running
democratically elected communist government. The Left Front government in West
Bengal claims its uniqueness among the Indian states not only by staying in power for
the last 33 years through parliamentary democracy, but also for implementing a pro-poor
land reforms program with fair amount of success (Mukarji and Bandopadhyay, 1993).It
was followed by the reign of Trinomool Congress under the tutelage of MsMamata
Banerjee, who promised to turn West Bengal into an industrial

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state(https://www.iimcal.ac.in/international-conference-csr-globalized-world-emerging-
issues-and-challenges).

CSR trajectory in West Bengal dates back to the BrahmoSamaj days when Raja Ram
Mohan Roy initiated the concept of Charitable Investments. It was termed as an inclusive
philanthropy based on equality of human beings. The legacy was further carried by
IshwarchandVidyasagar, SriRamakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore,
MichealMadhusudanDutta,etc who all believed in charity and helping the poor and
needy. The concept of help and assistance or aide dates back long in history. This shows
that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is as old as human civilization and roots are
deep in our society (Panda &Parida, 2013).Corporate Charity was one of the earliest
activities, and as the name suggests, it was voluntary and almost always depended on the
charitable instincts of businessmen. In this context the researcher identified four
studieson CSR based in West Bengal(https://www.iimcal.ac.in/international-conference-
csr-globalized-world-emerging-issues-and-challenges).

After the institutionalization of Business Academia, CSR has come a long way from acts
of charity to strategic CSR, that is now inclusive of awareness and concerns for greater
social causes like poverty alleviation, education, and access to the bare necessities (the
problems that developing economies are consistently grappling
with)(https://www.iimcal.ac.in/international-conference-csr-globalized-world-emerging-
issues-and-challenges).However, the alignment between societal and business goals
through CSR practices is not an internalized and universalized reality. Post liberalization,
large firms did align their business objectives with societal requirements as it is very
much the need of the hour (https://www.iimcal.ac.in/international-conference-csr-
globalized-world-emerging-issues-and-challenges).

Dr. Lawrence Gomes (2015) in his research on West Bengal’s scenario of CSR
performance found out that, around 47% companies do not disclose social performance
in their annual report (Bardhan and Kumar, n.d). Banking and Financial sector institutes,
Hotels, Diversified companies, Automobile, Polymer, Petroleum are the sectors where
disclosure of corporate social performance is more or less zero. Whereas, iron and steel
industries, cement, FMCG, paper industries etc has been found better in case of
disclosure of corporate social performance (Bardhan and Kumar, n.d). Even more than
47% of the companies having head offices in West Bengal don’t contribute towards

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social activities or disclose their activities in their annual report. Again, social activities
are found to be clustered in particular areas and some important sectors are
neglected(Bardhanand Kumar, n.d).The Indian government is pushing Indian business to
adopt Corporate Social Responsibilitypractices on a larger scale. While Government of
India, till date, has not made CSR mandatory forthe corporate sector due to high
resistance from the business houses(Bardhan and Kumar, n.d). Further, CSR was
legallyrecognized in the Companies Bill, 2012 attached to Clause 135 which deals with
Corporate SocialResponsibility which later became Act in 2013.

Gomes in his two districts (South 24Parganas and Nadia) evaluative study on CSR
performance in West Bengal,throws light on the poor progress in their performances. It
was pointedout that neither CSR projects were implemented through NGOs nor directly
by the corporate sector. During the course of study, it was identified that there were some
medium and large scale industries situated in the rural belts of both the districts, but they
had not undertaken any CSR works for the upliftment of rural poor(Gomes, 2015). Thus,
the corporate sector wherever it is located has to play their important rolewithin the
industries and outside the industries to ensure balanced development of our economy
andto evolve proper business ethics. The development of rural sector is not only confined
to government agencies but there are many agencies like non-governmental
organizations, academic institutions, self-help groups, mahillamandals, youth clubs etc
are playing their crucial role for the development of rural sector(Gomes, 2015). It was
observed that some academic institutions like Jadavpur University, RabindraBharati
University and Indian Institute of Management Calcutta are working with the NGOs to
propagate development of the rural areas. The corporate sector must change their mind
set and extend their support with NGOs and academic institutions already working in the
area of rural development but by bypassing them would not yield deserving results
related to CSR(Gomes, 2015).

According to the findings of a third research as conducted by AbhijitGuha, in 2011 based

on Kharagpur,“Challenges to Corporate Social Responsibility: A Case Study from
Kharagpur, West Bengal” states that Corporate Social Responsibility implies a proactive
role by the political parties, civil society organizations and academic institutions towards
reforming the legal and administrative procedures of land acquisition in a democratic
country (Guha, 2011). Under this framework, a case of land acquisition in the state of
West Bengal in an ethnographic manner by using a number of data sources ranging from

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the field to archives is highlighted.The study followed an extended case approach in
which highlights the rounded description of the process of acquiring land and its legal
and administrative shortcomings. The study revealed the hurdles in the way of corporate
social responsibility implementation. Land acquisition by private industries, worsen
things had happened at Kharagpur during the early 1990s, a few years before the
declaration of the New Industrial Policy (NEP) by the Left Front government in 1994.
Kolkata-based scientists and intellectuals did not protest against the dispossession of
lands of thousands of small and marginal farmers and bargadars (sharecroppers)
(including tribal people) for the pig-iron companies of the Tatas and the Birlas at
Kharagpur(Guha, 2011). The opposition parties, too, were silent. Reports on the adverse
consequences of land acquisition published in the media, particularly daily The
Statesman, evoked little response from the intellectuals. No question was asked about the
rehabilitation of the displaced peasants by any member of the Assembly (West Bengal
Legislative Assembly [WBLA] m 1992). An unpublished report of the Medinipur land
acquisition department dated 27 March 1992 revealed that the lack of irrigation facilities
and the mono-crop nature of the acquired land led to the calculation of its market price at
such a low rate(Guha, 2011). The department did not also explore the possibilities of
rehabilitation of the affected families in terms of providing permanent jobs and/or land as
compensation. The administration seemed to be concerned only with monetary
compensation at the market price prevalent in the area(Guha, 2011). Corporate social
responsibility is not simply a package of environment friendly measures and
rehabilitative options which a government may request from the industrialists under
rising people’s resistance and protest. Under these circumstances the role of CSR did not
function to mitigate the predicament facing the people of the land.Corporate social
responsibility should also encompass basic legal and policy changes that must be
undertaken jointly by all the stakeholders in the game of development(Guha, 2011).

Prof. TrilokNathShukla and SurabhieGuleria in 2014 conducted“A Case Study on

Awareness about Corporate Social Responsibility among Common Masses in West
Bengal” (Shukla and Guleria, 2014). The main objective of the study was to find out the
level of awareness among common people about Corporate Social Responsibility, to
discover the general perception of CSR among common people of West Bengal. The
major findings of the study revealed that the common masses are not aware about the
term Corporate Social Responsibility, but they are aware about the various social

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services conducted by various Indian companies. Thus the public is aware about the
essence but is not accustomed to the term CSR.They mostly think that CSR amounts to
occasional monetary donation by corporate houses. Some believe that if corporate causes
harm to the environment around, they take up CSR projects for implementation. The
awareness among the graduates about CSR is very apt, as they are currently studying the
subject or are in touch with studies are aware of what is CSR; this also indicates that the
educational system of the country is well aware of its responsibility to create responsible
citizens. Most of them have heard about TATA, Birla doing social services. The
textbooks containing the subject are an indicative to the fact that awareness creation
drives are at its work. This is not enough; the older generation should be made aware of
these drives. People are not aware about their role. They are not capable to imagine
themselves as an integral part of the drive which any company might just be carrying
out. They have to be made aware of the fact that they should be acting as the guiding
force and be a moral police to the various organizations who take up CSR just for the
sake of it(Shukla and Guleria, 2014).

CSR situation in West Bengal is still in infancy and has to tread a long challenging path
in future days to come amidst the tight political, economic and socio cultural scenario of
Bengal.

D) Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility and Women’s

Economic Empowerment, Best Practices in India and West
Bengal

Today, Corporate Social Responsibility has a broader, more profound meaning in society
than ever before. It encompasses far more than philanthropy, abiding by ethical and legal
guidelines, or maintaining its bottom line for stakeholders. It involves focusing more
attention and resources on employee development, training and empowering individuals
in a way that allows them to achieve optimum productivity. Business leaders are
beginning to recognize that it is not solely a philanthropic enterprise; instead they have
discovered that it is an integral part of developing an organization’s culture, promoting
sound economic practices and insuring accountability with respect to everyone within the
organization (Fontinelle, 2005).Moreover, although there is a movement in the direction
of placing women in roles of greater authority, there continue to be challenges and in

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some cases outright barriers to women reaching their potential in today’s corporate
settings.

Women have been and will be an integral part of the Indian workforce. According to
Census 2011, the total number of women workers in India is 149.8 million and
interestingly, females working in rural areas amount to 122 million. 35.9 million female
workers are working as cultivators and another 61.5 million female workers are
agricultural laborers. As per Census 2011, the work participation rate for women in rural
areas is 30.02 percent as compared to 15.44 percent in the urban areas. The data shows
enormous potential of rural women, who can be given outright help and they can thereby
contribute to the development of self as well as the country. This research attempts to
find the key CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiatives directed at rural and
semiurban women so as to understand the role corporate industry is playing in
empowering women. It also attempts to explore the major challenges faced by the
corporate industry in the area of women empowerment in rural areas and lastly suggest
certain measures for the corporate industry(Sailaja and Murali, 2012).

CSR initiatives can address issues at the ground level and one such area at the base level is
empowering women. Companies are initiating numerous CSR activities focused to
encourage women empowerment (Swarnalatha and Anuradha, 2017). Most of these women
enterprises remain in the informal sector because they lack the ability to grow beyond the
neighborhood and comply with the demands of the complex business environment in the
formal sector. They may need more than the finance to succeed (Sailaja and Murali,
2012).

Titan Industries has through a partnership with the NGO MYRADA worked to address
issues related to women’s empowerment in India in a sustainable enterprise and employment
for women project. The partnership has resulted in the formation of a company, which is part
of Titan’s supply chain that employs 200 women, has 3 women directors and shares profit
among its employees (Moon, 2004).Similarly(Crowther and Jatana, 2007) argued that CSR
has had and will continue to have a role to play in the empowerment of women in India and
discusses about several corporations’ efforts in this regard. These initiatives include projects
addressing issues such as self-employment, training programs related to banking,
bookkeeping and kitchen garden establishments, vocational training, literacy enhancement,
health training and camps and the provision of potable drinking water.

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However, the authors highlighted the facts that few corporations only commit to CSR, that
corporate governance systems and procedures are weak and that there is an absence of
methods and tools to evaluate CSR projects. Furthermore, what is needed in the area of
women’s empowerment in India in order to enhance gender equality at the local government
level is an increased awareness among women concerning their fundamental rights, which
seldom is addressed through CSR. So knowledge generation by CSR team about the works
and activities undertaken by corporate bodies is a priority before expecting any positive
changes in the mindset of people.They will then pay heed and takeCSR activities seriously.
This would ensure serious empowerment of women to ensue in the long run(Crowther and
Jatana, 2007).

CSR and Women Empowerment, Best Practices by Several Corporate

in India

Here the researcher has highlighted some of the best practices of CSR of some prominent
companies in India in the domain of women empowerment that encouraged her to choose
the topic for her research study.

 Tata Steel: A tool of empowering women by creating job opportunities self-help

groups are formed, strengthened and initiated into thrift and credit. Bank linkages are
provided and exposures to Income Generation Programs are carried out to help the
members gather information on choices available. Pilot projects around a number of
non-farm based income-generating activities that require low levels of skills and low
investments but give respectable returns are tried out (Narayanan and Babu,
2014).Necessary support processes are put in place to ensure that the interventions
lead to the desired results. Business incubators help the families and the self-help
groups understand the dynamics of managing businesses while also offering the
family members a basket to choose from. The activities includes an ethnic
handicrafts unit where Saura paintings and creation of stone artifacts are attempted
at, a stitching unit where women master the art of tailoring, a food processing unit
that focused on traditional skills and practices of pickling vegetables and phenyl-
making. . The activities also includes collaboration with training institutes to provide
employable skills in the field of IT software and hardware, nursing, tailoring,
security, driving, hospitability (Narayanan and Babu, 2014).

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 Aditya Birla:To empower women to attain financial independence, the corporate has
encouraged the formation of Self Help Groups (SHGs). First the women are
motivated to form their groups and begin savings. Extensive training in different
vocations is given to hone their skills which can provide them with a steady source of
income (Narayanan and Babu, 2014). The training canvas is extensive, ranging from
traditional arts such as creating bamboo products, knitting, weaving, embroidery,
dyeing of fabrics, rangoli, candle-making, handicrafts to meeting modern day
aspirations of young girls for taking on fashion designing, computer operating,
lamination and beauty treatment through cosmetology. Goat rearing, bee-keeping,
making of ropes, mushroom cultivation, raising coconut saplings are also encouraged
among women as these yield good returns. Under the project on Rural Digitalization,
Aditya Birla, CSR are striving hard to make Rural Digital Park to facilitate women’s
training in digitalization and employing them in rural BPOs.Women are also given
computer based training and given employment in data entry work. Rural women are
trained in using internet, digital transactions, online payment and marketing. They
are made to get training onRupay cards usage. This is a great effort towards
diminishing the stark rural disparity(Narayanan and Babu, 2014).

 The Adhunik Group has undertaken many program so as to empower rural girls and
women by improving their social condition, and thereby making them economically
independent. Vocational training is given to SHGs(SHG) on soap making, envelope
making, phenyl making, domestic food products, candle, paper envelopes, stitching,
tailoring and embroidery, mushroom cultivation, pattals (plates made of leaves),
incense sticks preparation, papad preparation, fishery and vermi-compost making so
as to facilitating them to start their own enterprises for income generation(Narayanan
and Babu, 2014).

 ITC’s initiative e-Choupal Women Empowerment Program is basically aiming to

provide Sustainable Economic opportunities to poor women in rural
areas(Swarnalatha and Anuradha, 2017). ITC attempts to assists rural women to form
micro credit SHGs so that they can build up small savings and finance their self-
employment and micro enterprises. A Large number of women earn incomes as self
–employed workers or as partners in micro – enterprises. In particular incense stick
rolling projects have emerged as profitable micro enterprises as a result of the linkage

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 with ITC’s incense stick brand Mangaldeep(Swarnalatha and Anuradha,
2017).Enabling women to earn independent incomes has a positive impact on their
families and communities as it is spent largely on children’s education, health and
nutrition and nutrition and is a catalyst for gendering development (Narayanan and
Babu, 2014).

 Mahindra &Mahindra’s rural initiative named Nanhi Kali is a national girl child
sponsorship Program for the needy, underprivileged girls who are at risk of dropping
out of Government Schools. These girls receive special sponsorship so as to finance a
range of education requirements extending right up to improvement of the
government schools they go to. This program provides direct support to educate the
girl child by distributing text books, uniforms, exam fees, learning material,
etc(Narayanan and Babu, 2014). Provides indirect support by enriching the learning
environment and sensitizes parents and larger community on gender equity. Due to
this program the enrolment of girls in government schools in the target communities
have gone up (Narayanan and Babu, 2014).

 Forbes Marshall: The Corporate is involved in forming Self Help Groups (SHG)
and credit Co-operative Society for Women. Apart from meeting the financial needs
of women through these initiates, these have also resulted in eliminating child
marriages, which were prevalent earlier among the target Villages (Narayanan and
Babu, 2014).The number of girls studying for graduation and post-graduation courses
has found to be increased. Women who were home bound have now started coming
together out of their homes for meetings, going to banks and even approaching
Government officials for their civil rights. Their negotiation skills have developed.
Awareness in terms of health, hygiene and legal rights has increased and the quality
of life has been positively impacted. Through this platform, many awareness and
skill building program for women are conducted. Some women are now looking
beyond their needs and have started helping people in their community (Narayanan
and Babu, 2014).

 TVS SST--TVS SST believes that Empowerment can only be achieved when people
have the means to earn and support themselves. Towards this end SST is involved in
formation of Self Help Groups and giving them skills training in managing small
scale cottage industries. Women SHG members supported by SST are successfully

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 running various business ventures which have given empowerment at personal,
economic and political levels (Narayanan and Babu, 2014).Women now play an
active role in community affairs in SST villages. Many are elected members of the
Panchayat and Village Development Council (VDC). Literacy and increased
awareness have changed traditional attitudes making women early adopters of new
practices and program to improve their lives.TVS SST used to support women SHG
activities on IGPs like Tailoring Shops, Snack and tea stalls, Restaurants, Grocery
Shops, Dairy Farming, Bee Keeping and Honey Production, Poultry Farming,
Operation of rice and Wheat Mills, Production of Cattle feed and Compost,
Manufacturing Candles, Soaps, handicrafts, baskets and furniture (Narayanan and
Babu, 2014).

 Jindal Group, women empowerment initiatives have been undertaken across the
areas of literacy as well as providing training to enhance livelihood generation
opportunities amongst women. They provide women with the primary help in
starting with the production facility. This in turn helps them in supplementing their
family incomes. Jindal Group is also involved in various awareness programs on
issues of gender parity, sexual harassment, and domestic violence and also in various
skill development programs to help in upgrading traditional and new skills
(Ramchandani,n.d).The BPO facilities set up by the Jindal Steel Work (JSW)
foundation at JSW’s far-flung areas to provide an alternate livelihood to the
neighboring population is noteworthy (Jha, 2013).

 Sterlite Technologies—Sterlite Technology aims at economic empowerment

through skill training program. Underprivileged women consisted of widows, drop
outs; divorcees etc from BPL section are selected from the neighboring areas for the
training. Sterlite provides various vocational training programs like nursing training,
tailoring training etc thus creating sustainable livelihood. In this endeavor Sterlite has
collaborated with Swa-RoopWardhinee, a Registered Charitable Trust in Pune.The
sole aim is to make at least one member of the family economically empowered so as
to make the family self sufficient (https://www.sterlitetech.com/pdf/business/women-
empowerment-nursing-aid.pdf).

 Oxigen, India's Largest Payments Solutions Provider is shouldering the

responsibility of empowerment of women by equipping them with skills and

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 providing livelihood for a secure future by the following training programs such as
stitching and tailoring centers, computer classes for girls, and the beauty course. With
the help of these skills, the rural women are trained to start their own businesses. Till
now Oxigen has set up 17 educational institute in Villages like Rajnota,
Buteri&Behror in Rajasthan, Guna in Madhya Pradesh, Trichy in Tamil Nadu,
Pehowa in Kuruksehtra, Dhankaur&Raibareli in U.P, Melpuram&Killiyoor in
Kanyakumari (Ramchandani, n.d).

 CHEMINOVA India initiative, SAHELI - Farm Women Empowerment programis

an initiative towards educating the rural women on safety, health and livelihood.
SAHELI aims at spreading the message of safety and educating them in the areas of
personal health, cleanliness, hygiene in the environment they live, animal husbandry,
child nutrition, saving for the future, etc to provide them a comprehensive knowledge
which would empower them(Ramchandani,n.d).

 SAIL: SAIL has initiated MahilaSamaj Performance of community welfare

programmes whichincludes manufacture of products and services for SAIL
employees. The MahilaSamiti in SAILplants has 4000 members and 15 affiliated to
national level organization for community development (Sarkar and Singh, 2013;
Swarnalatha and Anuradha, 2017).

 Canara Bank, as part of its Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives has
sponsored a Retail Mobile Marketing Van for Display cum Sale of House hold
products, articles made by Self - Help Groups, Small women entrepreneurs, Artisans,
Self Employed women etc. This van is custom built high tech, solar powered,
equipped with computerized billing, swiping machine for credit/debit card
acceptance. This marketing van will be stationed in important locations of Bangalore
to enable the citizens of the city to see and purchase the products manufactured by
artisans and other underprivileged women entrepreneurs. This Mobile Van thus
provides a platform for publicity of products in the entire city instead of being
restricted to one area/locality. This is a hand holding effort by Canara Bank in
support of small women entrepreneurs, SHGs, Artisans etc to get them access to
market channels for their quality products. It is a unique effort in helping the
disadvantaged groups in marketing their products (Ramchandanin.d).

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 IBM With TRESTLE Foundation Group- Empowering Women Entrepreneurs
Partnership Program--Its aim is to empower women entrepreneurs in
developing/emerging countries in collaboration with IBM professionals. IBM wanted
to find challenging opportunities for women professionals to support their own skills
development including entrepreneurship and to address their problems. It is very
challenging for women entrepreneurs in emerging countries to secure the support
they need to develop the strategies; practices and networks to fulfill the potential of
their businesses.IBM launched a Partnership Training Program for Women
Entrepreneurship development. The program is based on a one-to-one relationship
approach which connects women and provides coaching, mentoring, support and role
models for the entrepreneurs. The model provides a unique blend of coaching and
additional support methods of Training (Ramchandani, n.d).

 The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Initiative, (http://www.icrw.org) a program

launched in the year 2008. It is a novel initiative to cater to the needs of
underprivileged women entrepreneurs, in developing countries. It shows a way to
quality business (Shailaja& Krishna, 2012). Further management training certificate
programs offered by global business school are sponsored by the Goldman Sachs to
the budding Women Entrepreneurs. A mentor is made available to the needy business
women. In the corporate world it has set itself as role model to many corporate
companies in pursuit of CSR(Shailaja& Krishna, 2012).Its outreach mainly focuses
on deprived; women with low education levels (Shailaja& Krishna, 2012). The
program addresses the need which has been traced by the International Labor
Organization (ILO) i.e., to promote entrepreneurship and business opportunities with
high growth potential among skilled and educated women so as to enable them to
thrive towards success from the beginning (Shailaja& Krishna, 2012). In
collaboration with Business schools the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Initiative
programs will improve the quality of education for women workers, managers and
entrepreneurs by using the expertise of B-Schools (Shailaja& Krishna, 2012).

 Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) -- HUL started Project Shakti in 2001 with the
aim of increasing the company’s rural distribution reach simultaneously providing
rural women with income-generating opportunities (Krishnan, 2012). This research
study examines this marketing initiative as a case where corporate societal objectives

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 are helping achieve business goals. HUL’s growth strategy was to ask SHGs to
operate as ‘rural direct-to-home’ teams of saleswomen, who would accomplish
several tasks by raising awareness and educating people about HUL products as well
as selling them directly, directly within their communities(Krishnan ,2012). The idea
was for the women to not only act as salespeople but also as brand promoters, often
demonstrating products, such as shampoo, by offering hair washes at religious
festivals, the local village market, or performing hand washing experiments to
compare washing with soap to simply washing with water (Krishnan,2012). Apart
from selling, the women would work on changing people’s mindsets. For example,
convincing them that a simple wash with water did not guarantee hygiene, or that
shampoo could be used as a grooming product for the hair instead of just using soap
to clean it (Krishnan, 2012). These rural consumers did not have access to television
or radio but the SHG Star Sellers, by demonstrating and promoting HUL products at
the haat, made up for this lack of audio-visual brand advertising(Krishnan,2012).

 ESSAR Industries-A large part of the Foundation's activities are focused on the
development of the villages of India. And much of the work undertaken by the
Foundation is spread across the four states in eastern India where ESSAR has an
active presence. Rural India offers limited employment opportunities and extremely
low earnings, particularly for rural women who are typically uneducated. The
Foundation provides them the necessary skills training, which helps them not only
establish SHGs but manage and build on them to increase their earning potential. It
also links enterprising women with microfinance institutions, thus giving women
entrepreneur’s crucial financial support that might not be otherwise available to them
(Waldron, 2016).

 Hindalco—It undertook intense training activities through the Aditya Birla Rural
Technology Park (Muirpur, Uttar Pradesh, India) which had conducted over
70training programs. These included diesel / hand pump repair, electrical
repair/maintenance, bee-keeping, tailoring, knitting and agriculture-relatedprograms.
All training was carried out with the objective of encouraging self-
employmentactivities. The Yashogami Skills Training Centre at Radhanagari,
inMaharashtra trained women in skills such as rexine handicraft, fashion design,

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 tailoring, food processing, pottery, lamination, electronics assembly,
zardozi,jewellery design, papiermache, and fabric design (Abraham, 2013).

 Kellogg Company,A global food producer, has partnered with CARE, a non-
governmental humanitarian and development organization, to empower women
smallholder farmers from poor and marginalized communities who rely on
increasingly variable rainfall in the Indian State of Odisha. The program includes
training to women smallholder farmers, who have faced two consecutive years of
erratic rainfall, in sustainable agricultural practices to enhance their capacities to
adapt to and cope with climate change. The program also works to enhance women’s
participation in the maize value chain and increase their social standing, incomes and
savings. Women’s collectives are formed to build their social capital and visibility,
and to improve their access to agricultural inputs, services and schematic benefits.
Theinitiative also attempts to increase women’s productive and equitable engagement
with men within households and in the community, and works to strengthen women
smallholder farmers’ linkages with market actors, thus helping to improve equity in
societal relationship.Strong gendered analysis, which is inclusive of the various
components of the maize value chain, guide the design and implementation of the
initiative. Outcomes and impact will be measured through a customized Women
Empowerment Index in the Maize Value Chain which will track five domains of
empowerment, i.e., production, resources, income, autonomy/time and leadership.
Further, a Coping Strategy Index will be used to assess improvements in coping
mechanisms accessible to and deployed by women to pursue resilient livelihoods.
This initiative is aligned with Kellogg Company’s Global Sustainability 2020
commitments supporting sustainable agriculture and women smallholder
farmers(Grady, 2016).

 Nestle- A multinational food and beverage company has committed its efforts to
promoting and supporting the lives of women in its cocoa supply chain. In India and
Pakistan, they employ veterinarians and agronomists to supervise milk routes and
provide female dairy farmers with advice on various issues, irrespective of whether
or not they are Nestlé suppliers. There is no charge for veterinary services, while
medicines are provided at wholesale costs. The costs are adjusted against subsequent
milk payments to the farmers, making the medicines affordable. Nestle also supports

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 female farmers in expanding their operations, for example by assisting with artificial
insemination program for cattle, subsidizing the purchase of milking machines and
helping them to procure loans (Khajuria, 2015).

 Godfrey Phillips --In Jammu & Kashmir, Godfrey Phillips is enabling women who
have traditional skills in Kashmiri handicrafts to find a sustainable livelihood. This
economic empowerment program provides technical inputs and training in design,
production, financial management and sales and marketing to ensure a sufficient and
consistent income for over 1200 women in three years. Initiated in year 2013 in
collaboration with HELP Foundation, the program today has helped the nonprofit
partner build a sustainable brand Shehjar and many products created by the women
are being marketed online, at exhibitions and fairs, in local markets for tourists, retail
outlet and as corporate gifting. One notable achievement of the program is that
groups of women have come together and launched entrepreneurial ventures like
boutiques and training centres(http://www.godfreyphillips.com/amodini).

 Larsen & Toubro-- Project started in August, 2009 to promote training and
development program that would cater to women empowerment. Tailoring and
embroidery classes are conducted for ladies of Ekta Naga Slum area. Mehendhi
classes are started from March, 2011.These classes are conducted in Ekta Nagar.
Darshan, pays for the training and also finds marketing avenues for the finished
product. Certified beautician courses and housekeeping courses are on the pipeline.
This will find new avenues for jobs. Certified tailoring classes are being conducted at
Energy centre. It will become a proper vocational training centre for various
activities (http:://sevalaya.org/news/women-empowerment-project-by-1-t-infotech-
and-sevalaya-on-international-womens-day).

Best Practices of CSR and Women Empowerment in West Bengal

 Avon-- Located in Kolkata West Bengal, Avon Cosmetics’ commitment to women

runs deeper than the boundaries of business. Women are the heart of Avon's success
and Avon continues to support and understand their needs through Avon's Breast
Cancer Crusade. The goal of the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade is to
improve access to quality breast health care for underserved, uninsured and low
income populations, and to support biomedical research focused on prevention and

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 improved methods of Diagnosis and treatment to Cure and prevent breast cancer.
There is a need of such valuable Corporate Social Responsibility campaigns from
prominent companies which can surely change fate and face of women in Indian
society in the significant areas of education, health, sports, cultural, political,
employment and neglected as well as untouched areas of women empowerment
which will boost them to live independent and dignified life which they deserve as
they are vital and inseparable part of society. Development of corporate and society
is unattainable without an active support of women. The government, media, NGOs
should collectively join hands with corporate in common interest of upliftment of
women(Swarnalatha and Anuradha, 2017;Rao, 2011)

 Andre Yule—This PSU has been very active in facilitating empowerment programs
through various vocational training programs. They run these women empowerment
programs through various projects, like Advance Women Empowerment program at
Rajarhat,Bishnupur,Courses like Jute Diversified Products, manufacture of Jute
based Jewellery, Fancy items and Bags, Jute Handicrafts, Jute Wall Hangings in
Kolkata, Art of Tie & Die and Batik Printing, Silk Screen Printing, Women
Empowerment Project for Vocational Training on Tailoring with Sewing Machines
and accessories, Women Empowerment Project for Free Sanitary Napkin
Dispensation, etc(http://www.andrewyule.com/csr.php).

 Tata Chemicals Ltd-- Tata Chemicals is committed to upholding the highest

standards of corporate social responsibility. The company endorses the Tata Group
Purpose of improving the quality of life of the communities we serve through long
term stakeholder value creation. They believe in positively impacting the
environment and supporting the communities we operate in, focusing on
sustainability of our programs and empowerment of our communities. The company
executes a number of projects on women empowerment in West
Bengal(http://www.tatachemicals.com/Sustainability/downloads/csrpolicy.pdf).

 V-Guard--Recognizing the pivotal role women play in the development and

progress of society, we at V-Guard have identified women's empowerment as a focus
area. The Women's program in CSR aims to enable women to manage their
monetary, physical and intellectual needs, by giving them a mutually beneficial
income generating option to women. For procurement of stabilizers, V-Guard is

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 working closely with women who have grouped themselves to form SHG's (Self
Help Groups). The important criterion being, to provide a stable income for their
households and in turn emancipation from poverty. The said efforts have met with
resounding success over the decades. V-Guard’s CSR initiative to empower women
of West Bengal is highly commendable (https://www.vguard.in/CSR/women-
empowerment).

Though women in today’s modern society has been able to climb the ladder for equal
status yet many regions do not approve equality for women(Swarnalatha and
Anuradha, 2017). Women in the Indian society still looks towards the society to grant
them power or empower them in various ways(Jadhav and Koli, 2010).Women
empowerment talks much about empowering women in various ways (financial,
social, cultural, legal& political)(Swarnalatha and Anuradha, 2017). Many
organizations are now focusing on Corporate Social Responsibility by ensuring
financial and social inclusiveness for women. Organizations now are required to play
a vital role in boosting economy by encouraging women employment to every section
of society (Sarkar and Singh, 2013). Companies are initiating numerous CSR
activities focused to encourage women empowerment. Companies should not only
encourage women empowerment as a part of CSR in rural area, but also should
initiate empowerment of women at organizational level too(Swarnalatha and
Anuradha, 2017). The companies are required to have distinct and well defined
women empowerment policy (Sarkar and Singh, 2013).

Conclusion

To sum up, the chapter throws light on how CSR as a concept evolved at various levels,
globally, in India and in our state of West Bengal. At each phase it has bloomed in its
new dimension and role bringing the core issue of its existence in the forefront. This
chapter gave an overall overview of CSR from its evolution at global level to Indian
scenario, in India the researcher highlighted the phase wise evolution of CSR, CSR based
surveys, Models of CSR, CSR best practices, Codes, Principles and Assumptions of
Company’s Act, Provisions of Schedule VII of Company’s Act, CSR Best Practices to
CSR Journey in West Bengal, CSR and Women Empowerment, Best Practices in India
and in West Bengal, etc.

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Corporate Social responsibility in India started as a Charity and Philanthropy but later on
grown to the level of multi-stakeholder benefit. Notwithstanding the issues and
challenges of implementing contemporary CSR, it is the catchphrase for modern day
development along with collaboration with Government and NGO initiatives in
developmental discourse. The alliance helped CSR to acquire prominence in the
Corporate Business Practices(Prabhakar and Mishra, 2013).

Corporate Social Responsibility is the duty of everyone i.e. for businesscorporations,

governments, individuals because of the reasons: the income is earned only fromthe
society and therefore it should be given back; thus wealth earned is meant for use by self
and thepublic; the basic motive behind all types of business is to quench the hunger of
the mankind, to meet their needs and fulfill their demands as awhole (Mohan, 2016).
Business can flourish in those societies that prosper. As both business and society
symbiotically derives benefit from one another. Therefore they need to harmonize,
balance and complement one another.

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