'The culture of giving back to society should be nurtured and sustained'

Patna: Veteran Corporate social responsibility (CSR) leader Rusen Kumar delivered a special address at the International Conference on CSR, Inclusive Development and Welfare (ICCSR) organized by Chandragupta Institute of Management Patna (CIPM) during December 11.

Rusen Kumar, founder and managing editor of India CSR, shared his thoughts on the imperatives of CSR in the post-pandemic era. He emphasized the importance of developing the culture of giving back to society among the citizens and other stakeholders like – civil society organisations, business houses, and institutions.

Kumar, who has been instrumental in promoting CSR and corporate giving culture in India, said, "CSR has a great purpose. It is a creative way of helping people grow, that's why CSR amount must be utilised purposely. The CSR culture aims at transforming the downtrodden sections of society by empowering them with a multi-dimensional approach. The CSR amount being spent is the money of the people to transform the lives of people from the poorest sections of the society. CSR has a democratic value, that's why so many countries are truly eagerly looking to India. Many countries are looking to have such a CSR law, similar to India's CSR Law."

He emphasized to the august gathering about the culture of giving and mentioned that the corporates should focus on ensuring that the impact of the CSR should be inclusive in nature. He desired that the reporting should be in alignment with the national and international benchmarks and allied aspects.

Kumar, who is also advising various corporate boards said that the purpose of CSR has been hijacked by various stakeholders for many reasons. This is one of the many reasons why smaller states like Bihar are getting sub-optimal levels of CSR expenditure in the state. CSR money and CSR projects must reach the backward regions.

The panel discussion featured Kumar, Ravi Bhatnagar, Director – CSR and External Affairs, Rackitt and Dr Rana Singh, former Vice-Chancellor of Sanskriti University. The discussion was moderated by Anand Madhav, Advisor, Center for CSR Studies of CIMP. The topic of discussion was 'The changing imperatives of CSR in the post Covid era'.

Speaking as the chief guest of the closing ceremony, Bhatnagar said: "When we do any CSR, the community comes first and then comes the company and the brand in the process. It is not the case that the company is not benefitted when they do CSR." Bhatnagar said that there is a dearth of good CSR projects in Bihar.

The two-day international conference on CSR, inclusive development and welfare' (ICCSR 2021) organized under the aegis of Center for CSR Studies, CIMP concluded on Monday. CIMP is an autonomous institution, supported by government of Bihar.

Dr Bhaskar Chatterjee and Martin Neureiter and Dr V Mukunda Das, Director of CIPM were keynote speakers of the inaugural session. More than 30 papers were presented at the conference. The best paper award for the conference went to Ayush Anand, Ph.D Scholar, the central university of south Bihar for his paper titled 'CSR activities through participatory communication: An action research to strengthen government education system'.

A certificate and a cheque of ten thousand were given by the guest. Certificates of participation were also given to all the participants jointly by Dr Josh Kalapura, Director, XISR, and Rajeev Ranjan, Convenor, ICCSR. At the end of the valedictory ceremony, the vote of thanks was given by Kumod Kumar, Coordinator of Center for CSR studies and convener of ICCSR 2021.