Social advocacy by corporate houses

T. R. Rajan

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN INDIA — Past, Present and Future: Sanjay Kumar Panda; Pub. by the ICFAI University Press, 52 Nagarjuna Hills, Panjagutta, Hyderabad-500082. $ 23.

In a special report on CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), published in January this year, The Economist wrote, "The theological question — should there be CSR? — is so irrelevant today." "Companies are doing it. It's one of the social pressures they've absorbed."

Three years ago a special report in The Economist acknowledged, with regret (emphasis mine), that the CSR movement had won the battle of ideas. In the survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit for this report, only four per cent of respondents thought that CSR was "a waste of time and money." Clearly CSR has arrived. My personal views on CSR have always been ambivalent. So it was with some trepidation that I took up Sanjay Kumar Panda's book Corporate Social Responsibility in India for reviewing. However, I realised my fears were misplaced after reading the book. Though there is no mistaking that the author is a strong advocate of CSR, he has not ventured into any controversial debate about the virtues or otherwise of CSR.

Future

The book first explains the concept of CSR and then takes the reader to the global scenario and then on to the Indian scene. This is followed by its chronological history and present status among Indian corporates. For ages, much before the advent of corporate form of organisations, the rich in India had discharged their social responsibility through philanthropy as enjoined by their religions.

Most of the bigger corporates have also joined the CSR bandwagon on their own volition or forced by legal and societal pressures.

The book, thereafter, looks at the future of CSR in the country. A signal contribution of the author in the chapter "Future" is the delineation of areas in which CSR can play an important role in nation-building. He lays out priority areas, attention to which would help corporates themselves and also the nation in the long run.

Case studies

The author has to be commended on the effective use of boxes throughout the book; they ensure that many an important idea or information about organisations is highlighted without disturbing the narrative flow of the book. The case studies given in the book could have been more elaborate and incorporated some of the dilemmas and issues faced by these companies in implementing CSR.

The case studies, barring those about SAIL, Tata Steel and perhaps ONGC are too sketchy to be of use. A comparative assessment of the efficacy of CSR activities of a public sector company and a private sector company, say SAIL and Tata Steel, could have perhaps enhanced the usefulness of the book to both policy makers and implementers.

Panda straddles the worlds of civil service and academia, and has extensively used the knowledge and experience he has gained from both. This is both the strength and the weakness of the book. It is well organised and ideas flow cogently. However, it often tends to read like an official report.

Though well produced, a little more attention to editing could have avoided some of the language mistakes which have crept in here and there. The book is certainly a good addition to gain a broad-brush understanding of CSR in the country.