Joining Hands – A Social Responsibility Conclave was organised by the Net Impact Club at the Indian School of Business (ISB) on November 11, 2006. The Conclave was a call for corporate India to take up wider social responsibilities by effective public-private-civic alliances. It provided an update on all major trends, shaping the socio-development landscape in India, and helped strategise moves and solutions to create a successful, measurable and sustainable social impact.

Net Impact Club President, Santosh Srinivas, in his welcome address hoped that this effort would serve as a springboard to greater ideas in addressing social issues. “Today we are here to devise some strategy for the road ahead”, he said. Savita Mahajan, Assistant Dean, ISB, said that the students at the ISB, who she referred to as “the future positions of influence” are geared to be aware, and to be empathetic to larger development and societal issues, “so that in future their decision does not just impact the corporation, but across society, across geographical boundaries and across generations." Dr Krishna Tanuku, Advisor and Mentor of Net Impact, urged to go beyond the `feel good factor’ of philanthropy, and focus more on the concept of social equity which is people centric. “This Conclave is a starting point for a greater movement to address social concerns, individually and collectively”, said Tanuku.

Anu Aga, Director, Thermax Llimited, focused on “finding innovative, sustainable and scalable solutions.” Aga pointed out that the private, public, and civic sectors should focus on common passions rather than mull over differences in ideology and methodology. For a successful alliance, there is a need for clarity of roles, a need for transparency in operation and a viable business plan. “We need to move away from that charity mode,” said Aga. The public-private alliance, according to her, has become “the flavour of the season, a way to appease the government”. Clarifying the working definition of Corporate Social Responsibility, she said, “Old mindsets like the business-of-business-is-business should change. However the dilemma of CSR is that, most often, we are rescuing the government, and duplicating the work that they should be doing.” Aga exemplified the Grameen Bank as a workable and creative idea which has empowered and energised rural livelihood. “Let us try to emulate it, if not go one better,” she said.

Dispelling the myth that it is wrong for a company to make profits, Gurucharan Das, Former CEO, Procter and Gamble, India, said, “Society makes a corporation guilty for engaging in profits. Business is stuck with labels of being exploitative. In course, the corporation loses its self-esteem. This mindset has to change. The business of making money also involves raising skills of people, creating enterprises and ultimately contributing to national wealth.” Das stressed that it is “illegal and immoral” for companies to engage in philanthropy. “I don’t like the word Corporate Social Responsibility”, Das said, “I believe that individual contribution to social good has more impact.” Das was of the opinion that to give wisely and to focus on where to give was more vital. He proposed three mantras to do so:

• Let philanthropy enhance and further your brand image

• Do not do cheque book philanthropy - engage the employees.

• Do not do it yourself - outsource philanthropy
   

Harish Bijoor, the panel moderator, had some interesting ‘jolt-points’ about CSR. “It is a buzz phrase with plenty of buzz and less action. It is a politically correct arena to dabble in,” he said. Bijoor stressed that the socio-political-economic challenges of India needs innovative and effective ideas which are feasible, measurable, and sustainable. “We need ideas which can be ramped up. We need to now know the difference between genuine CSR activity and benign branding activity.” Madhav Chavan, Founder, Pratham, an NGO which has been working in the field of universalising education since 1994, urged everyone to go beyond the stereotypes of CSR, and join hands to redefine it. “We do not need jargons. We need individual responsibility, and a social capital,” Chavan said. He also said that terms like ‘marginalised’ and ‘underdeveloped’ need to be demolished, and the need of the hour is to go beyond structures. “Social responsibility today is nothing short of nation building, be it roads or schools. We need to facilitate an ecosystem, where mindsets which limit constructive partnerships will break down,” said Chavan. He concluded that what India needed today was, most importantly, a “cultural change”

Cecelia Adorna, Country Representative, UNICEF, said that the social sector in India “is stagnating.” She felt that corporations, development partners and civic bodies need to chip in for delivering effective public services. “It is about recognising reforms. It is about a viable system that mobilises community, and it is about corporations pitching in, not with their money, but their ability to be business savvy,” said Adorna. Timothy McGuill, Director, Public Affairs, Intel India, spoke about a Corporate Social Innovation model. The model, based on the ripple effect, showed how innovation led to business growth. “CSR is not only about profitability; it is an awakening inside multinationals who are trying to get into new and emerging markets,” said McGuill. The plenary session ended with Vikas Goswami’s coherent justification of CSR, and definition for a working model of CSR. “We need to make CSR a strategy of doing business so that there are no questions raised about its legality. CSR is beyond and above what law prescribes,” she said. Goswami maintained that vision alone could not help in addressing social issues. Ground level operations were more crucial.

The afternoon session had Sohoni Bhattacharya, Director, South Asia Partnerships, Ashoka, speak of her organisation’s experience in social entrepreneurship. As an example, she cited an initiative first started in Bangladesh that incentivised primary education for children. Children were taught to engage in business activities right from school going age, and the revenue earned would be paid as a dividend at the end of the year, provided a minimum attendance requirement was satisfied. The model encouraged children to attend school, and even cut dropout rates by half while providing an answer to parents who did not send children to school because they could not give up on the earnings of the child. Bhattacharya said that a social entrepreneur was one who often disrupts accepted models in initiating an idea. In that sense, social entrepreneurs are “change initiators”.

Ingrid Srinath, CEO, CRY, spoke about the need for businesses to scale up social entrepreneurship efforts. “Why is it that when we think of business, our scales are global, and when we think of social responsibility, it is down to just 5 villages?” she said. Aparajita Ramakrishnan, Program Officer, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who manages the Avahan HIV prevention programme, was critical of the lack of efforts of businesses in India to deal with the HIV epidemic. “Business is lagging in its response to HIV,” she said.

The speakers agreed that more forums such as the Net Impact Conclave were necessary to raise awareness on the importance of Social Responsibility for an emerging economy like India, and the impact it could have in ensuring equitable distribution of economic growth. Shiladitya Das, Assistant Dean, Business Affairs, ISB, delivered the Vote of Thanks, and thanked one and all for the success of the Conclave.