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
