Friday, October 19, 2018

India Inc to Join Modi’s Mission at CSR Portal Launch


Common portal will help cos pool their resources and align social work with key govt initiatives
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil a portal for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and volunteering at a town hall with technology, startup and telecom chieftains on October 24 in an ambitious bid to consolidate such efforts to maximise their effect and help boost the government’s initiatives.
The ministry of electronics and IT is making hectic preparations for the launch of the portal, which is being developed by MyGov and will host CSR activities that have already been kicked off.
The idea is to create a resource pool and find a way to “harmonise efforts,” not just across companies, but also to “align” them with the priorities of the government in areas such as the Skill India, Digital Literacy, Financial Inclusion, and Swachh Bharat campaigns, said a person aware of the development. “Companies already have a lot of initiatives underway in the social sector — the concept is just to work out a way to work together,” said a person aware of the development.
The focus is also on giving employees of these companies an opportunity to volunteer for social causes, added the person.

IT Talent Base of 4 million Employees:
The invitees include Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran, Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Mittal, Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani and Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra along with CEOs of top IT companies and startups such as Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma and inMobi’s Naveen Tewari.
The Indian IT industry has a talent base of 4 million employees and companies are already engaged in significant CSR work while encouraging workers to contribute, said Sangeeta Gupta, chief strategy officer of the Nasscom lobby group. “If having a common portal can help direct objectives toward scaling up missions such as Swachh Bharat, then it will be very helpful,” she said.
Apart from Nasscom, the ministry has also roped in groupings such as the Internet and Mobile Association of India and the Indian Cellular Association to help put the event together.
While 2,000 people will be present at the venue, more than 100,000 IT professionals from companies such as Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) are expected to join from over 500 locations via video conference. IT industry veterans such as FC Kohli, the first CEO of TCS, and Raman Roy, a pioneer of India’s business process outsourcing industry, have also been invited.
Earlier this month, union minister for electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad held a meeting with IT industry executives at which the issue of pooling expertise for various social initiatives was discussed. Prasad had stressed that the IT sector needed to work toward coordinated CSR efforts on a common platform to help with uplift in backward districts and social inclusion.
“There is a larger need to bring corporate social responsibility (CSR) into a common pool for sharing best practices,” he had said