MEDS-051

Fundamentals of CSR
Indira Gandhi National Open University
School of Extension and Development Studies

Volume 2
Block /Unit Title Page No.
BLOCK 3 KEY THEMATIC AREAS IN CSR-I 3
Unit 1 Poverty Alleviation 5
Unit 2 Quality of Life Improvement 27
Unit 3 Employment Generation and Livelihood 44
Unit 4 Women Empowerment 60
BLOCK 4 KEY THEMATIC AREAS IN CSR-II 79
Unit 1 Microfinance 81
Unit 2 Environment Protection and Biodiversity 100
Conservation
Unit 3 Education and Skill Development 112
Unit 4 Awareness Creation 126
BLOCK 5 KEY OUTCOMES OF CSR 139
Unit 1 Democratizing Development 141
Unit 2 Community Ownership 157
Unit 3 Connecting the Last Mile 176
PROGRAMME DESIGN COMMITTEE
Prof. Anil Kumar Sharma Mr. Ashwini Kumar Prof. Nehal A. Farooquee
Associate Professor (IIT, Roorkee), Ex General Manager(I/c) SOEDS, IGNOU, New Delhi
Roorkee HSE & CSR - BHEl, Noida
Dr. Pradeep Kumar
Mr. Ashok B. Chakraborty Mr. Parul Soni SOEDS, IGNOU, New Delhi
Chief Sustainability Officer, Thinkthrough Consulting Private
Dr. Grace Don Nemching
NFCSR, Indian Institute of Limited, Vasant Vihar
SOEDS, IGNOU, New Delhi
Corporate Affairs (IICA), Gurugram New Delhi
Prof. P.V.K. Sasidhar
Mr. Ravi Puranik Prof. Kotaru Ravi Sankar,
SOEDS, IGNOU, New Delhi
CEO, Hindustan Unilever SOMS, IGNOU, New Delhi
(Programme Coordinator)
Foundation, Mumbai
Prof. G Subbayamma
Dr. Nisha Varghese
Dr. Debasis Bhattacharya SOMS, IGNOU, New Delhi
SOEDS, IGNOU, New Delhi
Institute of CSR & Management-
Dr. Leena Singh (Programme Coordinator)
Delhi (ICSRM), Narela, Delhi
SOMS, IGNOU, New Delhi
Dr. Mahesh Chander
Prof. B. K. Pattanaik
Principal Scientist & Head, Division
SOEDS, IGNOU, New Delhi
of Extension Education IVRI,
Bareilly

COURSE PREPARATION TEAM

Unit Writing: Dr. Nemthiangai Guite
Dr. Debasis Bhattacharya JNU (Units 2,3; Block 5)
ICSRM, Delhi and Dr. Vandana Format Editing:
Bhattacharya, NIHFW, New Delhi Dr. Nisha Varghese
(Units 1,2,3,4; Block 3) SOEDS, IGNOU, New Delhi
Mr. Vinoy Thomas Content Editing:
Shikhar Microfinance
(Unit 1; Block 4) Mr. Dinesh Agarwal
Ex. GM, NTPC, Delhi;
Dr. Deeksha Dave
IGNOU (Unit 2; Block 4) Dr. Nisha Varghese
SOEDS, IGNOU
Dr. Nisha Varghese
IGNOU (Unit 3; Block 4) Prof. P.V.K. Sasidhar
SOEDS, IGNOU, New Delhi
Dr. Grace Don Nemching
IGNOU (Unit 4; Block 4) Language Editing
Mr. Praveer Shukla
Dr. Manoj Dash New Delhi
Odisha Power Generation Corporation
Ltd. (Unit 1; Block 5)

Programme Coordinators : Dr. Nisha Varghese <nishavarghese@ignou.ac.in>

Prof. P.V.K.Sasidhar<pvksasidhar@ignou.ac.in>

Course Coordinator : Dr. Nisha Varghese <nishavarghese@ignou.ac.in>

PRINT PRODUCTION
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March, 2021
© Indira Gandhi National Open University, 2021
ISBN:
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 MEDS-051
Fundamentals of CSR

Block

3
KEY THEMATIC AREAS IN CSR-1
UNIT 1
Poverty Alleviation 5

UNIT 2
Quality of Life Improvement 27

UNIT 3
Employment Generation and Livelihood 44

UNIT 4
Women Empowerment 60
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I
BLOCK 3 KEY THEMATIC AREAS IN CSR-I

Block 3 Key Thematic Areas in CSR - I consists of four units.

Unit 1: Poverty Alleviation discusses about status of poverty in India, its causes,
and effects. It also discusses about the role of CSR in poverty alleviation in
India. It also discusses about the various remedial measures in poverty alleviation
and the role of CSR towards it. Finally, it discusses the NGO approach in CSR.

Unit 2: Quality of Life Improvement discusses about the social progress

imperatives in India. It also discusses the meaning and concept of quality of life.
It also discusses about the role of CSR towards enhancing the various elements
of quality of life like food, health, sanitation, education, income, housing,
environment etc.

Unit 3: Employment Generation and Livelihood discusses the need for

livelihood promotion. It also discusses the importance if livelihood intervention.
The various ways by which livelihoods can be funded is also given in the unit. In
the unit several case studies of CSR intervention for livelihoods have been
discussed. Finally, it discusses about sustainable livelihood.

Unit 4: Women Empowerment discusses about the meaning and concept of

women empowerment. It also discusses about the various aspects of economic
and social empowerment of women. In the unit are given several case studies of
CSR intervention towards achieving the goal of empowering women.

4
 Poverty Alleviation
UNIT 1 POVERTY ALLEVIATION
Structure
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Poverty in India - Situational Analysis
1.3 CSR in Poverty Alleviation in India
1.4 Poverty Alleviation: Remedial Measures
1.5 NGO Approach in CSR
1.6 Let Us Sum Up
1.7 Keywords
1.8 Abbreviations
1.9 Bibliography and Selected Readings
1.10 Check Your Progress – Possible Answers

1.1 INTRODUCTION
The role of corporate social responsibility in alleviation of poverty in India has
become very crucial more specifically in rural India. Since independence the
constitution of India and Five-Year Plans specified social justice as the primary
objective of the developmental strategies of the various governments. In all policy
documents emphasis is being laid on poverty alleviation and that various strategies
need to be adopted by the government for the same. The call for corporate
participation in 11th and 12th Five-year Plan for sustainable development was a
step ahead in this regard. The continued existence of poverty and human
deprivation within affluent societies clearly shows that there is unequal
distribution of resources. Hence, there is a greater need for redistribution of
resources. Companies with positive approach through corporate social
responsibility may play an effective role in reducing the increasing the gap
between rich and poor. This unit discusses the poverty in India at a glance and its
causes and effect. The case studies in Indian context are illustrated with brief
description and quotes from well-known past and contemporary business leaders.

After studying this unit, you should be able to:

Discuss poverty in India as situational analysis
Explain causes and effects of poverty
Describe poverty alleviation programmes initiated by the Government
Elucidate company’s participation in poverty alleviation in India

1.2 POVERTY IN INDIA - SITUATIONAL

ANALYSIS
Poverty can be defined as the inability of the people to attain a minimum standard
of living. In other words, poverty is a relationship between the essential needs of
people to survive and their ability to satisfy them. Those people who are unable
to satisfy some of the basic needs such as food, clothes, shelter, sanitation, etc.
are called poor. Poor people live without fundamental freedom of choice and
5
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I face vulnerability to ill health, economic dislocation, and natural disaster. In
words of Amartya Sen, a Nobel Laureate in economics, ‘Poverty is a deprivation
of basic capabilities rather than merely a lowness of income.’

1.2.1 Poverty in India

Tribal people, dalits and labour class including farm workers in villages and
casual workers in cities are still very poor and make the poorest class in India.
60% of the poor still reside in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya
Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. The reason for these
states to be in the category of the poorest state is because 85% of tribal people
live here. Also, most of these regions are either flood-prone or suffer from
calamities. These conditions hamper agriculture to a great extent, on which the
household income of these people depends. As per the 2020 Global Hunger Index
(GHI), India was ranked 94th out of 107 qualifying countries. In 2012 it was on
97th Rank. Though there is no shortage of food production in India, our nation
still has the highest percentage (37%) of underweight children under five and 39
per cent are stunted (low height-for-age), 21 per cent are wasted (low weight-
for-height) and 8 per cent are severely acutely malnourished (ASSOCHAM-EY
report). Thirty years ago, India was home to one-fifth of world’s poor but now it
is a home to one-third of poor people. Fifty five per cent Indians were classified
as poor by the MPI methodology in 2005-06. India halved its poverty rate in the
next 10 years. In absolute terms, the number of poor fell from 630 million to 360
million during this period (Srinivas, 2018).

From November 2017, the World Bank started reporting poverty rates for all
countries using two new international poverty lines: a “lower middle-income”
line set at $3.20 per day and an “upper middle-income” line set at $5.50 per day.
However, these lines, which are typical of standards among lower- and upper-
middle-income countries, respectively, are designed to complement, not replace,
the $1.90 international poverty line. India falls in the lower middle-income
category. Using the $3.20 per day poverty line, the percentage of the population
living in poverty in India was 60% in 2011. This means that 763 million people
in India were living below this poverty line in 2011. However, according to the
United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) programme, 270 million
people out of 1.2 billion Indians, roughly equal to 21.9% of India’s population,
lived below the poverty line of $1.25 in 2011–2012.

1.2.2 Causes of Poverty

The most important causes of poverty in India are poor agriculture, growing
Population, gap between rich and poor, corruption and black money as discussed
in subsequent paragraphs-

1) Poor agriculture: India is mainly an agricultural country. About 80% people

of our country depend on agriculture. But agriculture is not profitable today.
Farmers are poor and uneducated. Due to lack of irrigation facilities, most
of the farming is rainfed. They do not get seeds and fertilizers in time.
Thus, the yield is poor. So, poor agriculture is one of the causes of India’s
poverty.

6
2) Growing population: Our population is growing rapidly. But our resources Poverty Alleviation
are limited. The growth in population creates problems for us. We need
more food, more houses, and more hospitals for the growing population.
The ever-growing rate of population must be checked. If not, we may not
be able to remove India’s poverty.

3) Illiteracy: States with lower literacy rates have a greater number of poor
people. Access to gainful employment becomes extremely difficult when
people are not educated.

4) Gap between the rich and the poor: The widening gap between the rich
and the poor is also responsible for India’s poverty. The rich are growing
richer. The poor are growing poorer. This economic gap between the two
must be reduced. Our social system should be changed.

5) Corruption and blackmoney: There is corruption in every walk of life

which is not in national interest. Black money causes the problem of rising
prices. Black money adversely affects our economy. It causes poverty.

1.2.3 Effects of Poverty

Some of the effects of poverty are:
1) Nutrition and diet: Poverty is the leading cause of insufficient diet and
inadequate nutrition. The resources of poor people are very limited, and its
effect can be seen in their diet.

2) Poor living condition and housing problems: People living in poverty

don’t get proper living conditions. They must struggle to secure food, clothes
and shelter. Many poor families live in houses with just one room.

3) Unemployment: Poor people move from villages to towns and from one
town to another in search of employment/work. Since, they are mostly
illiterate and unskilled, there are very few employment opportunities open
for them. Due to unemployment, many poor people are forced to live an
unfulfilling life.

4) Hygiene and sanitation: Poor people have little knowledge about hygiene
and proper sanitation system. They are not aware of the harmful
consequences of not maintaining proper hygiene. The government is taking
initiatives to make available clean and safe water, and proper sanitation
system to them.

5) Feminization of poverty: Women are the worst victims of poverty. Poverty

effects greater number of women than men. The total of poor women
outnumbers the total population of poor men. The causes include low
income, gender inequality, etc. They are deprived of proper diet, medicine
and health treatment.

6) Child Labour: In India, a large percentage of young boys and girls are
engaged in child labour. Poverty stricken families are forced to send their
children to work.

7) Social tensions: Poverty is often characterized with income disparity and

unequal distribution of national wealth between the rich and the poor. 7
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I Concentration of wealth in the hands of few rich people along with
exploitation of poor leads to social disturbances and revolts. Fair or even
distribution of wealth leads an overall improvement in general standard of
living of people.

1.2.4 Poverty Alleviation Programmes in India

“Growth with Social Justice” has been the basic objective of the development
planning in India since independence, which has led to significant changes. Some
of these changes are distinctly visible especially in the economic sphere with the
adoption of new technologies, diversified production, and sophisticated
management. Changes have also taken place in the social sphere with affirmative
action for disadvantaged communities, with the weakening of untouchability
and caste discrimination, and with women enjoying by and large more freedom
than ever before. On the political front, India has remained a vibrant democracy
with increased participation by women and men in political decision-making.

There are various reasons for India’s commitment to poverty eradication. The
most important among these is the nature of the national struggle, which led to
independence. The mainstream political movement in India was profoundly
influenced by the Gandhian approach, which emphasized the need to uplift the
social and economic status of the poorest of the poor or ‘antyodaya.’ Emphasis
on an egalitarian social order was reflected in the policy documents produced by
the Indian National Congress. Most notable among these was the report of the
National Planning (Kumarappa) Committee.

Drawing from the experience of a large number of experiments in rural

development involving local communities, the Government of India soon after
independence launched the Community Development Programme (CDP) to
rejuvenate economic and social life in rural areas. The emphasis was on
infrastructure building at the local level and investment in human resource
development through the provision of education and health services. The frontal
attack on poverty was pursued in three successive phases.

Table 1.1 describes the time periods, phase and the major emphasis given towards
Poverty Alleviation Programme in India.

Table 1.1: Three Phases of Poverty Alleviation Programme in India

Phases Time-Period Major Emphasis

First phase 1950s till the end of Redistribution of land and improving
the 1960s the plight of poor tenants, abolition of
functionless intermediaries, tenancy
reforms culminating in the principle of
‘land to the tiller,’ imposing ceilings on
large holdings, sequestering surplus
land and redistributing it among the
landless agricultural laborers and
marginal farmers.

Second By the late 1960s till Addressing directly and exclusively to

phase the end of 1980s the poor in the rural areas (target-group
8
 Poverty Alleviation
oriented approach) The distinguishing
feature of the poverty alleviation
programme during this phase was the
emphasis on creating employment
opportunities and distributing renewable
assets among the poor (Integrated Rural
Development Programme). Heavy emphasis
was also placed on transfer of income to the
poor in indirect ways, e.g., through food
subsidies and ‘dual pricing’ of essential
commodities.

Third phase the latest – phase Emphasis shifted to measures aimed at

starting from the accelerating economic growth and on
beginning of the creating an environment for ensuring a
1990s ‘spread effect.’ The dominant thought is to
create more wealth to enable the poor to
benefit from the secondary effects of growth
which, it is presumed, will percolate down,
and reach the poor. Various programmes
under a) Self-employment b) Wage
employment c) Food security d) Social
security and e) Urban poverty alleviation
were started.

Besides, other initiatives undertaken to alleviate poverty include price supports,

food subsidy, land reforms, area development programmes, improving agricultural
techniques, free electricity for farmers, water rates, PRIs, growth of rural banking
system, grain banks, seed banks, etc. Such endeavours not only reduced poverty
but also empowered the poor to find solution to their economic problems.

Activity 1

Go through the annual budgets since 2017 and list out the various poverty
alleviation programmes initiated since then.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
9
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I Check Your Progress - 1
Notes: a) Write your answers in about 50 words.
b) Check your answer with possible answers given at the end of the unit.
1) Enumerate causes of poverty.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

2) Enlist the effects of poverty.

.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

1.3 CSR IN POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN INDIA

The 1990s have been the decade of intense change in India’s economic paradigm
and have considerably affected companies in India. The structural adjustments
provided an increasing role for the corporate sector and freedom from controls-
an opportunity of gigantic proportions.

Poverty alleviation is not possible for any state alone, besides the primary duty
of the state is to provide protection against standard threats, protection of
environment and development of economic standards of its citizens. The state is
inviting companies to fulfil their social responsibility and to safeguard the interest
of society at large. The multiple causes of poverty and inequality persist because
of lack of adequate food, shelter, health care and education to geography, climate,
culture, and other factors. There is a great need for community development.
“Community development” means “a wide range of actions of companies to
maximize the impact of their donated money, time, products, services, influence,
management knowledge, and other resources on communities in which they
operate.” Various surveys from time to time have shown that Community
development is a major agenda in CSR of Indian companies.

Case Study “Ambuja Cement”

“Ambuja Cements Ltd. established a foundation, called the Ambuja Cement
Foundation in 1993. With its cement plants being situated in the rural areas, the
company realized the need to address the needs of the rural people. Poverty
alleviation, achieving universal primary education, reducing child mortality,
10
improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, and ensuring environmental Poverty Alleviation
sustainability are all integral to the work of the company and its Foundation. The
Foundation in each location begins by working at the micro level/in a small way
with the villages impacted by the company’s operations and gradually over time
as partnerships develop expands its area and scope of work. Provision of
preventive and curative health services including reproductive and child health,
promotion of education and generation of alternate sources of livelihood coupled
with capacity building are some of the key areas of intervention of the Foundation”
(KPMG, 2008).

1.3.1 Advantages for Companies by Investing in Poverty

Alleviation
Fighting poverty helps establish secure and stable societies that benefit businesses
in several ways as given below:

1) Brand imaging and innovation - Healthy economy is not possible in a

fractured society of extreme wealth and extreme poverty. It is therefore in
the interests of businesses to help eradicate poverty and eventually enable
all to become active consumers. Now, companies are expected to produce,
many employment opportunities as social responsibility by giving in return
to the society where they are operating and earning profits. Businesses that
work for betterment of society and discuss their economic policies with
their stakeholders and adopt practices that benefits the society at large build
public trust and strengthen their reputations and create brand image. The
companies like Uniliver and others have participated in Swachh Bharat,
hand washing and school health. The status of health and hygiene is directly
linked to poverty and facilitate in reducing the poverty.

2) Healthy human resource and working environment - It helps, for

example, to produce healthy and competent workers, prosperous consumers
and investors, and provides the predictable, rule based and non-
discriminatory trading and financial systems, through which transaction
costs can be reduced and corruption eliminated. Poverty exacerbates a
number of conditions – including environmental degradation, HIV/AIDS
and communicable diseases, ethnic conflict and inadequate health and
education systems that add directly to the costs and risks of doing business,
overcoming these problems helps to reduce costs, improve resource
efficiency and boost productivity.

3) Employment opportunities and labour welfare -There is also a third set

of benefits that flow directly to companies who combine social responsibility
with business development. One of the main ways in which business can
help reduce poverty is through job creation such as raising wages or
providing greater stability of income. The labour issues on the CSR agenda
could indeed contribute to poverty reduction. The requirement to pay the
legal minimum wage or a ‘living wage’ could be seen as a way of ensuring
that companies do not pay wages which are below the poverty line. Equal
pay for women can also be seen in this light where many poor households
have female heads.

11
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I
1.4 POVERTY ALLEVIATION: REMEDIAL
MEASURES
Along with raising income the solution of eradication of poverty also includes
raising the provision of social consumption for the poor. An example of the same
was the Minimum Needs Programme. This was to provide such items as
elementary education, health, housing, water supply, electrification, infrastructure
development like roads, means of communication etc. The increase in private
consumption–goods purchased by poor plus the public consumption goods/
services supplied by the companies will provide the real substance to the poverty
eradication strategy.

The policies and programmes are developed based on the needs of the population
of that specific area. The companies generally operate in or around of 8-10 kms
of their presence. There are few who donate funds to other organizations who
are working within their area of interest and anywhere in India e.g. Indian Oil
Corporation, ONGC and Tata steels are contributing for organizations/NGOs/
special schools who are working in the field of mental disabilities. Similarly,
companies also support NGOs of national repute like ‘CRY’ working for school
dropouts or non-formal schooling innovative projects e.g. for rag pickers in urban
slums.

Approach: To remove the handicaps of poor, as also to integrate them in the

growth-process, reduction in poverty and associated with it the reduction in
unemployment have been treated as the crucial components of the strategy of
growth. Each company develops its own Vision & Mission Statement along with
the policies and programmes of CSR interventions. Some have incorporated
Poverty alleviation in their agenda directly as one of the important area or others
indirectly dealing with it while working for rural/urban community development
programmes as discussed above. In concrete terms three types of measures have
been adopted for the removal of poverty by the companies, described in detail
with case studies in the later part of unit ——
1) General Growth: Expansion of Agricultural and Non-farm Activities in Rural
Areas;
2) Supplementary Measures to General Growth Measures;
3) Social Uplift.
1) General Growth: Expansion of Agricultural and Non-farm Activities
in Rural Areas

This involves such a restructuring of the production, and of the product-mix,

that provide more income and more mass-goods, to the poor. Expansion in
agriculture, also of the activities in the unorganized sectors in the urban areas;
adoption of labour- intensive techniques; enlarged production of food grains and
other items of necessities etc. All these along with the development of other
sectors like industries etc. are supposed to benefit the poor.
A) Expansion of Agriculture: Case Studies
i) HDFC Bank: Assistance to the Farmers
HDFC bank provided assistance across India to farmer in soil and water
12
conservation, water management, construction, renovation and maintenance of Poverty Alleviation
water harvesting structures for improving surface and ground water availability,
in partnership with the Village Development Committees. Company rejuvenated
existing structures like ponds, wells, and constructed check-dams. Project
implemented by: Watershed Organization Trust, Krushi Vikas Va Gramin
Prashikshan Sanstha, Community Advancement & Rural Development Society.
Amount spent:  INR 92.78 cr
Estimated Impact:
Soil and water conservation work has been initiated in 550 acres of land.
Other initiative benefitted over 140 farmer families. 65 acres land brought
under irrigation for the first time and 45 acres brought under assured
irrigation.
Soil quality improved in 317 hectares of land and reduced soil and water
erosion.
ii) Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. - Krishi Mitra
Company helped small and marginal farmers by training them in effective farming
practices including soil health, crop planning, creating model farms with bio-
dynamic farming practices, thereby increasing crop productivity, through the
Wardha Family Farming Project, Krishi Mitra and Integrated Watershed
Development Project. The programme includes soil testing, advisory services,
drip irrigation, community farming, seed culture farming, agro-extension services,
infrastructure development and capacity building resulting in improvement in
agricultural productivity. The Project is implemented by: Swades Foundation,
BAIF Development Research Foundation, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi
Vidyapeeth. Till now Amount spent:  INR 5.47 cr

Location: Raigad - Maharashtra, Sagar, Tikamgarh - Madhya Pradesh, Ajmer,

and Alwar – Rajasthan, Others: Mankepada
Estimated Impact: Krishi Mitra benefited 49,635 farmers.
iii) The Rural Electrification Corporation Limited: Farmer Centric Watershed
Management

Company developed Farmer Centric Watershed Management with 2.07

crores. The Rural Electrification Corporation Limited, Hyderabad, Telangana,
India has supported the ICRISAT-led consortium to develop “Model Sites of
Learning” in Mahabubnagar district in Telangana state and Anantapur district in
Andhra Pradesh with an aim to sustainably increase agricultural productivity
and improve the livelihoods of the rural poor in vulnerable rain-fed areas. A
participatory integrated watershed management approach is one of the tested,
sustainable, and eco-friendly options available for upgrading rain-fed agriculture
for sustainable intensification.

Estimated Impact: The project duration is 5 years, 3rd year operation is completed
4th year operation is under implementation.

iv) Container Corporation of India Limited-Assistance to Farmers

In association with The Energy & Resource Institute (TERI) in the state of
Himachal Pradesh (Kullu, Kinnaur and Shimla), 360 apple growing farmers have
13
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I been provided rain water harvesting tanks including various equipment like anti
hail nets, power sprayers, pruners, planting material of high apple yielding
varieties, etc. as well as technical training that will help them in increasing their
Apple yields. Amount spent is 1.4 cr.

Estimated Impact: Nearly 4,500 apple farmers have been benefited from such
activities.

v) Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd - Irrigation support

Company initiated a project in partnership with IIM Ahmedabad for the
installation of 100 solar water pumps of 5 HP capacities to encourage the use of
solar energy by farmers in the villages. The lack of access to dependable pumping
solutions hampers livelihood improvements throughout rural India, but solar water
pumps are emerging as both a reliable and clean energy solution. The amount of
solar power needed depends on the specific water table depth of a farm; the
further the water is from the ground, the more power would be needed to pump
that water up for irrigation. This, in turn, depends on the geography of a region.
The Amount spent:  INR 0.237 cr

Estimated Impact: Solar water pumps helped the farmers in energy optimization,
better use of water resources and keep productivity high.

B) Non-Farming Activities
The non-agricultural activities in the field of dairy farming, shops, transport,
pottery, and cottage industry are major occupation in Indian villages. The women
in the rural areas, too are actively getting involved in different industries like
matchbox and firework industries, bidi making, agate and slate industries, coffee
and tea industries, brick industry, construction industry, electronics industry, spice
industries, etc. Among these, the bidi, slate or brick making industries are the
most well spread industries in Indian villages. The pottery industry in India
provides mass employment along with betterment of the living standards; both
the village and city people comprise the work force of the industry. These activities
are also supported by companies like banks, Tatas, HUL, Vedanta, Hindalco,
Jindals and many other business associations like CII, FICCI etc. The interventions
were mostly carried out in the surrounding areas of the main operational regions,
particularly in villages situated closer to the factory location. The direct
interventions were carried out either by in-house CSR specialist teams, or by
professional CSR teams. Partnerships had also been made with non-profit
organizations and specialized agencies in some cases. Some of the companies
like Tata steel, over the last 15 years had supported the formation of more than
500 rural enterprises in agriculture, poultry, livestock and community
entrepreneurship.

2) Supplementary Measures to General Growth Measures

The second type of measures has been conceived as supplement to the general
growth measures. One set of measures consists of anti-poverty programmes like
IRDP, NREP etc. with two-fold purpose. In first place, it is providing employment
with wage in cash or kind (like wheat etc.). Secondly these help the poor in
earning by providing them with assets (land, animals etc.), inputs (raw materials),
credits, marketing facilities, training for skill formation etc. Another set of
measures includes subsidies through public distribution system (PDS). Both
14 these are being taken care by government programmes (Centre & State) whereas;
companies are working on IEC, behaviour change communication and advocacy Poverty Alleviation
of these programmes. Skill based training is the agenda of many companies like
Tata Steel, Hindalco and Vedanta etc.

i) Case Study of Goa Institute of Management

Business schools are out to promote social responsibility among the managerial
workforce. One such example is the Goa Institute of Management (GIM),
Sanquelim, north Goa, where students undertake various projects under a
corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative known as ‘Give Goa.’ Projects
are taken up broadly in the fields of education, social welfare, agriculture
extension and public health. They are finalized based on inputs from the CSR
coordination team, the client organizations, and the students of GIM. Through
this initiative, the GIM, in collaboration with NGOs and other firms, tries to
address the social issues related to the welfare of society and improvement of the
Human Development Index in various villages in Goa. One such group is working
in collaboration with Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) of the Indian Council of
Agricultural Research (ICAR), Goa, in the village of Aldona in north Goa. ICAR
has been working to improve agricultural practices in the State over several years.
GIM is working with ICAR in Aldona to spread scientific methodologies and
technologies among the farmers. The intention is to benefit the farmers of Aldona
and eventually the State, in terms of revenue generation for the farmers and the
State, and to contribute to the environment, say the joint promoters, GIM and
KVK.

The students work with various client organizations such as banks, NGOs,
government departments like the Zonal Agriculture Office, NABARD, Indian
Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), and the State-owned GHRSSIDC Ltd.,
a corporation promoting handicrafts and small-scale industry products in Goa.

Activity 2
Browse cases studies related to corporate involvement in promoting
supplementary measures to general growth measures and write down one
case study about such related project.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

3) Social Uplift
Third type of measure of poverty alleviation aims at improving the social status
of the poor which also upgrade their productive capabilities. Efforts at raising
literacy, widening the access to education and health facilities for the weaker
section belonging to the schedule caste and tribes and other backward classes
enhance the status, skills, and health of the poor.

Preventive healthcare is an important dimension of health and is a national health

priority and a notified area under Schedule VII of the CSR Section 135 of the 15
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I Companies Act. Preventive healthcare directly improves health, well-being and
productivity of community/population, families and individuals, and promotes
equity by benefiting most the disadvantaged and marginalized groups. It covers
range of public health activities focused on prevention of diseases, promotion of
good health and strengthening of health systems. Following case studies are
based on preventive healthcare initiatives by companies under community
development.

Companies that were traditionally undertaking CSR are currently streamlining

their existing contributions in meeting social targets. Responding to the August
2014, Independence Day appeal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leading
corporate houses have come up with projects to set up around 30,000 new toilets
in schools, with funds to the tune of hundreds of crores of rupees. Larsen and
Toubro constructed around 5,000 toilets, the Vedanta Group’s Hindustan Zinc
constructed 10,000 and the Jaipur-based Indian Institute of Health Management
Research (IIHMR) University added 13,000 toilets in 6,500 schools.

In the budget February, 2018, the then finance minister Arun Jaitely had invited
corporate and philanthropic entities to invest funds into ‘Ayushman Bharat’ for
“health and wellness centres” which was to be setup as a part of the government’s
flagship National Health Policy (NHP) 2017. As of August, 2020, there are 44418
health and wellness centres across the country. Companies are invited through
CSR in adopting these centres. These centres are aimed at bringing the healthcare
system at the doorsteps of people, and would provide comprehensive healthcare
for non-communicable diseases and maternal and child health services, among
others. Free essential drugs and diagnostic services are also planned.

i) HDFC Bank Ltd has been looking to scale up its CSR strategy. Ranked
four on the spend tally (2017-18), for the first time in three years of reporting
the bank has a 100% actual spend (Rs. 305.42 crore) versus the prescribed
spend. They operate in about 18 states. In the first year, it covered about
60-65 villages. Many of these villages had been allocated to them to open
accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana (GoI), and while addressing their basic
financial inclusion and banking needs, also they did an overall needs
assessment and dealt with their other developmental issues too. By March
2017, it covered 560 villages under this Holistic Rural Development
Programme (HRDP) and many more villages under smaller projects. Today,
it is working in over 750 villages under HRDP. The bank spent about 41.6%
of its CSR under rural development category according to its annual report.
They are in education, skilling, sanitation and financial inclusion, and their
initiative and outlays in these areas have grown.

ii) Mahindra & Mahindra

Key CSR Areas: Focus on the girl child, youth, and farmers through
programmes in the domains of education, public health, and environment.
Mahindra Pride Schools provide livelihood training to youth from socially
and economically disadvantaged communities and have trained over 13,000
youth in Pune, Chennai, Patna, Chandigarh and Srinagar. M&M sponsors
the Lifeline Express trains that take medical treatment to far flung
communities.

16
iii) Tata Steel Poverty Alleviation

Key CSR Areas: Education, healthcare, facilitation of empowerment and

sustainable livelihood opportunities, preservation of ethnicity and culture
of indigenous communities and sports. Initiatives run across ten districts in
Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, covering nearly 500 core villages.
Total spending in 2014-15 on CSR was Rs. 171.46 crore, which is 2.04%
of the average net profit of the last three fiscals.

Flagship Programme: Maternal and New-born Survival Initiative (MANSI),

a public-private initiative, is being implemented in 167 villages of the
Seraikela block of Jharkhand’s Seraikela-Kharsawan district since 2009.
The project goal is to reduce child and infant mortality. MANSI has achieved
improvement in all process and outcome indicators, such as reduction in
neonatal mortality by 32.7%, reduction in infant mortality (up to the age of
one year) rate by 26.5%, increase in institutional delivery etc.

iv) Tata Motors

Key CSR Areas: Education and employability (skill development). Most
programmes are in the vicinity of manufacturing locations but employability
programmes focused on building skill of youth in automotive trades are
implemented across India. It spent Rs 18.62 crore on CSR in 2014-15, despite
reporting a net loss.

Flagship Programme: Learn, Earn and Progress (LEAP) for mechanic motor
vehicle training, a year-long programme where theoretical learning is
supplemented through ‘on-the job’ exposure at service centres. Tata Motors’
Dealers, implementation partners (NGOs and Technical Training Institutes)
are partners. Dealers provide the training and contribute two-thirds of
monthly stipend of the trainee while Tata Motors contributes the rest. The
implementation partner provides theory training.

v) GAIL
Key CSR Areas: Supporting communities in multiple thrust areas like health,
sanitation, education, skill development, livelihood, and environment.
Through GAIL Utkarsh, the company has helped over 500 students from
economically backward communities to join India’s premier engineering
institutes. They are provided residential coaching programmes and given
monthly scholarships once they get into IITs/NITs. The GAIL Institute of
Skills (GIS) is also providing skill-based opportunities.

vi) Infosys
Key CSR areas: Works with Infosys Foundation, headed by Sudha Murty,
towards removing malnutrition, improving healthcare infrastructure,
supporting primary education, rehabilitating abandoned women and children
and preserving Indian art and culture.

Flagship Programme: The Infosys Foundation mid-day meal program, an

initiative in partnership with the Akshaya Patra Foundation, spans several
states across India.

17
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I
Activity 3

Visit any NGO implementing a CSR project and write about the objective of
the project and the impact it has had on the community.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
Check Your Progress - 2
Notes: a) Write your answers in about 50 words.
b) Check your answer with possible answers given at the end of the unit.
1) Enlist the possible benefits for companies by investing in poverty alleviation.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

2) Explain the three types of measures adopted for removal of poverty by the
companies.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

1.5 NGO APPROACH IN CSR

Reputable companies in India have their own tradition, culture, and management
style. Each company has its laid down vision and mission statement and
accordingly they introduce various activities. The CSR contribution in community
is mainly functional through their own Trust or NGO. The reputed NGOs continue
to be involved in CSR implementation. A KPMG survey of 100 top companies
during FY 2015-16 indicates, NGO involvement in most CSR programmes is
around 89 per cent, including through corporate foundations. The reason being,
that these NGOs can (i) increase the participation of the local community in
various sectors ii) create awareness e.g. awareness about preventive conditions
for communicable and non-communicable diseases and iii) educate masses/
communities/ specific or identified group of people by using alternate or
18 innovative means.
The Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) is a not-for-profit, public private Poverty Alleviation
initiative working collaboratively with key stakeholders towards strengthening
institutional & systems capacity and catalysing change in public health in India.
They collaborate with companies for CSR contribution made for specific projects/
programmes in identified public health priority themes that include: Women &
Child Health, Nutrition, Social Determinants of Health (Water, Sanitation), Air
Quality and Health, Environment and Health, Infectious Diseases, Non-
Communicable Diseases, Health Informatics, Health Systems & Policy, Health
Communication and Mental Health & Disability. The projects are planned and
implemented with mutual discussion. The partners are central and state
governments, private sector and philanthropists are HCL Corporation, AKM
Systems Pvt. Ltd, Ranbaxy, Promoter Group, Reliance Industries, GMR Projects
Pvt. Ltd, GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd.

CASE STUDIES
i) Save the Children: a recognized NGO for CSR initiative
The NGO has been preventing child labour through lobbying for policy reform
and stronger legislation while undertaking grassroots missions to free children
from bonded labour. Instead, it empowers these children with education, job
skills, giving India’s marginalized children, a new lease of life. Apart from this,
Save the Children works to provide healthcare, education and life-saving aid
during emergencies to children. Today, Save the Children India is the favoured
partner for some of India’s biggest corporates. Not only does the NGO have
decades of experience in working with children, but it is also known for
transparency and accountability in managing corporate resources allocated for
children’s rights.

ii) Nokia
Disaster Risk Reduction: Working with Nokia, Save the Children
established a new Information Technology-based Disaster Risk Reduction
project. This initiative is working on building resilience of children and
communities in emergencies.
Delhi: A Making Schools Safer programme was initiated across 31 slum
pockets, covering 50 schools and reaching over 2 lakh people. It is today
preparing children and communities to identify daily risks faced by
children, and respond to them using IT. Detailed Risk Assessment has
been carried out, and the NGO is establishing Resource Centres across
schools. Education is also known to be a great equalizer. Safer schools
will help increase enrolment and reduce dropouts. Education thus helps
in ending extreme poverty.
Empowering Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs): Accredited
Social Health Activists (ASHAs) or community health workers were
armed with mobile phones that can store medical information, which is
hosted on a cloud server using GPRS. They meet pregnant women and
new mothers, to advise them on maternity health and infant health, via
the phones which also feature text and audio messages on breastfeeding
and importance of institutional delivery. The activists also used the phone
to schedule appointments and access patient records. With the NGO’s
input, pregnancy and new-born care mobile health applications (called
‘Comm Care’) were developed. 19
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I iii) IKEA
Freeing children from cotton farming labour -The IKEA Foundation and Save
the Children came together for a €7 million programme to protect 8 lakh children
living in cotton communities in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan,
after a successful debut across 1,866 villages of Gujarat and Maharashtra where
over 65,000 children were moved to classrooms from the child labour. Thousands
of farmers also pledged to make their farms child-labour free.

The case studies documented in this Unit highlight specific interventions carried
out by industries and companies in poverty alleviation under their CSR portfolio.
It requires focused attention not only from the government, but also from the
private sector, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), communities and individuals.

iv) Kotak Mahindra

Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company rolled out three mobile medical vans
under the corporate social responsibility initiative ‘Life First’, in association
with Wockhardt Foundation. As part of the agreement, three medical vans which
act as primary healthcare centres on wheels would be managed by the Wockhardt
Foundation. Each medical mobile van equipped with GPS facility, would offer
services like awareness, diagnosis, treatment to underprivileged people in and
around the city free of charge. Each van is staffed with a doctor, pharmacist,
programme coordinator and aims to reach out to 75 patients a day.
Check Your Progress - 3
Notes: a) Write your answers in about 50 words.
b) Check your answer with possible answers given at the end of the unit.
1) Explain NGO approach in CSR for poverty alleviation.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

2) Give an example of role of NGO in implementing CSR programmes of

corporates.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

20
 Poverty Alleviation
1.6 LET US SUM UP
CSR has a powerful potential to make positive contributions to addressing the
needs of disadvantaged or marginalized communities in Indian setting whilst
not compromising their political, social and economic integrity. Business and its
broader coalitions between other stakeholders i.e. government, and civil society
can considerably contribute to poverty alleviation. Business can contribute to
poverty alleviation and social inclusion. It has an important role to play in
encouraging entrepreneurship and developing new technologies that can solve
problems of access to education, clothing and shelter, food, healthcare, clean
water and sanitation improving social standards of life.

1.7 KEYWORDS
Absolute Poverty : (Destitution) it refers to the state of severe deprivation
of basic human needs. It is often characterized by
inadequacy of food, shelter and clothes. United Nations
further defines absolute poverty as absence of any two
of the following seven basic needs food, safe drinking
water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and
access to services

BPL : An economic benchmark used by the government of

India to indicate economic disadvantage and to identify
individuals and households in need of government
assistance and aid.

MDGs : The United Nations Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) are eight goals that all 191 UN member states
had agreed to try to achieve by the year 2015. The United
Nations Millennium Declaration, signed in September
2000 commits world leaders to combat poverty, hunger,
disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and
discrimination against women. The MDGs are derived
from this Declaration, and all have specific targets and
indicators.

Relative Poverty : It is defined contextually as economic inequality in

location or society in which people live. It refers to an
unequal distribution of income and economic resources
of a country among the people. People can fulfil their
basic needs but not as much as other rich people.

Flagship programme: Flagship programmes derive their origin from the

term flagship which is the main or most important ship
of a country’s navy and is symbolic of the main thrust
of the nation’s developmental policy.

Stakeholders : A collection of individuals who have regular contact

and frequent interaction, mutual influence, common
feeling of camaraderie, and who work together to
achieve a common set of goals.
21
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I
1.8 ABBREVIATIONS
ASHAs : Accredited Social Health Activists

BAIF Development : Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation

Research Foundation Development Research Foundation

BPCL NSE : Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. National

Stock Exchange
BPL : Below Poverty Line
CDP : Community Development Programme
CII : Confederation of Indian Industry
Cr : Crore
CSOs : Civil Society Organizations
CSR : Corporate Social Responsibility
Dr. : Doctor
FICCI : Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce
and Industry
GHI : Global Hunger Index
GHRSSIDC Ltd. : Goa Handicrafts Rural & Small Scale
Industries Development Corporation Ltd.
GIM : Goa Institute of Management
GIS : GAIL Institute of Skills
GMR Projects Pvt. Ltd. : Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao Projects Pvt. Ltd.
GoI : Government of India
GPRS : General Packet Radio Service
HCL : Hindustan Computers Limited
HIV/AIDS : Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome
hp : Horse Power
HRDP : Holistic Rural Development Programme
HUL : Hindustan Unilever Limited
ICAR : Indian Council of Agricultural Research
IEC : Information Education and Communication
IIHMR : Indian Institute of Health Management
Research
IIM : Indian Institute of Management
IIT : Indian Institute of Technology
IKEA : Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd
22
 Poverty Alleviation
INR : Indian Rupee
IRDP : Integrated Rural Development Programme
IT : Information Technology
JBF : Jubilant Bhartia Foundation
Kg : Kilogram
KPMG : Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler
KVK : Krishi Vigyan Kendra
L&T : Larsen & Toubro
LEAP : Learn, Earn and Progress
MANSI : Maternal and New-born Survival Initiative
MARDEF : Mahabank Agricultural Research and Rural
Development Foundation

MD & CEO : Managing Director & Chief Executive

Officer
MDGs : Millennium Development Goals
NABARD : National Bank for Agriculture and Rural
Development
NGO : Non-Government Organization
NHP : National Health Policy
NIITs : National Institute of Information Technology
NREP : National Rural Employment Programme
NRL : Numaligarh Refinery Ltd.
ONGC : Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
PAT : Profit After Tax
PDS : Public Distribution System
PHFI : Public Health Foundation of India
SHG : Self Help Group
SHG Bank : Self Help Group Bank
SLD : Sustainable Livelihood Development
SRI : System of Rice Intensification
SST : Srinivasan Services Trust
STL : Soil Testing Lab
TERI : The Energy & Resource Institute
USA : United States of America
WFFP : Wardha Farmer Family Project

23
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I
1.9 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SELECTED READINGS
Articles
Bhat, R. (2000). Issues in Health: Public-Private Partnership. Economic and
Political Weekly, December 30, 4720-4716.

Minhas, B.S., Jain, L. R. and Tendulkar, S.D. (1991). Declining Incidence of

Poverty in the 1980s-Evidence versus Artefacts. Economic and Political Weekly,
July 6-13.

Books & Reports

Bhattacharya, D. (2002). Initiative to Improve the Handloom and Handicraft
Products of North East. CII-NEDFi Guwahati.

Bhattacharya, D. (2010). ‘Renewable Energy for Rural Livelihoods – An Industry-

led Public Private Partnership Model,’ UNDP, CII, Ministry of New and
Renewable Energy, Govt. of India.

Bhattacharya, V. Pattanaik, B.K. (2013). Corporate Social Responsibility in Health

Care. International Journal of Social Science and Humanities, 1, (1) March,
2013, pp 104-112.

Dreze, J. Sen, A. & Husain, A. (Eds.). (1995). The Political Economy of Hunger.
Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Shrivastava, H. (Ed.). (2000). The Business of Social Responsibility. Partners

in Change, ISBN: 81-87380-11-X.

Smeeding et al. (1993). Poverty, Inequality, and Family Living Standards Impacts
Across Seven Nations: The Effect of Non-cash Subsidies for Health, Education
and Housing. Review of Income and Wealth, Series 39, Number 3. September
1993, pp. 229-256.

Subramaniam, S. (Ed.). (2001). India’s Development Experience: Selected

Writings of S. Guhan. Oxford University Press, New Delhi.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (1997). Human Development

Report 1997. Oxford University Press. New York

Government Reports
Twelfth Fiver Year Plan (2012-17), Vols. I, II and III. Sage Publications Pvt.
Ltd., New Delhi (for Planning Commission, Government of India).

Online Search
Budget speech 2018; Arun Jaitely seeks CSR funds for Govt’s flagship
programme-Livemint
https://csrbox.org/India_CSR_news_A-list-of-11-large-agriculture-CSR-projects-
in-India_48.
https://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/49330470.cms?utm_
source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst accessed on
08/09/18
24
KPMG, 2008. http://www.in.kpmg.com/pdf/csr_whitepaper.pdf accessed on 24/ Poverty Alleviation
08/20

https://www.livemint.com/Companies/oyHdaJdn96pnmzdIFUIFNO/How-
companies-are-spending-on-CSR-projects.html accessed on 5/9/18

https://www.livemint.com/Politics/OIdNvn30nqdrGQC6pARu3J/India-has-
largest-number-of-malnourished-children-in-the-wor.html accessed on 3/12/18

https://www.savethechildren.in/role-of-ngo-in-corporate-social-responsibility-act
accessed on 08/09/18

Srinivas, A. (2018). What Has Driven India’s Poverty Reduction? https://

www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/what-has-driven-india-s-poverty-
reduction/story-s83YduiFxOfFyQGIqdLW5L.html

https://www.slideshare.net/NanaAgyemang3/bus-ethics-csr-13-2013-12 accessed
on 11/09/18

“List of goals, targets, and indicators” (PDF). Siteresources.worldbank.org.

Retrieved 2018-10-18.

“Tracking the Millennium Development Goals”. Mdg Monitor. 2018-05-16.

Retrieved 2018-10-18.

“United Nations Millennium Development Goals”. Un.org. 2008-05-20. Retrieved

2018-10-18.

1.10 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS - POSSIBLE

ANSWERS
Check Your Progress – 1
Answer 1: The causes of poverty include poor techniques used in agriculture,
unequal distribution of wealth. As a result, the poor people are often exploited
by the wealthy community. Growing population, gap between rich and poor,
corruption and black money are other important causes of poverty.

Answer 2: The effects of poverty are: illiteracy, child labour, nutrition and diet,
poor living condition and housing problems, unemployment, hygiene and
sanitation, feminization of poverty and social tensions.

Check Your Progress – 2

Answer 1: Possible benefits for companies by investing in poverty alleviation
include winning new business; enhanced relationship with stakeholders;
attracting, retaining and maintaining a happy workforce; media interest and good
reputation; access to funding opportunities; enhancing influence; differentiating
from competitor; saving money; and increase in customer retention.

Answer 2: The three types of measures adopted for removal of poverty by the
companies include:
1) General Growth: Expansion of Agricultural and Non-farm Activities in Rural
Areas;
25
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I 2) Supplementary Measures to General Growth Measures;
3) Social Uplift.
Check Your Progress – 3
Answer 1: The CSR contribution in community is mainly functional through
their own ‘Trust’ or NGO. The reputable NGOs continue to be involved in CSR
implementation. The reason being, that these NGOs can (i) increase the
participation of the local community in various sectors ii) create awareness e.g.
awareness about preventive conditions for communicable and non-communicable
diseases and iii) Educate masses/communities/ specific or identified group of
people by using alternate or innovative means.

Answer 2: An example of role of NGO in implementing CSR programmes of

corporates

Save the Children: a recognized NGO for CSR initiative

The NGO has been preventing child labour through lobbying for policy reform
and stronger legislation while undertaking grassroots missions to free children
from bonded labour. Instead, it empowers these children with education, job
skills, giving India’s marginalized children, a new lease of life. Apart from this
Save the Children works to provide healthcare, education and life-saving aid
during emergencies to children. Today, Save the Children India is a favoured
partner for India’s biggest corporates. Not only does the NGO have decades of
experience in working with children, but it is also known for transparency and
accountability in managing corporate resources allocated for children’s rights.

26
 Poverty Alleviation
UNIT 2 QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENT
Structure
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Social Progress Imperatives in India
2.3 Quality of Life: Concept and Elements
2.4 Let Us Sum Up
2.5 Keywords
2.6 Abbreviations
2.7 Bibliography and Selected Readings
2.8 Check Your Progress – Possible Answers

2.1 INTRODUCTION
Quality of life (QOL) is the general well-being of individuals and societies,
negative and positive features of life. It observes life satisfaction, including
everything from physical health, family, education, employment, wealth, safety,
and security to freedom, religious beliefs, and the environment. Standard
indicators of the quality of life include not only wealth and employment but also
the built environment, physical and mental health, education, recreation and
leisure time, and social belonging. According to the World Health Organization
(WHO), quality of life is defined as “the individual’s perception of their position
in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in
relation to their goals.” In the collective consciousness, Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) is usually associated with only ecological and philanthropic
activities, but there is more to CSR than that. CSR is about engaging with the
social environment in which one lives. For better understanding it refers to
‘community,’ defined as a reciprocal agreement with the habitat surrounding the
Company, with stakeholders like employees and their families, customers,
investors, neighbours, suppliers, the environment, etc. A necessary, rather than
voluntary commitment from corporations is needed to meet society’s demands
for corporate involvement in general well-being. This unit deals with the
corporate’s engagements with the community development initiatives improving
the quality of life of population. This unit will be describing the initiatives of the
Companies who addressed the ‘social progress imperatives’ through community
development programmes, changing the quality of life in or around their
operational areas.
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
Explain the concept of quality of life
Describe the social progress imperatives in India
Discuss CSR interventions to improve quality of life

27
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I
2.2 SOCIAL PROGRESS IMPERATIVES IN INDIA
In this section we will read about two indices. The first one is the Human
Development Index, developed by UNDP and is a globally accepted indicator of
human development. The second one is the Social Progress Index which is a
private initiative.

2.2.1 Human Development Index

The search for an alternative measure had been on for a long time, beginning
around the period after World War II. Various agencies, organizations and
individuals (The UN, The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), The
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), The UN
Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), The World Bank and
others) made efforts to evolve an alternative measure to replace the economic
measure representing income, the GDP.

The focus of these attempts was oriented towards calculating an appropriate

measure which took into account the social concerns of any country’s
development, such as individual security, social adjustment, political participation,
freedom, justice, peace, and harmony, in addition to health, literacy, employment,
income, consumption, and so on. To conceptualize aspects of living standards
and to be able to measure them posed many philosophical, as well as statistical,
problems. Most agencies arrived at the conclusion that no single indicator could
serve a similar purpose as GDP, nor was it considered feasible. Efforts towards
creating a composite index by combining a set of crucial variables were ongoing
through this period. Many earlier efforts were abortive, although these endeavours
resulted in enriching the conceptual issues surrounding human wellbeing.

The search for a new composite index of socio-economic progress began in the
earnest in preparing the Human Development Report (HDR) under the
sponsorship of UNDP in 1989. The human development index (HDI) measures
the basic dimensions of human development to enlarge people’s choices. The
HDI measures the average achievements of a country in three basic dimensions:
a long and healthy life, as measured by life expectancy at birth
knowledge, as measured by the adult literacy rate (with two-thirds weight)
and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrolment ratio
(with one-third weight)

a decent standard of living, as measured by GDP per capita in purchasing

power parity (PPP) terms in USD

2.2.2 Social Progress Index

The quality of life is critical to understand whether economic growth is fostering
social development across the globe or not. It is essential to rank based on a
government’s effectiveness at meeting basic human needs, at providing a
foundation for well-being with basic education and environmental protection,
and at creating opportunity for all citizens to make personal choices and reach
their full potential (Fig. 2.1). This kind of framework is being used by the Social
Progress Imperative to create the Social Progress Index. India which is ranked at
28
93rd position, performs within the expected range on a relative basis. It out- Quality of Life Improvement
performs in comparison to the countries having similar GDP per capita in
providing water and electricity facilities. On an absolute level, India has moved
up from the tier of “Low Social Progress” to “Lower Middle Social Progress.”
The progress is mainly driven by the advancement in two components: 1) Shelter
and 2) Access to Information and Communication. The living conditions have
significantly advanced. For instance, affordable housing is now accessible to 67
percent of the population as opposed to 42 percent in 2014; there is a 14 percent
fall in the deaths attributable to household air pollution. Internet users have
increased sharply from 12 percent in 2014 to 26 percent in 2017. Other measures
of communication, such as Press Freedom Index, phone subscribers also register
an upward trend. However, there is still a lot of scope for improvement in
providing communication facilities. For instance, the internet users are way low
than the world average. The country also needs to address environmental
challenges to step further up in social progress ranks. Although greater income
can easily and positively influence a country’s social progress performance some
countries are much better at turning their economic growth into social progress.
For instance, India and Laos have similar levels of GDP but the social progress
performance of India is better than the latter. Overall, it is important for the
states to act on social challenges by designing innovative mechanisms that will
help them move towards a more inclusive society. The one such way is by CSR
contributions. The Companies are adopting SDGs in their Vision –Mission
statements which act as basic block of their interventions. Most of the Vision
document talks about well-being. Fundamental questions arise from this quest
for greater well-being, from those responsible for carrying out these programs.
Some corporations have specific programmes on quality of life in the Company
to create a favourable working environment, that is encouraging, positive, tolerant
and respectful, that does not discriminate, and that acts as a catalyst for the personal
development of employees.

Nutrition & basic

Basic Human Needs medical care
Water & Sanitation
Shelter
Personal safety

Access to basic knowledge

Basic Human Needs Access to information &
communication
Health & wellness
Quality of environment

Personal rights
Basic Human Needs Personal freedom &
choice
Tolerence & inclusion

Fig 2.1: Quality of Life - Social Progress Index 29

Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I The various units will discuss in detail the various programmes of different areas
of development. In the present unit we will discuss the case studies where the
companies in their vision document have laid down quality of life as major aim
for doing CSR. We will also try and see the impact of the type of interventions
they are initiating.
Check Your Progress - 1
Notes: a) Write your answers in about 50 words.
b) Check your answer with possible answers given at the end of the unit.
1) Define quality of life.
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2) What are basic human need components?

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3) What are foundations of well-being?

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2.3 QUALITY OF LIFE: CONCEPT AND

ELEMENTS
Understanding Quality of life seems logical for companies that have integrated
social responsibility into their strategy, because they have made a commitment
to their environment. This term is particularly broad, covering programmes for
employees and general positive social impacts. However, there is also some
subjectivity to it, depending on an individual’s perception. Therefore, up to date
in-depth case studies on the topic are a very valuable source of information for
businesses, corporations, and the general public. This unit will be describing the
case studies of the companies who have undertaken comprehensive community
30
development projects as various specific interventions we have seen or will come Quality of Life Improvement
across in other units. From various CSR reporting it is evident that whether
small or big, the CSR interventions are leaving their impression on the lives of
local communities.

Quality of life means the degree of fulfilment if basic needs like food, clothes,
housing, health, education, as well as having satisfaction with physical,
psychological, emotional, and spiritual needs, are met. The social, cultural and
other needs are education, health, employment, human rights, freedom, security
and entertainment.

2.3.1 Need and Importance of Quality of Life from Socio-

Cultural Aspect
It is important because it removes social perversions, evils, conservative
and traditional thoughts, impartial social norms and values.
It helps to take wise decision.
Women are educated.
It helps to get quality education to enhance capabilities and skills.
It helps to change the society with new ideas, planning, technology, etc.

2.3.2 Need and Importance of Quality of Life from Economic

Aspect
Economic development is the backbone of national development.
It means to increase per-capita income.
It means to achieve quality of life.
It helps to provide nutrition, comfortable shelter, clothes, education, and
skill-based activities.
It fosters economic and skill-based activities.

2.3.3 Elements of Quality of Life

1) Nutritious Food
An important element in quality of life is nutritious food which helps physical,
mental and intellectual development in an individual. We need food for three
purposes: (i) energy (ii) body-building and (iii) body-protection. A balanced diet
is made up of at least one food from each group that makes our mind and body
healthy. When we lack nutritious and balanced food, we lose physical and mental
efficiency. So, every member of the family needs to have balanced diet regularly
to maintain quality of life. Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excess or imbalance
in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients. The term malnutrition covers two
broad groups of conditions. One is ‘under-nutrition’-which includes stunting
(low height for age), wasting (low weight for height), underweight (low weight
for age) and micronutrient deficiencies or insufficiencies (a lack of important
vitamins and minerals). The other, is ‘overweight’, obesity and diet-related non-
communicable diseases (such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer). As
per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4 following are the finding of
the extent of malnutrition in India:
31
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I Due to acute under-nutrition, 21% of children aged between 0 to 5 years in
India suffer from wasting.

In India, 38.7% of children are stunted and the percentage of children aged
0 to 5 years who are underweight is 36%.

India is home to 3 out of 10 children suffering from stunted growth in the

world.

53% of women in India suffer from anaemia (haemoglobin below

11.0 g/dl); the percentage of children is 58% for the same.

The 2020 Global Hunger Index (GHI) Report ranked India 94th out of 107
countries with a serious hunger situation.

Malnutrition impacts the Indian population in many ways, following are some
of the direct and indirect effects:

The nation’s productivity is impacted because the population is more prone

to diseases leading to higher mortality rate and morbidity because of
malnutrition.

A country’s economic and fiscal resources are burdened because of high

disease incidence.

Malnutrition impacts a child’s basic learning and cognitive skills which

has a very negative impact for a country like India who is aiming to be a
knowledge-driven economy.

Inequality of income and an increase in poverty levels is also an effect of

malnutrition.

In the Hunger Project, many companies like Hewlett Packard, IBM, Johnson &
Johnson, L&T, Info-tech, and Pricewaterhouse Coopers are giving CSR
cooperation in the mission of ending hunger to empower women, men and
children at the grassroots level to build their own income-generating capacity,
infrastructure and leverage opportunities, hence, expanding the scope for quality
of life among them. There are many other companies who initiated the intervention
in the field of nutrition; like Avantha Group (Conglomerates) running Child
Malnutrition Programme, Britannia Industries Ltd. School Feeding Programme,
and Hindustan Zinc Ltd. providing Mid-day Meal Programme. Detail of these is
provided in Unit-4.

2) Family Size
The size of a family affects quality of life. In a big family, most of the income is
spent in the fulfilment of basic requirements. The left over is not enough for
other needs like employment, security, entertainment, human rights, freedom,
transport and communication. Quality of life is thus adversely affected. This sort
of barrier does not occur in a small family. So, a small family is better than a big
family for quality of life. Parents in a small family can fulfil their responsibilities
towards their children without much burden. Companies through clinics and
community outreach programmes do incorporate Health & Family Welfare
programme as one major programme. Most of the companies discussed in various
32
units do possess family planning and welfare programmes. These programmes Quality of Life Improvement
are mainly in community outreach initiatives.

3) Health
Health is increasingly becoming a focal point of Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR), largely due to the recognition that a healthy workforce and community
are fundamental to the longevity of a business and success of an economy. Health
is undoubtedly precious. Only healthy and skilled men can work hard to bring
about development. So, the family’s well-being and the country’s progress depend
on healthy people. India carries 20% of the world’s disease burden, according to
data from the World Health Organization (WHO). About 75% of deaths globally
are caused by communicable diseases, of which India accounts for 17%. India
records the highest number of maternal deaths in the world (Oxfam report, 2017).
Yet, India also is the third largest manufacturer of pharmaceuticals and according
to Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) India’s monthly internal report, has the largest
number of medical schools globally (381) and produces the most medical
graduates each year (50,000). The reason for the dichotomy is simple: India
lacks the financial resources required to reinforce its deficient healthcare
infrastructure and improve its health indicators. Healthcare programmes are
funded by government budgets, international aid, and charitable organizations,
but the money isn’t quite enough for a country of 1.25 billion people, two-thirds
of whom live in the countryside, where the supply of medical care and the ability
to pay for services is limited.

India spends only 5% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on health, of which
government’s share is only 1.4%. It is among the lowest in the world and this
low percentile automatically translates into inadequate infrastructure, limited
medical technology as well as inadequate human resources in the healthcare
continuum. With government finances under pressure, requiring a tight rein on
spending, companies step in with corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds to
fill the breach. However, CSR funds can and are being used to encourage
innovation in healthcare processes and medical devices to deliver healthcare in a
portable, convenient and cost-effective way: Many companies have undertaken
healthcare-related CSR initiatives, from eye check-up camps organized by Coal
India Ltd. to health centres and camps held by ITC Ltd.

Most such activities are restricted to their area of operations. Apollo Hospitals
Enterprise Ltd. for instance, runs several charitable initiatives such as SACHI
(Save a Child’s Heart Initiative), which aims to provide paediatric cardiac care
and financial support to children from underprivileged families suffering from
heart disease in its hospitals in Delhi, Chennai and other locations. But the group’s
reach in rural areas is limited. Apollo has adopted Thavanampalle Mandal in
Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh to provide healthcare to 60,000 people. This
CSR project, starting with a door-to-door survey, delivers mobile healthcare
facilities to mitigate the effects of non-communicable diseases and other health
disorders. Mumbai-based pharma company Abbott India Ltd. believes that timely
detection and awareness can help reduce a majority of deaths and that is the
focus of its health-related CSR initiative.

The company, in collaboration with the Indian Thyroid Society (ITS), is working
on a “Making India Thyroid-Aware” campaign, which will explain thyroid
disorders and related conditions, work on early detection and increase access to
33
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I diagnosis. The initiative was launched in 2014. On the same lines, Lupin
announced a tuberculosis detection programme as part of its CSR programme
and tied up with the Mumbai Rotary club; while these are well-intentioned
initiatives, those working in the healthcare sector are doubtful if CSR funds can
help make a dent in India’s massive disease burden. They also doubt how serious
Firms are in their commitment to spend money for the spread of healthcare.
Public-Private partnerships may be the way to go. CSR funds can help bridge
the gap between healthcare supply and demand if “it is planned well, companies
take on accountability as a priority so that technical expertise could be provided
to government, support public-private partnerships”.
CSR funds can be mobilized to support the healthcare system in two ways:
1) Strategic partnerships can strengthen diagnosis, treatment and care for
patients; and

2) Community programmes can help to keep people healthier, which prevents

visits to the doctor and hospital.

4) Sanitation
Quality of life cannot be enhanced without sanitation. Individual cleanliness
isn’t enough though. Every important place like house, courtyard, garden, public
well, pond, temple, street should be clean. Garbage should be dumped in a proper
place far from the settlement. Sanitation keeps the environment pure and green.
620 million people or 50% of the population in India are estimated to defecate in
the open. To address this issue, Prime Minister Modi launched the Swachh Bharat
Mission (SBM) with an ambitious goal to end open defecation in India by 2019.
Alongside government funding, the Swachh Bharat Mission has witnessed active
participation from the Corporate Sector.

In this part of unit, we look at a few noteworthy initiatives by businesses in India

around water safety & sanitation in the past couple of years. The goal is to bring
light to possible CSR opportunities that other businesses could take up.

i) In February 2016, Coal India Limited set aside INR 235 crores fund for
providing hygienic sanitation in schools and in the households of
underprivileged by constructing individual toilet facilities. This fund was
earmarked for creating modern sanitation facilities in schools operating in
the command areas of CIL’s subsidiary companies and in the villages of
economically backward districts, which lack toilet facilities identified by
coal companies through a baseline survey. Up to a lakh households would
benefit from this initiative.

ii) In December 2016, Dabur reported the completion of its Nagla Uday Rampur
sanitation project in UP. All 263 households today have individual toilets
and the village is now free from open defecation. Notably, this is the second
village under Dabur’s Sanitation programme — christened ‘700 Se 7 Kadam’
— to achieve the open defecation free status. With this, Dabur is now close
to achieving its target of ensuring open defecation free status for at least 5
villages and constructing 1,200 household toilets in the 2016–17 financial
year.

iii) TCS pledged INR 100 Cr budget to support PM Modi’s Clean India
34 Initiative. This fund was dedicated towards better sanitation in schools,
 especially for girls. The goal of the program was to help the girl child Quality of Life Improvement
participate in school education for a longer period and attain significant
skills to play a larger economic role in society.

iv) Kerala-based social enterprise Eram Scientific Solutions, a part of Eram

Group that has pioneered the concept of e-toilets in the country, installed
1,500 more such facilities by the end of 2017 in collaboration with a host of
corporates. These e-toilets are also completely automated with features like
automatic pre- and after flush, exhaust fans, and automatic platform cleaning
and lights. They also have a mobile app that helps the user to locate the
nearest e-toilet and helps authorities to monitor the units.

v) Cairn India lists Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation among key programmes
driving their CSR efforts. Cairn sets up water kiosks using RO technology
to provide safe drinking water to rural population near the company’s
operational vicinity. The initiatives aim to ensure community ownership,
usage of renewable energy to run the units, doorstep delivery of water and
reject disposal through evaporation pits. The company also proposes to
build sanitation facilities for rural households in partnership with the local
panchayat in Rajasthan.

vi) Interestingly, our last example comes from the start-up world. Not many
among us are aware of Snapdeal.com Nagar, a small village in UP renamed
after the E-commerce giant installed 15 hand-pumps back in 2011. The aid
was initiated to overcome the hardships of villagers who had to walk over
miles to meet their requirement of water. Well, every effort counts. As we
transition from Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development
Goals, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) are taking policy centre stage
in most emerging and developing countries. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
is, for instance, a manifestation of this importance.

5) Education
Education is important because it raises awareness and increases knowledge.
The knowledge and skill that one gets from education can be used to improve the
quality of life of the family. A well-educated man can easily get job or he can
start his own enterprise. He can meet all possible family needs. Education
contributes to quality of life. Despite decades of reforms and government
initiatives, multiple students drop out of school for lack of quality education
facilities. This phenomenon clearly shows the need for a distinctive approach to
achieve the goals of providing quality education to the children of this country.
Procuring quality education is the foundation of improving the lives of many.
Major progress has been made to achieve the goal of providing quality education
at all levels, yet India is third of the world’s illiterates based on a report published
by UNESCO. The quality of education provided to children in India is a huge
concern. According to the Annual Status of Education Report 2016 (ASER, 2016)
which surveyed 589 rural districts of India, only 47.7% students of class 5 can
read class 2 level texts. This has declined from the previous year’s performance
of 48.1%. The students also failed badly in arithmetic and English
comprehensions. The proportion of all class 8 students in rural India who are
willing to divide a three-digit number by a single-digit one has dipped to 43.2%
in 2016 from 44.2% in 2014. And while 32% of children in class 3 could read
simple English words, in class 5, only 1 out of every 4 students could read an
English sentence. 35
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I India wants to achieve the most skilled workforce in the world. Therefore,
government has started numerous education programmes to make education
accessible to all. All the government schemes like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan,
Mahila Samakhya, schemes for infrastructure development have worked so far
only to enrol children into schools. Facilities of providing adequate training to
teachers have been not at par. According to a report published by District
Information System for Education (DISE) in 2012, more than 91% of primary
schools have drinking water facilities and 86% of schools built in the last 10
years have a school building. However, this is not enough to overcome the huge
challenge of providing quality education and not only the government but
everyone needs to make efforts towards imparting quality education. We need
think tanks, innovators, and leaders in the society to deliver the numbers.

Though there are various government initiatives, the Indian corporate sector plays
a major role in improving the quality of education. Several private organizations
are joining hands with the government to make quality education available for
students. Some of the best examples of CSR activity in this field include Tata
Group. Tata Steel was the highest spender. It aimed at launching 1,000 schools
project in Odisha, for improving the quality of education in government primary
schools.

Tata Motors, for example, has also started an award-winning education

programme in Pune, where every year, they identify 600 boys and girls enrolled
in secondary schools. Through this program, there has been an increment in the
pass percentage of students to 98% and the dropout rate was reduced to 5%. The
Tata Teleservices has done its best in providing education to students from the
underprivileged community in government schools. The Teacher Training
programs undertaken by them has enhanced the quality of education being
imparted to students studying in government schools. More companies like Tata,
Wipro and others should come forward to participate in imparting quality
education to students. Only then we can achieve the goal of imparting quality
education for all.

6) Income of Family
A family with low income finds it difficult to meet the requirements of life. The
good income helps us achieve better economic status. So, efforts should be made
to increase the income of the family. Capable women should do something like
sewing, knitting, basket making in their leisure so that they can earn additional
money to strengthen the economy of the family. This enhances quality of life.
Units 3 and 4 have details in this regard.

Activity 1
Browse case studies related to CSR activities by companies in augmenting
family income and write down one case study about such related project.
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36
7) Saving or Asset Formation Quality of Life Improvement

Saving is an important element of quality of life. Family saving is the sum of

money or resources which remain spare after spending on different needs and
necessities of the family. Saving is the outcome of the regular activity of economy.
Our income or the resources are limited; so, we must practice economy (being
economic) for saving.

8) Housing
Housing is an essential basic need of a person. We need housing to be safe from
heat, storm, rain, wildlife, criminals, etc. Houses must be appropriate according
to the family members. If rooms and space are insufficient, the family members
must live in a congested environment. Communicable diseases easily spread in
such circumstances. Similarly, the lack of ventilation, lighting, heating in the
house also makes our living unhealthy. If such situation is prevalent in our homes,
the quality of life will be affected. Companies are providing housing facilities to
their employees and their families. Cooperative actions such as understanding,
promoting and contributing to a better life, lead to a more positive view of the
Company, both internally and outside the company. It is an investment of time,
money, and effort with benefits in the short, medium and long term.

9) Environment
CSR programmes being undertaken by several large companies in India suggest
that they have started thinking about their impact on the environment and are
striving to become responsible corporations. Data analysed by the Ministry of
Corporate Affairs for CSR expenditure of all Indian companies in 2014-15 showed
that 14 percent (Rs 1,213 crore) of total CSR spending in India was made on
activities focusing on conserving the environment. It was the third highest
expenditure on a social impact issue after education (32 percent) and health (26
percent) and was greater than the amount spent on rural development (12 percent).
These figures highlight that companies today have an increasingly broad
understanding of the risks and opportunities that climate change poses to their
strategies and operations and that larger issues of sustainability triggered by
climate change are becoming an integral component of dialogues with the major
stakeholders. At the same time, verifiable corporate and partners’ accountability
and reporting have proven to be key drivers to CSR getting embedded in the
mainstream of strategy and business operations of companies. A study conducted
by NextGen to analyse the CSR expenditure (INR) of the top 100 companies for
FY 15-16 and FY 16-17 supports this trend. Among these companies, the top
spenders in environment conservation were primarily from the following three
sectors:
FMCG - ITC (72 crore), HUL (22 crore)
Energy Companies – NTPC (44 crore), IOCL (30 crore)
IT and financial services Companies – Wipro (48 crore), Axis Bank (28
crore)

37
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I
Activity 2
Browse case studies related to CSR activities by companies towards
environment protection and write down one case study about such related
project.
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A deeper dive into the types of CSR projects carried out by these companies
throws up some interesting insights about their perspective towards sustainable
development as a key component of CSR.

i) Sustainable Long-Term Impact

A decade ago, the most common CSR activity with a focus on the environment
was planting trees. Indian companies today are instead focusing on projects that
have a sustainable long-term impact, such as installing solar powered lighting
systems and water conservation projects. By far, the most attractive environment-
related CSR initiative involved the use of renewable energy, ranging from solar
street lamps and lanterns to biomass cook stoves and various rooftop solar projects.
The other emerging focus area tackles water-related issues with several projects
on watershed development and rainwater harvesting. One of the reasons why
companies may prefer such projects to tree plantation drives is that access to
clean water and energy has several cascading effects on the social and economic
development – ranging from opportunities for better education, health, and income
to increased safety for women and lower deaths due to reduced indoor pollution.

ii) Philanthropy to Strategic CSR

Companies have started moving away from traditional philanthropic projects
and have begun institutionalizing CSR activities strategically, thereby bringing
business responsibility to the forefront. Thus, for FMCG firms that source raw
material from farmers, issues like securing and sustaining the livelihoods of
farmers growing inputs for their products as well as local water regeneration
have become extremely critical. Similarly, for energy companies, which are often
considered to be the worst climate offenders, investing in environment-friendly
projects serves to mitigate their risks from a reputation point of view.

iii) Mainstreaming Sustainability

For several of the largest spenders on environment-related projects, sustainability
has become a way of doing business. ITC’s CSR Committee is aptly called the
“CSR and Sustainability Committee.” Similarly, HUL’s projects focus on water
stewardship tie-in with Unilever’s global focus on addressing water scarcity.
Axis Bank spent nearly 28 crores on reducing Green House Gas (GHG) emissions
through renewable energy and optimizing energy efficiency, choosing to
concentrate on reducing the company’s footprint on the environment.

38
At the same time, several large companies are starting to work on shared value Quality of Life Improvement
projects which create value for both the community and for the business. For
example, as per their Sustainable Living Plan 2015, HUL had a clear road map
to source 100 percent of agricultural raw material sustainably by 2020. And their
sustainable tea procurement project carried out as a part of the CSR activities
serves a dual purpose- meeting the 2 percent criteria as well as the company’s
own responsible business targets.

iv) Priority
Despite the emergence of individual thought leaders, sustainability is still not at
the forefront of CSR activities among a majority of Indian companies. This trend
is apparent even among the top 100 companies. Only about a third of the top 100
companies spent a significant portion of their CSR budget on environment-related
activities, with such projects accounting for a mere 10 percent of the total number
of CSR projects carried out in FY 15-16, as per the study conducted by NextGen
to analyse the CSR expenditure of companies.
Check Your Progress - 2
Notes: a) Write your answers in about 50 words.
b) Check your answer with possible answers given at the end of the unit.
1) What is the need and importance of quality of life from socio cultural aspect?
.......................................................................................................................
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.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

2) Enlist the need and importance of quality of life from economic aspect.
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2.4 LET US SUM UP

Business has come a long way from barter system to currency notes. With the
changing times CSR has developed from traditional corporate philanthropy, where
companies allocated a certain amount of their profit to “do well” for the society,
to a core strategic value. The companies have very well understood that doing
charities is no more enough. Shareholders, stakeholders and the employees want
to be part of “doing good work” and want their money to be used for developing
a healthy society. This active thinking to return to the society and being a good
and active corporate citizen has forced all corporate to think more rigorously on
39
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I their social responsibility. Though making profit has always been a key issue
and a motivating force for all businesses but in this century the corporate realized
that they must think beyond profitability and start being responsible for all who
make their survival possible in the society. And this is only possible if they think
wisely and actively about CSR.

All business houses have an obligation towards environment and society, which
provides them with the much-needed raw material and most importantly human
resource. Tata group and Aditya Birla group, the two groups considered for this
unit, have travelled a long way in their cause for CSR. They have very religiously
and responsibly fulfilled their duty towards world, nation, society and
environment. Both the groups have been actively participating in the development
of a self-sustainable society. They have worked in the fields of education, health,
social and women issues. Their active participation and rising above the traditional
philanthropic style have added to both companies’ good will. Both are good
examples to be followed, by nurturing businessmen throughout the world, on
how and why to take up the cause of CSR. Thus, to conclude, this social
participation of business would grow and result in a harmonious and healthy
bond between the society and business. CSR creates a better public image and
goodwill for the company which ultimately results in better business and projects
every corporate as a better corporate citizen. The trends visible in the CSR projects
about the environment highlight a dichotomy in the way companies approach
environment protection interventions in India.

2.5 KEYWORDS
Quality of Life : The standard of health, comfort, and happiness
experienced by an individual or group.
Malnutrition : Malnutrition refers to deficiency, excess or
imbalance in a person’s intake of energy and/or
nutrients.
Gross Domestic Product : Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the monetary
value of all finished goods and services made
within a country during a specific period.

2.6 ABBREVIATIONS
ASER : Annual Status of Education Report
CIL : Coal India Limited
CSR : Corporate Social Responsibility
DISE : District Information System for Education
FMCG – ITC : Fast Moving Consumer Goods- Imperial Tobacco
Company
FY : Financial Year
GDP : Gross Domestic Product
GHG : Green House Gas
GHI : Global Hunger Index

40
 Quality of Life Improvement
HUL : Hindustan Unilever Ltd.
INDC : Intended Nationally Determined Contribution
IT : Information Technology
ITS : Indian Thyroid Society
MDGs : Millennium Development Goals
NFHS : National Family Health Survey
NTPC : National Thermal Power Corporation
PM : Prime Minister
PwC : PricewaterhouseCoopers
QOL : Quality of life
RO Water : Reverse Osmosis Water
SACHI : Save a Child’s Heart Initiative
SBM : Swachh Bharat Mission
TCS : Tata Consultancy Services
UNESCO : United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization
UP : Uttar Pradesh
WASH : Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
WHO : World Health Organization

2.7 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SELECTED READINGS

Articles
Bhattacharya B., Pattanaik B.K. (2014). Corporate Social Responsibility in
Healthcare. International Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities 1 (1) pp 104-
112.

Desai, P.S. and Chandawarkar, M.R. (2016). Aligning CSR Activities of Health
Care Sector to Developmental Needs of India. Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
& Research 8(9), 2016, 1008-1016.

McNally, James W. (2009). Encyclopedia of the Life Course and Human

Development (vol.3 ed.). USA: Macmillan Reference. p. 317.

Nishandar, V.V. (2015). Corporate social responsibility - the way ahead. The
Business & Management Review, 5 (4)),

Books & Reports

Ahuja, R. and Bhattacharya, D. (2007). ‘Healthy Workplace in Corporate Sector
- India’, CII, WHO India Country Office.

Bhattacharya B., Pattanaik B.K. (2012). Corporate Social Responsibility and

Child Rights in India. In Edited Book 86 “Child Exploitation” 2011-12 by Dr.
M.D. Allen Selvakumar with ISBN No 978-81-89630-69-0 publisher global
research publications. 41
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I Baxi, C.V. and Prasad, P. (2005). Corporate Social Responsibility -Concepts &
Cases: The Indian Experience, Excel Books, New Delhi.

Nussbaum, M. and Sen, A. (1993). The Quality of Life. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Description and chapter-preview links.

Government Report
India: Planning Commission (2010-11). Five Year Plans, Planning Commission
of India, New Delhi.

Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17), Vols. I, II and III. Sage Publications Pvt. Ltd.,
New Delhi (for Planning Commission, Government of India).

Online Search
Bottomley, Andrew (2002). “The Cancer Patient and Quality of Life”. The
Oncologist. 7 (2): 120–125.doi:10.1634/theoncologist.7-2-120. ISSN 1083-
7159.PMID 11961195. Retrieved 7 May 2015.

Forerunners in corporate social responsibility, March 16, 2005 The Indian Express,
www.tata.com

Gregory, Derek; Johnston, Ron; Pratt, Geraldine; Watts, Michael; et al., eds.
(June 2009). “Quality of Life”. Dictionary of Human Geography (5th ed.). Oxford:
Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-3287-9.

http://img.asercentre.org/docs/Publications/ASER%20Reports/ASER%202016/
aser_2016.pdf
http://www.adityabirla.com/csr/corporate-social-responsibility-policy
http://www.adityabirla.com/csr/overview
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csr-interventions.jpg

http://www.forbesindia.com/blog/business-strategy/csr-and-sustainable-
development-do-indian-companies-care-about-the-environment/

http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/m- rcbg/CSRI/init_define.html (accessed October

5, 2007).
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https://blog.ekameco.com/6-csr-projects-across-water-and-sanitation-in-india-
543b3c4fa311
https://phfi.org/focus-your-csr-on-preventive-healthcare/
https://www.firstpost.com/business/social-progress-index-indias-quality-of-life-
improves-but-scores-low-on-communication-environment-3
www.pluggd.in/india

42
 Quality of Life Improvement
2.8 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS - POSSIBLE
ANSWERS
Check Your Progress - 1
Answer 1: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), quality of life
is defined as “the individual’s perception of their position in life in the context of
the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals.”
Answer 2: The basic human need components include the following
Nutrition & Basic Medical-Care;
Water & Sanitation;
Shelter; and
Personal Safety.
Answer 3: The foundations of well-being include:
Access to basic knowledge;
Access to information & communication;
Health & wellness; and
Quality of environment
Check Your Progress - 2
Answer 1: The need and importance of quality of life from socio-cultural aspect
are as follows:

It is important because it removes social perversions, evils, conservative

and traditional thoughts, impartial social norms, and values;
It helps to take wise decision.
Women are educated.
It helps to get quality education to enhance capabilities and skills.
It helps to change the society with new ideas, planning, technology, etc.
Answer 2: The need and importance of quality of life from economic aspect are:
Economic development is the backbone of national development.
It means to increase per-capita income.
It means to achieve quality of life.
It helps to provide nutrition, comfortable shelter, clothes, education, and
skill-based activities.
It fosters economic and skill-based activities.

43
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I
UNIT 3 EMPLOYMENT GENERATION AND
LIVELIHOOD
Structure
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Understanding Livelihoods
3.3 Need for Livelihood Promotion
3.4 Livelihood Intervention
3.5 Funding of the Livelihood Activity
3.6 Sustainable Livelihood (SL)
3.7 Let Us Sum Up
3.8 Keywords
3.9 Abbreviations
3.10 Bibliography and Selected Readings
3.11 Check Your Progress – Possible Answers

3.1 INTRODUCTION
India has now over 1250 million people out of which 500 million are workers.
Every year the workforce increases by about two percent that is about ten million
net increment. Of the 500 million who are already working, about 93% are
working either in the agriculture or the informal sector. The livelihood challenge
in India, therefore, is a twin challenge – one of creating ten million new livelihoods
every year and the second of upgrading the livelihoods of about 350 million
people who are already employed. Given the magnitude of the issue, and the
dearth of resources for livelihood promotion, the task of promoting livelihoods
for the poor becomes even more urgent. It calls for companies to use their
resources optimally to achieve maximum scale. On the other hand, most of the
companies/development agencies are ‘theme oriented’ (e.g.: watershed
management, health, agriculture, etc.). While they can leave a lasting and
sustainable positive impact in livelihood promotion, they are oftentimes required
to develop a thorough understanding of what livelihood promotion means to
their respective specializations. This unit gives an overview of livelihoods and
provides some basic concepts that are fundamental to livelihood promotion.

After studying this unit, you should be able to know:

Describe the need for livelihood promotion
Discuss the elements of design of livelihood intervention
Discuss various efforts towards livelihood promotion
Explain sustainable livelihood

3.2 UNDERSTANDING LIVELIHOODS

A livelihood is much more than employment. The hidden complexity behind the
term ‘livelihood’ comes to light when Governments, Civil Society, and external
44 organizations attempt to assist people whose means of making a living is
threatened, damaged, or destroyed. From extensive learning and practice, various Employment Generation and
Livelihood
definitions have emerged that attempt to represent the complex nature of a
livelihood.

Box 3.1: Livelihood and Sustainability

A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets (including both material and

social resources) and activities required for a means of living. A livelihood is
sustainable when it can cope with and recover from stress, shocks and maintain
or enhance its capabilities, assets both now and in the future, while not
undermining the natural resource base.

A person’s livelihood refers to the means of securing the necessities of life –

food, water, shelter, and clothing. Livelihood is defined as a set of activities,
involving capacity to acquire above necessities, working either individually or
as a group by using endowments (both human and material) for meeting the
requirements of the self and his/her household, on a sustainable basis with dignity.
Living is largely about generating income. But this is really a means to an end
which also includes aspects of food security, providing a home, health, reduced
vulnerability to climatic, economic or political shocks, sustainability (the ability
to continue to make a satisfactory living) and power (the ability to control one’s
own destiny). Hence, livelihood is a set of economic activities, involving self-
employment and or wage employment, by using one’s endearments (human and
material), to generate adequate resources (cash and non-cash), for meeting the
requirements of self and the household, usually carried out repeatedly and as
such become a way of life.

3.2.1 Conditions for the Livelihood Promotion

A livelihood should keep a person:
meaningfully occupied;
in a sustainable manner; and
with dignity.
Livelihoods therefore go far beyond generating income. A livelihood is much
more than employment. Less than 10 percent of rural workers in India are
employed on a regular basis. Poor rural households engage in more than one
activity for their livelihood.

3.3 NEED FOR LIVELIHOOD PROMOTION

There are basically three reasons to promote livelihood:

1) The primary reason to promote livelihood is the belief in the essential right
of all human beings to equal opportunity. Poor people do not have life
choices nor do they have opportunities. Ensuring that a poor household has
a stable livelihood will substantially increase its income, and over time,
asset ownership, self-esteem and social participation.

2) The second reason for livelihood promotion is to promote economic growth.

The ‘bottom of the pyramid’ does not have the purchasing power to buy
even the bare necessities of life – food, clothing and shelter. But as they get
45
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I steadier incomes through livelihood promotion, they become customers of
many goods and services, which promote growth.

3) The third reason for promoting livelihoods is to ensure social and political
stability. When people are hungry, they tend to take to violence and crime.
Check Your Progress - 1
Notes: a) Write your answers in about 50 words.
b) Check your answer with possible answers given at the end of the unit.
1) Define livelihood.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

2) Which are the basic three reasons to promote livelihood?

.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

3.4 LIVELIHOOD INTERVENTION

3.4.1 Background
Livelihood promotion evolved a great deal since the early days with contributions
from people like Rabindranath Tagore, conceiver of the Sriniketan experiment,
Spencer Hatch of YMCA, Marthandam experiment, Fr. Brayne of the Gurgaon
experiment, Albert Mayer of Etawah project who initiated livelihood promotion
in their own ways. Mahatma Gandhi one of the early livelihood thinkers of 20th
century had a holistic vision of livelihood, with the deep concern for both the
poor and sustainability. Gandhiji suggested developing local economies by
promoting inter dependent activities as a member of mutually supportive
community, eventually leading to ‘gram swaraj.’ During this period the emphasis
was on building human capital and imparting knowledge as the people lacked
the know-how to do better. Even in the years after independence, the government,
policies and strategies were based on similar principles. The multipurpose
approach to promote rural livelihoods was promoted during the First and Second
Five Year Plans through the Community Development Programme and Panchayat
Raj System. In the subsequent Five-Year Plans emphasis was laid on livelihood
promotion adopting various strategies.

46
3.4.2 Elements of Design of Livelihood Intervention Employment Generation and
Livelihood

Livelihood interventions are conscious efforts by an agency or organization to

promote and support livelihood opportunities for many people. Three elements
of the design of the livelihood intervention are given below (Fig.3.1)

Objectives of the
Intervention

Nature of the Design of the

Intervention Livelihood Activity

Fig 3.1: Three Elements of Design of Livelihood Intervention

3.4.3 Framing the Objectives of Livelihood Interventions

Livelihoods can be enhanced in many ways. Among others, it can be done by:
Enhancing income
Creating assets or wealth
Increasing food security
Reducing risk
Reducing variances in income
Reducing rural to urban migration
Organizing producers to have greater control over their livelihoods
Enhancing the money that circulates within the local economy
Although achieving one objective sometimes leads to fulfilling the other
objectives, this is not always so. The primary objective of most livelihood
interventions in India today is enhancing incomes and food security. Asset creation
is usually seen as a means to enhance income. While organizing producers, again
to achieve better returns, is also common, however, strategies to reduce risk are
less common, and very few interventions explicitly focus on enhancing the money
that circulates within the local economy. Reducing migration is often an outcome
of other livelihood strategies, but is very rarely a stated objective. However, in
the recent years, with the opening of the insurance sector, many new initiatives
in this direction have been started. ICICI Lombard and ICICI Prudential, AVIVA,
among others, have developed different products to reduce the risk of various
livelihoods supporting activities.

47
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I 3.4.4 Nature of the Interventions
The nature of livelihood intervention can vary along three dimensions:

1) The sector to be intervened: It should be decided whether the existing

livelihood activity is to be improved or a new activity must be promoted.
The sector to be intervened is often choice based demand. Upon the demand
and factor conditions, however, there are choices:

One could choose to improve upon an existing livelihood activity. For

example, SIFFS (South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies)
introduced motorized boats among small fishermen in Kerala

OR

One could work on a livelihood activity new to the area. For example,
Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency (MYRADA) introduced
assembling watchstraps in collaboration with Titan Watches in a
predominantly agrarian area.

2) The point of intervention: Which part of the value-addition chain is to be

focused? Whether missing inputs such as technology development or credit
has to be provided or integrated with the delivery of inputs, or intervened at
multiple points providing several services; needs to be decided. After
choosing the sector in which to intervene, it is important to identify in what
to intervene? For example, if dairy sub-sector is chosen it is necessary to
identify whether to improve fodder production, or to process the milk, or to
build linkages with the market, to get the best benefit to the producers.

Intervention can be to improve the production process itself as in the case

of PRADAN, which developed a small-scale technology for rearing poultry
and is helping tribal groups take up such production. Seri-2000 with the
support from Silk Development and Cooperation (SDC) helped silk farmers
to improve their rearing processes.

Producers can be helped to get a better market price for their produce.
Example, SIFFS (South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies) facilitates
marketing of the fish caught by its members. NDDB (National Dairy
Development Board) has setup processing plants and provides marketing
channels for the milk produced by the members.

3) The instrument of intervention: What is the tool of intervention? Do people

have to be trained to make the necessary changes? The issue of where to
intervene in the value-addition chain and the choice of approaches on how
to intervene are closely linked.
The inputs to be focused on during intervention strategies:
a) Technology: Some interventions in livelihoods have evolved around
technological intervention. SIFFS has introduced motorized boats using
a simple technology to help the fishermen.

b) Training: Training inputs have been an integral part of most interventions

in livelihoods. The NGO MYRADA had given significant skill building
to rural girls to take up the contract for watchstrap manufacturing of
48
 Titan, while promoting project MEADOW which aims at ensuring better Employment Generation and
Livelihood
livelihood through engagement of rural women.

c) Marketing: The Association of Crafts Producers (ACP) provides

marketing assistance to a wide range of producers in Nepal. Other
interventions like Janarth, NDDB extended market support services to
the producers.

d) Asserting Rights: The National Alliance of Street Vendors lobbied for

the rights of street vendors and worked with national, state and local
governments. Similarly, SEWA focused on ensuring that the beedi roller
got what law entitled them to.

e) Policy Advocacy: Livelihood choices are often enabled or restricted by

the policy environment. SEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Association)
made significant dent in the policy environment, which earlier never
recognized unorganized workforce as labour.

f) Building Local Interdependent Economy: Interventions designed to

strengthen an interdependent local economy, where a large proportion
of the inputs required for an activity are procured locally, and value
addition of the products is also done at the local level, have been tried
by some agencies, as in the case of DHRUVA-BAIF (Bharatiya Agro
Industries Foundation)

g) Credit: BASIX (Bhartiya Samruddhi Investments and Consulting

Services), a rural livelihoods promotion institution working in many states
in India, extends micro-credit services for a variety of rural activities
including farming, animal husbandry, cottage industries, trade and
services.

h) Infrastructure: Some interventions also provide infrastructure, such as

developing milk-chilling centres, various food processing units etc.
Infrastructure such as creating milk chilling centres or building a road is
often beyond the capacity of NGOs. However, there are several examples
of NGO interventions in creating small or micro infrastructures like
grading and sorting platform or creating a common work place for
community. The case on DHRUVA may be referred, which has created
community owned processing unit.

i) Institution building: In some cases, the organization promoting or

supporting livelihoods has focused only on building producer
organizations. The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) in
Gujarat has been involved in organizing communities into various
peoples’ institutions such as Water Users’ Association, Mahila Vikas
Mandal while developing watershed in this area. These institutions have
emerged as strong peoples’ organizations, where the livelihood choices
are made by these organizations and not by the intervention agency. It is
not essential that only one instrument of intervention is chosen; it is also
possible to use more than one. For example, providing livelihoods support
services of many kinds, like quality input, timely credit and output
marketing (as AKRSP does).

49
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I
Activity 1

Visit a CSR project on livelihood intervention in your vicinity. Write down

the sector of intervention, point of intervention and instrument of intervention
of the project.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
Check Your Progress - 2
Notes: a) Write your answers in about 50 words.
b) Check your answer with possible answers given at the end of the unit.
1) Define livelihood interventions.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

2) What are three elements of the design of the livelihood intervention?

.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

3) Write the ways in which livelihoods can be enhanced.

.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

3.5 FUNDING OF THE LIVELIHOOD ACTIVITY

The funding of livelihood activities can be done by using any of the following
50 means:
1) Grant-based Funding Employment Generation and
Livelihood
Grants are good to start with and to provide a range of services in addition to the
primary activity itself, but may lead to uncompetitive businesses, which close
when grant funds run out.

2) Loan-based Funding
Loans allow for proper investment in the business, but may be difficult to access
and difficult to repay if the business fails.

3) Equity
Equity is more flexible and less risky than loans, and is in many ways the ideal
finance for an activity, but is often very difficult for a micro or small enterprise
to secure. The case of MYRADA-MEADOW provides an example where workers
themselves contributed equity-type funds to allow the business to invest in
infrastructure. In many livelihood interventions, poor households provide sweat-
equity in the form of their labour.

4) Financial Orchestration
A combination of grants, loans and equity can also be chosen. This kind of
financial orchestration gives flexibility to do initial work (which is often not
commercially feasible) with grant support and then take loans when the livelihood
activity is in a position to scale up.

Government of India has been one of the largest agencies involved in such
promotion efforts. However, the corporate sectors and the NGO sector have also
contributed to promoting livelihoods.

Activity 2

Visit a CSR project on livelihood intervention in your vicinity. Write about

the sources of funding of the project.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

Here are a few examples:

Alternate Implementation Mechanism (AIM) - A Case Study on Public

Private Civil Society Partnership in Jalna, (Maharashtra)

The Public Private Civil Society Partnership (PPCP) project was designed for
implementing National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) activities
as well as State Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (SREGS) activities on
watershed approach. The project is an AIM initiative undertaken by the Zilla
Parishad, District administration, Watershed Organization Trust (WOTR) and
Indian Tobacco Company–Rural Development Trust (ITC–RDT) in two blocks
of Jalna district, Maharashtra. The PPCP arrangement in the project was designed
51
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I based on the lessons from State REGS, experience of WOTR–SIED and ITC–
RDT, and willingness from the multi-disciplinary Zilla Parishad (ZP) of Jalna.

Impact and Challenges

More than 70 per cent of works under the PPCP programme was undertaken for
soil and water conservation in the district. The programme is driven by the demand
for work by the community. The flow of funds to NGOs and technical partners
depends on the amount of work generated through shelf of work. Therefore, the
labour estimates vis-à-vis the work generated impacted the livelihoods of the
community.

The Gram Sabha (GS) had played a pivotal role in implementation of REGS. It
was responsible for recommending shelf of works to be taken up under REGS
and conducting social audits of the implementation. In addition, GS had supported
extensively to facilitate the implementation of the schemes. In the process of
delivery, the GS was strengthened institutionally in terms of generating work
and handling payments.

WOTR is executing watershed projects under NREGA in two blocks, namely

Jafrabad and Bhokardan of Jalna district of Maharashtra. From the PPCP
arrangement it became evident that the partnership between the agencies has the
potential to deliver results while aiming at improvement in the productivity of
land. Soil and water conservation measures were the vehicles to address larger
issues in implementing NREGS in the district, while considering the potential of
all the stakeholders.

Few of the other examples are—

Government programs such as the National Rural Employment Programme
(NREP), refashioned as the Sampoorna Gram Samriddhi Yojana, guaranteed
wage-employment to the poor in the lean season through public works such
as road building. Part of the wages were paid in kind as food grains, which
was a carryover from the erstwhile “food for work” programme.

Government programmes such as the erstwhile Integrated Rural

Development Programme (IRDP), refashioned as the Swarna Jayanti
Grameen Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), promoted self-employment among
the poor through acquisition of an income generating asset with the help of
a bank loan and a government subsidy. AXIS and PNB bank are few
examples.

Special government programmes, run in specific states, to promote both

wage employment, such as the Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) of
Maharashtra and to promote self-employment through highly subsidized
asset acquisition, such as the World Bank sponsored District Poverty
Initiatives Program (DPIP) in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and
Rajasthan.

Programmes run by sectoral institutions such as the National Dairy

Development Board, the Central Silk Board, the Coir Board, the National
Horticultural Board, and the Development Commissioners for Handloom
and Handicrafts.

52
 Programmes run by non-governmental agencies, for promoting livelihoods Employment Generation and
Livelihood
in different regions and sectors, such as by World Vision India, SEWA,
BAIF, MYRADA, AKRSP, PRADAN, RGVN and BASIX.

The Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) works with over 750,000

self-employed women of low-income households.

Bhartiya Agro-Industries Foundation’s (BAIF) programme supporting one

million livelihoods, comprising cattle cross-breeding, pasture development,
horticulture, etc.

Venkateswara Hatcheries intervention to develop the poultry sector,

culminating in the National Egg Coordination Council, which serves over
200,000 poultry producers.

Various micro-finance interventions by banks and NGOs have influenced

the livelihoods of more than twelve million people.

3.6 SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD (SL)

The concept of Sustainable Livelihood (SL) is an attempt to go beyond the
conventional definitions and approaches to poverty eradication. These had been
found to be too narrow because they focused only on certain aspects or
manifestations of poverty, such as low income, or did not consider other vital
aspects of poverty such as vulnerability and social exclusion. It is now recognized
that more attention must be paid to the various factors and processes which either
constrain or enhance poor people’s ability to make a living in an economically,
ecologically, and socially sustainable manner. The SL concept offers a more
coherent and integrated approach to poverty. In perspective of making the concept
more practical and operational a composite flow of chart is given below (Fig.3.4):

Fig 3.4: Sustainable Livelihood Framework

(Source: DFID, Sustainable Livelihood guidance sheet)

Project (Oil India Limited) OIL Rupantar: Sustainable Livelihood - Point (ii)
of Schedule VII of Companies Act, 2013

Growing unemployment, a major cause of social unrest, threatens OIL’s

long-term business goals. In its areas of operation, OIL is seen as the only
53
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I source of direct/indirect employment. Committed to socio-economic
development, OIL collaborated with State Institute of Rural Development
(SIRD), Assam, to launch Project Rupantar (meaning transformation) in
the year 2003 to overcome unemployment especially amongst rural youth
and women by motivating them to engage in entrepreneurship development
programmes exploring self-employment opportunities in the primary,
secondary and tertiary sectors.

The project has since encouraged many self-help groups (SHGs)/joint

liability groups (JLGs) to pursue agro-based industries, animal husbandry,
sericulture, fishery, organic farming, and diversification of handloom
products. Aastha, a marketing outlet in OIL Field Headquarters at Duliajan,
Assam, adds value to the project by providing support to the marketing
needs of the SHGs.

With infrastructural and other support from OIL, SIRD has formed 8,500
SHGs and JLGs since 2003. OIL exclusively has formed 2,450 SHGs/JLGs
from 2008-09 to 2016-17, providing farmers, women, and youth - mostly
in tea garden areas with 50% subsidy, other financial and material inputs.
In the last three fiscals since 2014-15, OIL has formed 1,300 SHGs/JLGs
for poultry, piggery, handloom (weaving) and farm mechanization (power
tiller), assisting 9,725 farm families.

World Petroleum Congress held in Doha in December 2011 recognized

Project Rupantar as one of 12 best CSR initiatives by the global oil and gas
industry and highlighted it in the Social Responsibility Global Village, as
part of the Congress.

Agriculture Project
Started in the year 1991, the project implemented under the Oil India Rural
Development Society (OIRDS). OIRDS is one of the foremost social welfare
projects of OIL conceived with the principal objective of promoting
sustainable growth of rural economy.

The primary objective of the Agriculture Project is to encourage the

unemployed youth to adopt agriculture as a means of earning livelihood
and thereby attain economic empowerment. The farmers are introduced to
modern methods of cultivation for maximizing farm yield through in-field
training by experts from Agriculture Department, Government of Assam
and Assam Agriculture University (AAU) and providing them with high
yield variety seeds, organic manure, farming tools and implements.

Since 1991-92 till 2016-17, OIRDS has adopted 118 villages under various
farmers’ collectives, covering around 17,221 farm families.

OIL has also signed MoU with AAU recently, to promote integrated farming
in villages of OIL’s operational areas in Upper Assam.

Project OIL Jeevika

Launched in FY 2016-17, the project is a community-cluster based
sustainable rural livelihood promotion initiative, which aims at imparting
skill development and up-gradation training to the targeted beneficiaries
54 on beekeeping and honey processing, mustard, buckwheat and local pulse
 processing as well as providing handholding support to them for generation Employment Generation and
Livelihood
of alternate source of income and formation of self-sustaining livelihood
clusters.
Check Your Progress - 3
Notes: a) Write your answers in about 50 words.
b) Check your answer with possible answers given at the end of the unit.
1) What are the ways of funding of the livelihood Activity?
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

2) What is sustainable livelihood?

.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

3.7 LET US SUM UP

Traditionally the solution to the problems of poverty was conceived as an increase
in income levels through the generation of employment. However, this vision
has changed in the last two decades. A livelihood is a set of economic activities
that involve self-employment and/or wage-employment.

In the current decade, according to estimates of the Planning Commission for

the Tenth Five Year Plan, more than 10 million people in India will be seeking
work every year. Thus, to ensure full employment within a decade, more than 10
million new livelihoods will have to be generated every year. Given the magnitude
of the problem, and the dearth of resources for livelihood promotion, the task of
promoting livelihoods for the poor becomes more urgent. It calls for organizations
to use their resources optimally to achieve maximum scale. CSR has played an
important role in livelihood intervention by either improving on the existing
livelihoods or creating new livelihoods. In this unit you have read about the
nature and instruments of livelihood interventions and the source of funding.
Finally, we have discussed sustainable livelihood.

3.8 KEYWORDS
Livelihood : Livelihood refers to their “means of securing the basic
necessities of life”. Livelihood is defined as a set of
55
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I activities essential to everyday life that are conducted
over one’s live span.

Food Security : Reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable,

nutritious food.

Sustainable Livelihood: A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and

recover from stresses and shocks and maintain or
enhance its capabilities and assets both now and in
the future, while not undermining natural resource
bases.

3.9 ABBREVIATIONS
AAU : Assam Agriculture University
ACP : Association of Crafts Producers
AKRSP : Aga Khan Rural Support Programme
AP : Andhra Pradesh
BAIF : Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation
BASIX : Bhartiya Samruddhi Investments and Consulting
Services
DHRUVA : Vanguard of Awakening in Dharampur
DPIP : District Poverty Initiatives Programme
EGS : Employment Guarantee Scheme
GS : Gram Sabha
ICICI : Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India
IRDP : Integrated Rural Development Programme
ITC-RDT : Indian Tobacco Company–Rural Development Trust
JLGs : Joint Liability Groups
MoU : Memorandum of Understanding
MP : Madhya Pradesh
MYRADA : Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency
NDDB : National Dairy Development Board
NGO : Non-Government Organization
NREGA : National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
NREGS : National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
NREP : National Rural Employment Programme
OIRDS : Oil India Rural Development Society
PNB : Punjab National Bank
PPCP : Public Private Civil Society Partnership
PRADAN : Professional Assistance for Development Action

56 REGS : Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme

 Employment Generation and
SEWA : Self-Employed Women’s Association Livelihood
SGSY : Swarna Jayanti Grameen Swarozgar Yojana
SHGs : Self-Help Groups
SIFFS : South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies
SIRD : State Institute of Rural Development
SL : Sustainable Livelihood
SREGS : State Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
WOTR : Watershed Organization Trust
YMCA : Young Men’s Christian Association
ZP : Zilla Parishad

3.10 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SELECTED READINGS

Articles

Ashley, C.; Hussein, K. (2000). Developing Methodologies for Livelihood Impact

Assessment, p.14. Working Paper 129: Overseas Development Institute

Baumann, P. (2000). Sustainable Livelihoods and Political Capital: Arguments

and Evidence from Decentralisation and Natural Resource Management in India.
Working Paper 136: Overseas Development Institute

Singh, N. and Gilham, J. Employment and Natural Resources Management: A

Livelihoods Approach to Poverty Reduction SEPED Conference Paper Series
No.5, p.5.

Books & Reports

Bebbington, A. (1999). Capitals and Capabilities: A Framework for Analyzing
Peasant Viability, Rural Livelihoods and Poverty. World Development 27(12).

Bhattacharya, D. (2002). ‘Initiative to Improve the Handloom and Handicraft

Products of North East’, CII-NEDFi Guwahati.

Bhattacharya, D. (2010). ‘Renewable Energy for Rural Livelihoods – An Industry-

led Public Private Partnership Model’, UNDP, CII, Ministry of New and
Renewable Energy, Govt. of India.

Bhattacharya, D. (1999). Political parties need to make commitments on social

development. Equinox, Vol. 1, issue 1, 3-5.

Carney, D.; Drinkwater, M.; Rusinow, T., Wanmali, S., Singh, N. and Neefjes,
K. (1999). Livelihood Approaches Compared. A brief comparison of the
livelihoods approaches of the UK Department for International Development
(DFID), CARE, Oxfam and the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP).

Farrington, J.; Carney, D.; Ashley, C.; Turton, C. (1999) Sustainable Livelihoods
in Practice. Oversees Development Institute.

Frankenberger, T. and Drinkwater, M. (1999). Household livelihood security: A 57

Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I holistic approach for addressing poverty and vulnerability. Atlanta, Georgia,
CARE.
Ornat, A.L. (1996). Strategies for Sustainability: Latin America. IUCN
Manzetti, G. (2001). Brazilianising the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach. DFID

Chambers, R. & Conway, G. (1992). Sustainable rural livelihoods: practical

concepts for the 21st century. IDS Discussion Paper No. 296. Brighton, IDS, p.
7 -8.

Online Search
Drinkwater, M. & Rusinow, T. (1999). Application of CARE’s Livelihoods
Approach. Paper presented at Natural Resource Adviser’s Conference 1999.
(Available at www.livelihoods.org).

https://ilrtindia.org/downloads/Alternate % 20 Implementation % 20 case %

20study%20final_Dhruv_2.pdf
https://www.slideshare.net/NanaAgyemang3/bus-ethics-csr-13-2013-12.

3.11 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS - POSSIBLE

ANSWERS
Check Your Progress - 1

Answer 1: Livelihood is a set of economic activities, involving self-employment

and/or wage employment. By using one’s endearments (human and material), to
generate adequate resources (cash and non-cash). For meeting the requirements
of self and the household, usually carried out repeatedly and as such become a
way of life.

Answer 2: The primary reasons to promote livelihood is the belief in the essential
right of all human beings to equal opportunity. The second reason for livelihood
promotion is to promote economic growth. And the third reason for promoting
livelihoods is to ensure social and political stability.

Check Your Progress - 2

Answer 1: Livelihood interventions are conscious efforts by an agency or

organization to promote and support livelihood opportunities for numerous people.

Answer 2: The three elements of the design of the livelihood intervention are (1)
Objectives of the intervention; (2) Design of the Livelihood activity; and (3)
Nature of the Intervention.

Answer 3: Livelihoods can be enhanced in many ways. Among others, it can be

done by:
Enhancing income
Creating assets or wealth
Increasing food security
Reducing risk
58
 Reducing variances in income Employment Generation and
Livelihood
Reducing rural to urban migration
Organizing producers to have greater control over their livelihoods
Enhancing the money that circulates within the local economy
Check Your Progress - 3
Answer 1: The ways of funding of the livelihood activity are: Grant-based
Funding; loan-based Funding; Equity; and Financial Orchestration.

Answer 2: The concept of sustainable livelihood is an attempt to go beyond the

conventional definitions and approaches to poverty eradication. These had been
found to be too narrow because they focused only on certain aspects or
manifestations of poverty, such as low income, or did not consider other vital
aspects of poverty such as vulnerability and social exclusion. It is now recognized
that more attention must be paid to the various factors and processes which either
constrain or enhance poor people’s ability to make a living in an economically,
ecologically, and socially sustainable manner. The SL concept offers a more
coherent and integrated approach to poverty.

59
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I
UNIT 4 WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
Structure
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Understanding Empowerment
4.3 Economic Empowerment of Women
4.4 Social Empowerment of Women
4.5 Let Us Sum Up
4.6 Keywords
4.7 Abbreviations
4.8 Bibliography and Selected Readings
4.9 Check Your Progress – Possible Answers

4.1 INTRODUCTION
“You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women”
– Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru
Women are central to the entire development process, be it in an individual family,
village, province, state and to the whole nation. Women have maintained the
traditional Indian culture since ages. History has revealed the deteriorating state
of women. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is one of the most prominent
concepts in the literature through which organizations have scope for ensuring a
development in the status of women in India through women empowerment.
This unit discusses the empowerment of women in India and challenges that are
to be responded adequately and appropriately. The Fig 4.1 shows the determinants
associated with the empowerment of women and these are the challenges for the
development agencies and the policy makers to work upon.

Water &
sanitaion

Health & Political

Nutrition participation

Education Property
Holistic Approach rights
to Empowerment of
Women

Skills Identity

Desicion -
Credit
making

60 Fig 4.1: Holistic Approach to Empowerment of Women

To understand it in better way, the unit will also explain the initiatives undertaken Women Empowerment
by various companies to overcome those challenges and getting the women in
the mainstream of development.

After studying this unit, you should be able to:

Explain empowerment among women
Describe the association between development and women’s empowerment
Discuss the role of companies in achieving empowerment among women

4.2 UNDERSTANDING EMPOWERMENT

Empowerment is a process which relates to the power of an individual to redefine
her possibilities or options and to have the ability to act upon them (Eyben et al.,
2008). Kabeer (2001) defines empowerment as “the expansion in people’s ability
to make strategic life choices in a context where this ability was previously denied
to them.” The empowerment of women is essential for sustainable development
and economic growth. Thus, empowerment is fundamentally about the
enhancement of individuals’ capabilities to make a difference in their
surroundings, which affects their life. Empowerment also relates to the influence
of an individual on the social and cultural norms, informal and formal institutions
in society. Women can be empowered in many ways; socially, economically,
politically, and legally. In the discussion on women’s empowerment, gender
equality and gender equity are terminologies which are interrelated. Equality
implies the condition or quality of being equal and equity is the equality of rights
(Webster’s Dictionary, 2010). In contrast to other terms, women’s empowerment
relates to a process; a progression from one state to another. In addition,
empowerment includes agency, in which women themselves are actors in the
empowerment process. They must not only be able to make a decision, but be
aware of their rights to make it.

Women’s empowerment encompasses a complexity in comparison to other

disadvantaged groups. Women make up half of the world’s population, and form
a cross-cutting group that overlaps all other groups in the society. Compared to
other disadvantaged or socially excluded groups, the household and family
relations play a central part in women’s disempowerment (Boender et al, 2002).

Decision-making power in the household shows the amount of ‘say’ the woman
has in household decisions, and was estimated as an average of several sub-
variables. It is based on if she has a say in the household income, if she has the
possibility to buy goods without needing permission and if she decides over her
own work, her children’s schooling etc. Therefore, policies directed towards
women’s empowerment must be directed to the family and household level.

Economic empowerment means ‘Enhancing the role of women as drivers of

poverty reduction, promoting female investors and entrepreneurs, and recognizing
the link between gender equality and safeguarding the environment all promote
inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and directly contribute to SDG 9 on
industry, innovation and infrastructure, and to SDG 5 on gender equality’.

61
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I

Fig 4.2: India’s Gender Slide

Targeting gender equality and women’s economic empowerment is not only

important from the perspective of realizing women’s rights but is also smart
economics. Women are key agents of change and when women and men are
equal, economies grow faster; less people remain in poverty, and the overall
well-being of people increases. Harnessing women’s potential as economic actors,
leaders and consumers results in higher levels of industrialization and more
sustained growth rates. Global gross domestic product could increase by more
than 25 per cent by 2025 if women played the same role in labour markets as
men.

Knowing that the empowerment of women generates many positive effects for
society overall, makes the task of determining the underlying factors of women’s
empowerment essential. Women’s empowerment has five components:
1) Women’s sense of self-worth;
2) Their right to have and to determine choices;
3) Their right to have access to opportunities and resources;
4) Their right to have the power to control their own lives, both within and
outside the home; and
5) Their ability to influence the direction of social change to create a more
just social and economic order, nationally and internationally.

Several companies, self-help groups and NGOs are working in this direction so
that women themselves can break the societal barriers and achieve great heights
in all dimensions: political, social and economic. But some portion of the society
has still not accepted women as being equal to men and crimes or abuses against
women are still on the rise. For that to change, the society’s age-old deep-rooted
mind set needs to be changed through social conditioning and sensitization
programmes. Various companies have undertaken advocacy to fight against this
62 situation. In next section we will be discussing about it in detail.
 Women Empowerment
“Educating and investing in women and girls has a multiplier effect on
productivity, efficiency and economic growth. But economically
strengthening women is not only a means by which to spur and sustain
inclusive industrial development, it is also a matter of advancing women’s
human rights”
   - UNIDO Director General LI Yong

4.3 ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

4.3.1 Poverty Eradication
Since women comprise the majority of the population below the poverty line
and are very often in situations of extreme poverty, given the harsh realities of
intra-household and social discrimination, macroeconomic policies and poverty
eradication programmes specifically address the needs and problems of such
women (Explained in Unit-1). There is already improved implementation of
programmes, on women, oriented with special targets for women. Steps are taken
under CSR initiatives by the Indian Companies for mobilization of poor women
and convergence of services, by offering them a range of economic and social
options, along with necessary support measures to enhance their capabilities.
Empowering women and encouraging their entrepreneurial spirit was a vital aspect
of CSR for business houses like the Tata, HUL, Vedanta, Hindalco, Jindal and
many others. The interventions were mostly carried out in the surrounding areas
of the main operational regions, particularly in villages situated closer to the
factory location. In the case of Jindal Steel, the CSR activities were concentrated
around Hisar (Haryana) and Tata Steel anywhere in India.

Case Studies
HUL’s (Hindustan Unilever) SHAKTI: SHAKTI means ‘Strength’. Project
SHAKTI is HUL’s initiative to upliftment of standard of living in rural India by
creating income-generating capabilities for under-privileged rural women through
small-scale enterprise opportunity; and, to improve rural lives with the support
of health and hygiene awareness. Project SHAKTI is taken up in rural areas
whereby women are the distributors for HUL products and are called “Shakti
Ammas.” This identity is ushering prosperity in their lives and most importantly
self-respect.

Reliance Industries Limited: The major thrust areas of Reliance Industries

Limited were in areas of health, education, infrastructure development (drinking
water, improving village infrastructure, construction of schools etc.), and
environment (effluent treatment, tree plantation, treatment of hazardous waste).
In 2010, the company also set up the Reliance Foundation with the main aim of
addressing developmental challenges. The focus was on five core pillars:
education, health, rural development, urban renewal, promotion and protection
of India’s art and culture. In the same year, it launched Mission BIJ or Bharat
India Jodo, its flagship programme focusing on supporting small farmers. BIJ
works towards bridging the gap between rural and urban areas and empower
small farmers. Towards achieving this goal, it will provide support to small farmers
along the supply chain through input support, technical assistance, post-harvest
and marketing support.
63
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I 4.3.2 Micro Credit
To enhance women’s access to credit for consumption and production, the
establishment of new, and strengthening of existing micro-credit mechanisms
and micro-finance institution are undertaken, so that the outreach of credit is
enhanced. Other supportive measures include SHG formation, small soft loans
by private Banks like AXIS and ICICI etc. to ensure adequate flow of credit
through extant financial institutions and Banks, so that all women below poverty
line have easy access to credit. Another ideal example is of Tata Steel and others,
in a concised form, these are described below:

Case Studies
Tata Steel: The direct interventions were carried out either by in-house CSR
specialist teams, or by professional CSR teams. Partnerships had also been made
with non-profit organizations and specialized agencies in some cases. Some of
the companies like Tata Steel, over the last 15 years had supported the formation
of more than 500 rural enterprises in agriculture, poultry, livestock, and
community entrepreneurship. It continued to work untiringly towards furthering
empowerment by facilitating the formation of around 200 women SHGs every
year, who were encouraged to venture into income generating activities. Tata
Steel also held regular competitions for identifying women leaders who could be
role models through its programme ‘Tejaswini.’

Name of Model of Approx. number Impact

Corporate Empowerment of women
involved

Hindustan Rural women became About 43,000 Has economically

Unilever distributors of HUL. women all over empowered rural
Popularly known as India women with
‘Shakti Ammas’ entrepreneurial
spirit. Plan to use the
network for creation
of more SHGs
ITC Poor rural women About 40,000 Sustainable
assisted to form women economic
microcredit SHGs to opportunities
build small savings through micro-
and finance self- credits
employment and
micro-enterprises

Jindal Steel Formation and About, 3000 Trained women have

capacity building of women begun activities like
women SHGs leaf plate making
which has
augmented income

Tata Steel Tata Steel Rural About, 45000 Annually create at

Development Society women least 200 SHGs who
are encouraged to
64
 Women Empowerment
enter enterprise
activity

Vedanta Provide for skill About 30000 About 2100 SHG

development, credit women developed by group
linkage, training, companies Vedanta
market development Zinc, BALCO,
Sterilite, Vedanta
Aluminium and VAL
Lanjigarh
Hindalco Training for skill More than 11000 Works towards
Development women improving the capacity
through two building of women and
institutes, located in men who are
UP and Maharashtra encouraged to take up
enterprise activities

ICICI Rural Self Has extended Both men and women

Bank Employment training credit to a large no. have been imparted
institutes at Udaipur of SHGs through training
& Jodhpur partnership model
(with NGOs like
BISWA in Odisha)
as well as directly
RIL Provide training to A number of rural Many men and women
rural women through women as well as have begun micro
SHGs and youth to youth have been enterprise activities in
become self- trained in stitching, areas around
sustaining by taking beauty and health manufacturing
up income generating care, plumbing, divisions like Hazira,
activities (IGA) computer hardware Vadodara, Nagothane,
and mobile Gadimoga etc.
repairing

4.3.3 Women and Economy

Women’s perspectives are included in designing and implementing macro-
economic and social policies by institutionalizing their participation in such
processes by various companies having the vision to work towards women’s
empowerment. Their contribution to socio-economic development as producers
and workers is now getting recognized in the formal and informal sectors
(including home-based workers) and companies are developing appropriate
policies relating to employment and their working conditions. Such measures
basically include: equal job opportunities, working hours, working environment,
sexual harassment reporting and redress mechanism, social security, equal salary,
training & skill development, leave rules etc. Most of the companies now have
already laid down the rules and regulations in this regard e.g. Dr. Reddy’s
Laboratories, Excel Industries and Infosys.

65
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I
Activity 1

Visit a CSR project in your vicinity. Write down the measures taken for the
female employees of the project which is directed towards women’s
empowerment.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

4.3.4 Women and Agriculture

In view of the critical role of women in the agriculture and allied sectors, as
producers, concentrated efforts are made to ensure that benefits of training,
extension and various programmes should reach them in proportion to their
numbers. The programmes for training women in soil conservation, social forestry,
dairy development and other occupations allied to agriculture like horticulture,
livestock including small animal husbandry, poultry, fisheries etc. are expanded
to benefit women workers in the agriculture sector.

Case Studies

Cairn India, with IFC (International Finance Corporation) decided to support

an intensive community-based dairy development programme with the objective
of improving the economic condition of the rural poor in Rajasthan. By design,
the programme targeted women, who otherwise had no opportunity for economic
emancipation. This project not only enabled them to participate in income
generating activities but has also empowered them as organized self-help groups
(SHGs) exploring other livelihood options. They have also been benefitted from
the introduction of technology for transparency, accountability, and fair price
realization

The Kamalnayan Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation (KJBF) founded by the Bajaj

family states its mission is to “empower the rural community for efficient and
judicious use of human and natural resources.” It is actively involved in
sustainable agricultural development in about 200 villages of Wardha district
where the farming community has been motivated to adopt integrated farming
practices. There are many more initiatives like above changing the lives of
thousands of families while empowering women economically.

4.3.5 Women and Industry

The important role played by women in electronics, information technology,
food processing, agro industry, and textiles has been crucial to the development
of these sectors. The companies are formulating comprehensive support in terms
66
of labour legislation, social security and other support services to participate in Women Empowerment
various industrial sectors. For women working in night shift in factories / BPOs
suitable measures are taken to enable women to work in the night shift. This is
accompanied with support services for security, transportation etc. The companies
like Infosys, Titan, Bajaj Auto and Balmer & Lawrie etc. have laid down policies
in this regard.

4.3.6 Support Services

The provision of support services for working women, like child care facilities,
including crèches at work places and educational institutions, homes for the aged
and the disabled has been expanded and improved to create an enabling
environment and to ensure their full cooperation in social, political, and economic
life. Women-friendly personnel policies are also drawn to encourage women to
participate effectively in the developmental process. ‘Mobile-Crèches’ is an
organization (non-profit) providing child care services to different type of groups
of working women starting from construction workers to various factories or
institutions with the help of CSR funding in and around Delhi and Mumbai few
of these companies namely are PNB housing finance Ltd., Microsoft, NCML,
Godrej properties, HCL and Oracle etc. To date, Mobile Crèches has reached out
to 650,000 children, trained 6000 childcare workers, and run 600 day care centres.
MMC (Microsoft Management Console) also works to advocate for marginalized
communities by providing vocational training for women and youth and
promoting migrant families’ rights, access to healthcare, and government services.
MMC has reached over 150,000 children and run over 240 day care centres. The
CSR fund helps them to work in nutrition and healthcare. Because children
suffering from malnourishment and exposed to poor hygiene are in a vulnerable
condition. Among other major issues, everyday ailments, diseases such as
diarrhoea, respiratory diseases, boils, and worms, both MMC (Mumbai) and
Mobile Crèches (Delhi) have implemented a healthcare programme consisting
of prevention, cure, and rehabilitation to improve the health of the children at its
centres.
Check Your Progress - 1
Notes: a) Write your answers in about 50 words.
b) Check your answer with possible answers given at the end of the unit.

1) Define empowerment of women.

.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

67
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I 2) Enumerate the support services provided by companies.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

4.4 SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

4.4.1 Education
The companies with the vision to work in education of women know that equal
access to education for women and girls need to be ensured. Special measures
are taken to eliminate discrimination, universalize education, eradicate illiteracy,
create a gender-sensitive educational system, increase enrolment and retention
rates of girls, and improve the quality of education to facilitate life-long learning
as well as development of occupation/vocation/technical skills by women.
Reducing the gender gap in secondary and higher education is a focus area for
the companies like P & G, Bank of America, and Hindustan Lever etc. Special
focus on girls and women, particularly those belonging to weaker sections
including the scheduled castes/ scheduled tribes/ other backward classes/
minorities is being taken care of. Advocacy in gender discrimination is also being
funded by CSR funds like CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) and SIEL
(Shriram Industrial Enterprise Ltd). Since independence, the education sector in
India has grown in leaps and bounds and there have been significant improvements
across different indicators. To understand the current CSR trends in education
and the main challenges in the sector, Samhita Social Ventures has mapped the
education interventions of 100 Companies with the highest CSR budgets in India.
The findings indicate that education remains one of the most popular causes for
companies. School infrastructure and scholarships receive maximum support
whereas issues such as pedagogy, early education, community awareness etc.
remain unexplored. However, there is a silver lining – Companies are beginning
to think more strategically about interventions in education.

SCCL: (Singareni Collieries Company Ltd) Singareni Seva Samithi has taken
up massive literacy campaign for women and illiterate employees through which
more than 50000 persons were made literate. The literacy campaign was
concentrated on reading, writing, signing etc.

ITC: Indian Tobacco Company believes that economic empowerment of women

transforms them into powerful agents of social change. ITC has forged an
empowering partnership with rural women – the most effective development
workers. ITC’s intervention leverages micro-credit and skills training to generate
alternate employment opportunities. Increased income in the hands of rural women
means better nutrition, health care and education for their children. Working
with NGOs, ITC has organized village women into micro-credit groups.

SAIL: SAIL has initiated Mahila Samaj, performance of community welfare

programmes which include manufacture of products and services for SAIL
68
employees. The Mahila Samiti in SAIL plants has 4000 members and 15 affiliated Women Empowerment
to national level organizations for community development.

‘Siksha: Padhega India Tabhi to Badhega India’ P&G’s flagship Corporate Social
Responsibility Program Shiksha is an integral part of our global philanthropy
programme - Live, Learn and Thrive. Now in its 8th year, Shiksha has till date
helped 280,000 underprivileged children access their right to education. The
programme has built and supported over 140 schools across India, in partnership
with NGOs like Round Table India (RTI), Save the Children (STC), Army Wives
Welfare Association (AWWA) and Navy Wives Welfare Association (NWWA),
amongst others. P&G Shiksha is focused on empowering the girl child with quality
education.

The case studies show that areas of interventions in the field of education by the
majority of the companies are namely infrastructure development and donation
of learning material; remedial education; learning methods (pedagogy); school
administration and management; building capacity of providers; systematic
change; early childhood education; skill development; parent/community
awareness; school-based nutrition and health and in cash /kind assistance for
students.

4.4.2 Health
A wholistic approach to women’s health which includes both nutrition and health
services is being adopted by many companies and special attention is given to
the needs of women and the girls at all stages of the life cycle like Emami Ltd.
focuses on fostering preventive health care and water and sanitation. The reduction
of infant mortality and maternal mortality, which are sensitive indicators of human
development, is a priority concern.

For Example: JSPL (Jindal Steel and Power Limited) has set up many charitable
clinics and hospitals in the Raigarh district. World-class health facilities are
provided to the people of Raigarh at the 100-bed multi-specialty O.P. Jindal
Hospital and Research Centre.
JSPL’s CSR strategy includes:
Development of model villages (Adarsh Gram)
Government, corporate and public participation
Address situational needs and demands of the villagers
On an average 5,000 households across 18 peripheral villages benefitted
The companies possess the vision for women to have access to comprehensive,
affordable and quality health care. Measures are adopted that take into account
the reproductive rights of women to enable them to exercise informed choices,
their vulnerability to sexual and health problems together with endemic, infectious,
and communicable diseases such as malaria, TB, and water borne diseases as
well as hypertension and cardio-pulmonary diseases. NTPC, Dabur India Ltd.,
P&G, Glaxosmithkline and Bajaj Auto Ltd. are among the lot in this direction.
The social, developmental and health consequences of HIV/AIDS and other
sexually transmitted diseases are also tackled from a gender perspective. The
companies now have the HIV/AIDS policy guidelines followed by NACO
guidelines. Some of the companies which have adopted the said policies are,
69
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I Ballarpur Industries, Tata Steel, Coal India, ONGC, ITC Papers Ltd., Essar Group
of companies etc.

Avon: 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 under-served, uninsured and low-income populations, and to
support biomedical research focused on prevention and improved methods of
diagnosis and treatment to cure and prevent breast cancer.

Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust (HLFPPT) has been

contributing towards the National Family Planning Programme across the
spectrum. On the demand side, they are consistently working towards increasing
contraception awareness and access among communities, counselling on Family
Planning (FP) methods, offering increased basket of choice; while on the supply
side they are committed towards building capacities of health providers on FP
services, creating network of dedicated FP clinics, etc. Currently, it is
implementing the programme in 13 states: West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Delhi, Rajasthan,
Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The partners are Pan India,
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Funding Partner) and PSI (Implementing
Partner) DLF Foundation, National Health Mission-MP, UP, DFID, USAID and
SIFPSA.

4.4.3 Nutrition
In view of the high risk of malnutrition and disease that women face at all the
three critical stages viz., infancy and childhood, adolescent and reproductive
phase (Fig. 4.5), focused attention would be paid to meeting the nutritional needs
of women at all stages of the life cycle.

Fig 4.5: Life Cycle of Malnutrition among Women

This is also important in view of the critical link between the health of adolescent
girls, pregnant and lactating women, and the health of infant and young children.
Special efforts are made to tackle the problem of macro and micro nutrient
deficiencies especially amongst pregnant and lactating women as it leads to
70 various diseases and disabilities.
Intra-household discrimination in nutritional matters vis-à-vis girls and women Women Empowerment
is worked upon through appropriate strategies. Widespread use of nutrition
education to address the issues of intra-household imbalances in nutrition and
the special needs of pregnant and lactating women is initiated. Women’s
participation is also ensured in the planning, superintendence and delivery of the
system. There are various examples of companies initiating their CSR activities
in this direction like adoption of Anganwadi centres, providing mid-day meal
and school health, provision of food for pregnant mothers etc. The case study of
Akshay Patra is one of them.

Case Study
TAPF commonly known as The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a non-profit
organisation in India that runs school lunch programme across India. The
organisation was established in the year 2000. Akshaya Patra partnered with the
Government to serve cooked meals at all Government schools. To be able to
work towards tackling classroom hunger in association with the Government on
the format of Public Private Partnership was a welcome progression for Akshaya
Patra. Akshaya Patra implements the Mid-Day Meal programme in 38 locations
of 12 states of India. Each day the Foundation feeds 1.7 million children covering
more than 14,314 Government schools. The Foundation follows both centralized
and decentralized kitchen formats to implement the programme. The programme
caters to Anganwadi, expecting and lactating mothers, special schools, subsidised
lunch for the economically backward, food for runaway children, old-age homes,
homeless, and disaster relief. They also run after class tuitions, life skills
programme, community health camps, and health check-up camps.

Impact- Akshaya Patra feeds 17, 61,734 children every day across India. It is
operational across 38 locations in 12 states of India and it follows the centralized
kitchen format in 36 locations and de-centralized kitchen format in 2 locations.
CSR contribution- Corps Information Systems Control Officer (CISCO), ASEA
Brown Boveri (ABB) Limited, Genpact India, Airports Authority of India, Jindal
Aluminium, Dishoom Ltd, Maple Exports Pvt. Ltd., Jamsetji Tata Trust, HDFC
Bank Ltd, Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
Ltd. (ONGC), Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL), Hans Foundation, Give
India Kennametal Foundation, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.

4.4.4 Drinking Water and Sanitation

Special attention is given to the needs of women in the provision of safe drinking
water, sewage disposal, toilet facilities and sanitation within accessible reach of
households, especially in rural areas and urban slums. Women’s participation is
ensured in the planning, delivery, and maintenance of such services. The
Government expects to garner close to 2 lakh crores worth funds over the next
three years from India Inc. by making 30 percent of their expenditure on corporate
social responsibility (CSR) mandatory in projects such as ‘Swachh Bharat’.

4.4.5 Environment
Women are involved and their perspectives reflected in the policies and
programmes for environment conservation and restoration. Considering the
impact of environmental factors on their livelihoods, women’s participation is
ensured in the conservation of the environment and control of environmental
71
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I degradation. The vast majority of rural women still depend on locally available,
non-commercial sources of energy such as animal dung, crop waste and fuel
wood. To ensure the efficient use of these energy resources in an environment
friendly manner, the companies are aiming at promoting the programmes of non-
conventional energy resources. Women are involved in spreading the use of solar
energy, biogas, smokeless chullahs and other rural application to have a visible
impact of these measures in influencing eco system and in changing the life
styles of rural women. Companies like Reliance, JSPL, Aditya Birla, Tata are
into community development activities around their operational areas where their
workers and their families are residing or have adopted a village, initiated the
use of solar energy and wind mills. Aga Khan Foundation has worked on safe
chullah.

4.4.6 Violence against Women

All forms of violence against women, physical and mental, whether at domestic
or societal levels, including those arising from customs, traditions, or accepted
practices are to be dealt with effectively with a view to eliminating its incidence.
Institutions and mechanisms/schemes for assistance are created and strengthened
for prevention of such violence, including sexual harassment at work place and
customs like dowry; for the rehabilitation of the victims of violence and for
taking effective action against the perpetrators of such violence. A special
emphasis is laid on programmes and measures to deal with trafficking in women
and girls. The companies with community development programmes as discussed
above are involved in advocacy towards violence against women.

Activity 2

Visit a CSR project involved in advocacy towards violence against women

in your vicinity. Write a small case study of the project.
.......................................................................................................................
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4.4.7 Rights of the Girl Child

All forms of discrimination against the girl child and violation of her rights to be
eliminated by undertaking strong measures both preventive and punitive within
and outside the family. These relate specifically to strict enforcement of laws
against prenatal sex selection and the practices of female foeticide, female
infanticide, child marriage, child abuse and child prostitution etc. Removal of
discrimination in the treatment of the girl child within the family and outside and
projection of a positive image of the girl child need to be actively fostered. There
is special emphasis on the needs of the girl child and earmarking of substantial
investments in the areas relating to food and nutrition, health and education, and
in vocational education. In implementing programmes for eliminating child labour,
there is a special focus on girl children. The SKF (Smith-klyn foundation) India
72
Ltd. works towards gender, equality and women empowerment partnering with Women Empowerment
Leela Poonawala Foundation.
Check Your Progress - 2
Notes: a) Write your answers in about 50 words.
b) Check your answer with possible answers given at the end of the unit.
1) Write measures undertaken by companies to ensure educational
empowerment among women.
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................

2) What are the health concerns about women which are being addressed by
companies under their CSR programmes?
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4.5 LET US SUM UP

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,
government, media, and NGOs. The role of corporate, government, NGOs and
media is to bring about the advancement, development, and empowerment of
women. They should play a crucial role to encourage active participation of
women from all walks of life to achieve individual, organizational and societal
goals.

4.6 KEYWORDS
Women Empowerment : Women’s empowerment is all about equipping and
allowing women to make life-determining decisions
through the different problems in society.

Micro Credit : Micro credit is the extension of very small loans to

impoverished borrowers who typically lack 73
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I collateral, steady employment, or a verifiable credit
history. It is designed to support entrepreneurship
and alleviate poverty.

Female Foeticide : Female foeticide is the abortion of a female foetus

outside of legal methods.

Female Infanticide : Female infanticide is the deliberate killing of new

born female children.

4.7 ABBREVIATIONS
AAI : Australia, ASEAN and the India
ASEAN : Association of Southeast Asian Nations
AWWA : Army Wives Welfare Association
BALCO : Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd.
BHEL : Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.
BIJ : Bharat India Jodo
BPO : Business Process Outsourcing
BSY : Balika Samridhi Yojana
CII : Confederation of Indian Industry
CSR : Corporate Social Responsibility
DFID : Department for International Development
DLF : Delhi Land & Finance
FP : Family Planning
HCL : Hindustan Computers Limited
HIV/ AIDS : Human Immunodeficiency Virus/ Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome
HLFPPT : Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust
HUL : Hindustan Unilever Ltd
ICICI : Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India
IFC : International Finance Corporation
IGA : Income Generating Activities
ITC : India Tobacco Company
JSPL : Jindal Steel and Power Limited
KJBF : Kamalnayan Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation
MMC : Microsoft Management Console
NACO : National Aids Control Organization
NCML : National Collateral Management Services Ltd
NCRB : National Crime Records Bureau
NGOs : Non-Government Organizations
74
 Women Empowerment
NTPC Ltd : National Thermal Power Corporation Limited
NWWA : Navy Wives Welfare Association
ONGC : Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
P&G : Procter & Gamble
PSI : Population Services International
RIL : Reliance Industries Limited
RTI : Round Table India
SAIL : Steel Authority of India Limited
SCCL : Singareni Collieries Company Ltd.
SDG : Sustainable Development Goals
SHG : Self-Help Group
SIEL : Shriram Industrial Enterprise Ltd.
SIFPSA : State Innovations in Family Planning Services Project
Agency
SLDP : School Leadership Development Programme
STC : Save the Children
TAPF : The Akshaya Patra Foundation
TB : Tuberculosis
UN DESA : United Nations Department of Economic and Social
Affairs
UNIDO : United Nations Industrial Development Organization
USAID : United States Agency for International Development
VAL : Vedanta Aluminum Ltd.

4.8 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SELECTED READINGS

Articles

Sarkar, S. and Singh, P (2013). Corporate Social Responsibility: A Way Towards

Women Empowerment. Project: A Study in CSR in India.

Hashemi, S.M., Schuler, S.R., Riley, A.P. (1996). Rural credit programs and
women’s empowerment in Bangladesh. World Development, 24(4):635–653. doi:
10.1016/0305-750X(95)00159-A.[Cross Ref] [Ref list].

Kabeer, N. (2001). Resources, Agency Achievements: Reflections on the

Measurement of Women’s Empowerment. In Discussing Women’s Empowerment
– Theory and Practice, Sida studies no.3, pp. 17-57.

Patel, V., Kirkwood, B.R., Pednekar, S., Pereira, B., Barros, P., Fernandes, J.,
and Mabey, D. (2006). Gender disadvantage and reproductive health risk factors
for common mental disorders in women: A community survey in India. Archives
of General Psychiatry.63(4):404–413. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.63.4.404. [PubMed].
75
Key Thematic Areas in CSR-I Sridevi, J. (2015). Corporate Social Responsibility Towards Women
Empowerment. International Journal of Administration and Governance,
Vol. 1(5), Pages: 35-37, July 2015. Available at SSRN:https://ssrn.com/
abstract=2797739

Books & Reports

Bhattacharya, D. and Ahuja. R. (2010). “Community Participation in Corporate
Led Initiatives for Health” in ‘CSR Critique, Policies & Strategies’, Vol.2, 2010,
pp 24-50.

Bhattacharya, B., Pattanaik, B.K. (2013). Paper entitled HIV/AIDS and the world
of Work. In Eds C. Chidambaranathan & I. Jenitta Mary. AIDS causes and
Cure. Aavishkar Publishers & Distributors, ISBN 978-81-7910-449-1.
Bhattacharya, D. (2010). Counselling Toolkit for School Going Adolescent Girls
in NCR of Delhi. National Commission for Women, India.
Carol, B., Malhorta, A. and Sidney R. S. (2002). Measuring Women’s
Empowerment as a Variable in International Development. Background Paper
Prepared for the World Bank Workshop on Poverty and Gender: New Perspectives.

Rosalind, E., Cornwall, A. and Kabeer, N. (2008), Conceptualizing Empowerment

and The Implications For Pro Poor Growth. A paper for the DAC Poverty Network,
Institute of Development Studies.
Sen, A. (2000). Development as Freedom. Oxford University Press: New Delhi.
Velkoff, V. and Adlakha, A. (1998). Women of the world: Women’s health in
India. U.S. Census Bureau.
World Bank, (2001). Engendering Development: Through Gender Equality in
Rights, Resources, and Voice. Oxford University Press and the World Bank,
Washington D.C.

Online Search
http://www.samhita.org/csr-in-education-what-are-indias-top-companies-upto/
https://www.pg.com/en_IN/sustainability/social_responsibility/social-
responsibility-programs-in-india.shtml
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/255700427_Corporate_Social_
Responsibility_A_Way_Towards_Women_Empowerment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akshaya_Patra_Foundation
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/30-of-csr-spend-to-be-made-
mandatory-for-swachh-bharat/article8402480.ece
http://www.skf.com/in/industry-solutions/index.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4624628/#R40

4.9 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS - POSSIBLE

ANSWERS
Check Your Progress - 1
Answer 1: Kabeer (2001) defines empowerment as “the expansion in people’s
76 ability to make strategic life choices in a context where this ability was previously
denied to them.” The empowerment of women is essential for sustainable Women Empowerment
development and economic growth. Thus, empowerment is fundamentally about
the enhancement of individuals’ capabilities to make a difference in their
surroundings, which affects their life.

Answer 2: The provision of support services, for working women, like child
care facilities, including crèches at work places, and educational institutions,
homes for the aged and the disabled, expanded and improved to create an enabling
environment, and to ensure their full cooperation in social, political, and economic
life. Women-friendly personnel policies are also drawn to encourage women to
participate effectively in the developmental process.
Check Your Progress- 2
Answer 1: CSR ensures equal access to education for women and girls. Special
measures are taken to eliminate discrimination, universalize education, eradicate
illiteracy, create a gender-sensitive educational system, increase enrolment and
retention rates of girls and improve the quality of education to facilitate life-long
learning as well as development of occupation/vocation/technical skills by
women. Reducing the gender gap in secondary and higher education.

Answer 2: A wholistic approach to women’s health which includes both nutrition

and health services is being adopted by many companies and special attention is
given to the needs of women and the girls at all stages of the life cycle like
Emami Ltd. with budget of .06 crores fostering preventive health care and water
& sanitation. The reduction of infant mortality and maternal mortality, which are
sensitive indicators of human development, is a priority concern.

77