Social Responsibility

Social responsibility amongst educated and well placed has lost meaning some times. Big corporates funding food packets, clothes to take some pictures and post them on their personal and corporate web sites is not 'social responsibility'. Social responsibility is beyond doing small things like mentioned above. It is a bigger sense of what we are consuming in this great world and how we are replenishing it back into the world. To begin with a sense of responsibility towards nature and our communities. Many corporates consume a lot of natural resources, reap profits and dump all toxic substances into the nature. It is time to start taking Govt.rules and policies on pollution more seriously than what you can get away with. Start thinking about the damage done to mother earth and how the company can be kinder to nature and replenish part of it back. I was particularly impressed with Tata Motors when I visited their plant in Pune. They treat and recycle the water that they throw out of the process and are using it for their own consumption on the campus including the MD's residence. This is more than a statement to show that they are actually treating the water to make it 'consumable' for the world again. Companies that sell 'sugared' water consume heavy quantities of water in communities and deplete the water sources in that area. Those companies CSR should be water replenishment. Water replenishment in SouthAfrica when the plant in India is consuming Millions of gallons of water is not good enough. The neighbouring communities should be taken care. Replenishment of natural resources, providing quality healthcare or education in the relevant communities should be a priority. Improving connecting Industries or Supply chain resources is also good. As an example, IT services company';s long term supply chain is human resources trained or suited for the industry. Corporate leaders in the industry should invest and revolutionize the education (supply chain) industry. Poor children with aptitude should be trained and councelled for future employment. Support skills supply chain should be created.Industry- College programs including professor training, grants and scholorships to lecturers to work in the industry.Very little industry-colleges joint programs is happening in India. The top universities in the U.S are an example for this. The professors that teach work with the industry very closely and are given grants to research in that field. At Kellogg School of Management, our professor used to consult with P&G and we were thought marketing with current marketing strategies and the future programs as well. Another sector that needs serious CSR investments is Infrastructure/real-estate. Skilled resources supply has decreased and continous training on new technologies is not happenning at a pace required. This is completely a dis-organized, disruptive industry. An initiave to extensive training and resource pooling along with safety and health maintenance will go a long way to imporve quality in that field.Mst workers and daily laborers donot have health check-ups or insurance. An initiative from infra companies in that direction for well being of workers is very much needed.