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The Boon Called Companies BiIl
A big leap in the world of CSR
newsletter5th Oct 2013
1
Issue III
The new Companies Bill that was passed recently will
turn out to bring a big leap in the world of CSR. The
bill proposes that all companies of a certain size have to
mandatorily spend 2% of their three year average profit
towards CSR. India is one of the first nations to make
mandatory social welfare spending as part of company
statute by law. Nearly 8000 companies are in line to be-
come the impact creators. The total estimated amount to
be given out for this act will be anywhere between 12000
to 15000 crores. The main idea is to consider social
spending by organizations run by strategy. The decisions
of this spending have a huge impact on their bottom
lines. Hence, it is imperative that companies start taking
strategic decisions to improve society.
One way in which this can create a huge level of change
is to initially concentrate on 2 or 3 focus areas. For ex-
ample, take malnutrition or education. Even though
India is considered as an emerging economy, the gap
between the poor and rich are growing day by day. The
poor lack basic amenities which determine the standard
of living. Good access to health and basic education will
improve the status of our country. This focus on prima-
ry issues and making a strategic roadmap to improve
the lives of millions will be game changer for Indian
Society. We can just hope with earnest desire that this
law will be implemented effectively and efficiently.
By V. Nishanth Shouri
5th October 2013
newsletter
2
Issue III
Facing Our Inner Mirror
Probably I came across this quote when I was in the
IV standard , it has remained etched in my memory
since: "Generations to come, it may well be, will
scarce believe that such a man as this one ever in
flesh and blood walked upon this Earth” It was the
great scientist Einstein talking about Gandhi and
came as a strong unambiguous corroboration to the
lore of the Mahamanab Gandhiji, that I imbibed in
the lap of a family that lived and breathed Gandhi-
anism.
Pray, what was this Gandhianism all about? Perhaps
the answer can be found in a famous quote by Gan-
dhi himself: "I will give you a talisman. Whenever
you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too
much with you, apply the following test. Recall the
face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman]
whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the
step you contemplate is going to be of any use to
him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it
restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life
and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj
[freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving
millions? Then you will find your doubts and your
self melt away."
This was one of the last notes left behind by Gandhi
in 1948, expressing his deepest social thought. It is a
very clear indication of his belief that it is not possi-
ble to separate the individual from the society. He
also enjoins the duty of each individual member of
society to achieve collective good while working for
self development. These two issues are not mutually
exclusive and hence there is no scope for any conflict
between individual goal and social good.
This philosophy stands in sharp contrast to the un-
bridled greed that has been unleashed through the
celebration of supposed individualism through wan-
ton consumerism. But what is the way forward?
Maybe, the answer lies within all of us. Take a mo-
ment, take a deep breath, celebrate a moment of si-
lence and ponder what Gandhi said: “ Man is the
maker of his own destiny in the sense that he has the
freedom of choice as to the manner in which he uses
his freedom. But he is no controller of results.” He
added to good measure that “ True morality con-
sists, not in following the beaten track, but in finding
out the true path for ourselves and in fearlessly fol-
lowing it”.
By Prof. Sanjeeb Kakoty
5th October 2013
newsletter
3
Twenty five years of patient struggle ended up in
success and Mendha became the first village in India
to be given the ‘community forest rights’ under For-
est Rights Act of 2006 in April 2011. This meant
that the tribal villagers would be entitled to a por-
tion of the forest for their livelihood. Like many
other acts the act previous to FRA also dated back to
the pre-independence era. The British constituted
the Indian Forest Act in 1927 to officially declare the
entire forest reserves in the country as government
property and thereby suppress the rebellion tribal
groups. The FRA of 2006 recognized the fact that
different tribes, popularly known as Adiwasi , were
heavily dependent on resources of forest origin for
several generations. More importantly, it acknowl-
edged that the tribal people had a natural sense of
sustainability while using the resources therefore
they are better able to take care of the forest. How-
ever, due to internal corruption it took another 5
years of struggle from the villagers’ side just to get
the law implemented. Another important change
was reclassifying bamboo as a grass (earlier it was
classified into timber). This meant bamboo was now
considered a minor forest produce. The villagers of
Mendha (Lekha) village were legally permitted to
harvest bamboo, honey, Tendu-Patta , Chiraunji and
other minor forest produce from a specific area of
the forest. The ball was in the villagers’ court now.
They were given the rights and now they had to
make the best out of it.
The people of Mendha had evolved as a wise people
over generations. This village of 105 families
(around 500 individuals) had developed a unique sys-
tem of self-governance. It refused to follow the con-
ventional Panchayat system where one Sarpanch was
elected who controlled most of the things; instead
they formed what is known as Gram-Sabha. Every
adult villager was a member of the Gram-Sabha and
all the decisions were made by consensus. In fact,
when I first visited the village in 2012 I noticed a
banner on the Gram-Sabha hall that had two lines
on it meaning ‘Our government is in Mumbai and
Delhi; all of us are the government within our vil-
lage’. All during my stay later I discovered that they
really meant it.
If you go to any common village in the country you
will definitely find a meeting place where the elderly
people will gather for informal chat. Most of the
times it is trivial – something like recent happenings
in the neighborhoods, good news, bad news and gos-
sips that’s it! Ratnakar came to call me early in the
morning for a meeting. All the aged villagers, in-
cluding women, had gathered at a common-place to
discuss something over a cup of tea. To my surprise,
the topic of discussion was ‘how to develop bamboo
nurseries in the village’. The discussion went on for
about an hour till everybody left for work after every
single person had put forth their ideas. The beauty
of the discussion was that everyone was equally in-
terested and listened patiently to others. That is why
no matter how immature his/her idea may be no-
body was afraid of making his/her point. A similar
gathering took place just after the lunch when even
the young were involved. Two of government offi-
Wiser Together
The Story of a revoluonary village
Issue III
By Rutwik Phatak
Visit us at hps://www.facebook.com/Ecobiz lub
Our Mission
Promong, praccing, studying,
commenng on & communi-
cang about sustainable business
& social pracces for the devel-
opment of the society.
5th October 2013
newsletter
4
ECoBiZ Club
Faculty Co-ordinator : Dr Natalie West Kharkongor
Members : Ernesto DhileebanHriday Bikash Das Jeremy Simon NongrumPrasanthi BitrakantiRutwik Phatak
Contacts : 8974115744 / 8974055542e-mail : [email protected]
Issue III
cials had come to discuss about Indira Aawas Yojana.
After they explained the scheme completely one of the
villagers said, ‘We discussed this among ourselves in a
meeting earlier; why don’t you identify all beneficiaries
and deposit the total aid with Gram-Sabha!’ Another
villager added, ‘Since you give only one lakh rupees per
house, the Gram-Sabha will add some more amount to
it so that we don’t have to compromise on quality. We
will ensure that all houses are built together without
any delay.’ From building houses to skill development
programs to qualifying tenders for selling bamboo; eve-
ry single decision in this village is made by unanimous
consent of the people. This is clearly the reason behind
the success of this village.
The villagers have made incredible progress in the last
2 years only because of their collective intelligence. In
the last month, the villagers took a revolutionary step
by gifting their individual farm-lands to the Gram-
Sabha. This village has certainly created an example in
management of common-pool resources. The culture
of thinking together is inculcated so well in the society.
In the last season the Gram-Sabha earned revenues
amounting to more than 1 crore rupees only through
efficient use of resources. More importantly, this mon-
ey is being invested back in conservation of the forest.
This village exemplifies how welfare of all could be
achieved through truly sustainable development by
making all the stakeholders party to the decision mak-
ing process.