Between 2014-15 and November 2017: Govt funding for various development schemes was Rs 68,270 crore

Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat are the biggest beneficiaries in terms of funds allocated for schemes such as Swachh Bharat Mission, Smart Cities Mission and PMAY (Urban)

The details of key schemes and the financial support offered by states and the Centre under some of the flagship schemes are given below.(Illustration: C R Sasikumar)

For overall urban development across the country, the Central government has been supporting the states in improving governance, management and development of urban areas through schemes and missions such as Swachh Bharat Mission, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), Smart Cities Mission, Atal Mission For Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) and North Eastern Region Urban Development Programme (NERUDP). According to data from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Rs 68,270 crore was released under these schemes across the country from 2014-15 till November 2017. Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat emerge as the biggest beneficiaries of the government funding. The details of key schemes and the financial support offered by states and the Centre under some of the flagship schemes are given below.

Swachh Bharat Mission

One of the flagship schemes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Swachh Bharat Mission has seen about Rs 6,000 crore being pumped into the project since 2014-15 for construction of individual household toilets, community and public toilets, apart from solid waste management, information, education & communication and public awareness, and capacity building. The majority of the funds released are contributed by governments of respective states and Union territories. Initially, the project was funded by a 0.5 per cent Swachh Bharat cess, which was later abolished when the goods and services tax regime kicked in from July 1. Further, corporates also contribute to the Swachh Bharat Kosh as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR):

# The total contribution to the Swachh Bharat Kosh as part of CSR expenditure as reported by the companies for the years 2014-15 and 2015-16, as per the filings up to March 31, 2017, was Rs 94.57 crore and Rs 321.03 crore, respectively.

# Among the various heads, the highest amount of funds has been allocated by the government on solid waste management. Of the total amount, Rs 2,394 crore has been released over the last four financial years for the purpose.

# This was followed by Rs 2,257 crore being released for construction of individual household toilets.

# In 2017-18 so far, Uttar Pradesh released the maximum funds under the Swachh Bharat Mission at Rs 354.13 crore, followed by Madhya Pradesh at Rs 291.87 crore, and Maharashtra at Rs 240.17 crore.

# While Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra released the most money for solid waste management projects, Uttar Pradesh released the most for individual household toilets during 2017-18.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban)

The scheme, launched in 2015, aims to provide assistance to states and Union territories in addressing housing requirement of the urban poor through four verticals – “in situ” slum redevelopment with participation of private developers; promotion of affordable housing for economically weaker sections through credit-linked subsidy; affordable housing in partnership with public and private sector; subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction or enhancement. Various projects under the mission are approved and implemented by governments of state or union territories or urban local bodies:

# In 2017-18 so far, the Centre released Rs 4,950.21 crore under the scheme, with maximum funds being released to Tamil Nadu at Rs 903.91 crore, followed by Madhya Pradesh at Rs 809.09 crore and Gujarat at Rs 480.58 crore.

# The trend was consistent in 2016-17, with Rs 4,606.26 crore being released. Tamil Nadu topped last year too, receiving Rs 634.60 crore in central assistance under the scheme, followed by Gujarat at Rs 614.05 crore, and Maharashtra at Rs 482.12 crore.

# However, in the first two years of the project, a combined Rs 3,131.98 crore was released to various states and Union territories.

# A total of 4,293 cities across states and union territories have been included under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban)

Smart Cities Mission

The Smart Cities Mission aims to cover 100 cities in the country for improving infrastructure and services including smart solutions and area-based development. In the first year of implementation, i.e. 2015-16, 20 smart cities were selected and in the second year of implementation, i.e. 2016-17, 40 smart cities have been selected. The selection of smart cities follows a two-stage process where city administrations apply with their plans for receiving assistance under the mission. In the second stage of the project, 98 cities were shortlisted. Furthermore, 23 cities, including Lucknow, Warangal, Dharamshala, Chandigarh, Panaji, Port Blair, Raipur, among others, have participated in the fast-track round of the mission:

# Funds amounting to Rs 9,939.20 crore have been released in the three years — 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 — by the government for 100 smart cities.

# Cities such as Lucknow, Agartala, Coimbatore, Ajmer, Kota, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Bhubaneswar and Nagpur, among others, have so far received Rs 196 crore each in the past three years.

# In the list of 100 planned smart cities, Uttar Pradesh tops the list with 13 prospective smart cities, followed by Tamil Nadu at 12 cities, and Maharashtra with 10 cities.

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/between-2014-15-and-november-2017-govt-funding-for-various-development-schemes-was-rs-68270-crore-5022338/

An Idea To Channelise CSR Funds Towards SDGs For Better Results

The Logical Indian Crew

January 12th, 2018

India tells a unique story of its development and the gaps too. Being the first country in the world to legislate CSR in the Companies Act, 2013 mandating firms to spend at least 2% of average net profits on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is revolutionary, yet a lot of policy decisions needs to be taken to effectively use this resource pool of CSR.

Though the government has prescribed activities that qualify as CSR including eradicating hunger, poverty, promoting education & skills, gender equality, ensuring environmental sustainability, protection of national heritage, and protection of armed forces veterans, rural sports, setting up technology institutions and also contribution to the Prime Minister Relief Fund. India Inc. is yet to align its developmental priorities with the global development agenda of the United Nations.

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CSR Landscape And The Gap

It has been three years that companies have been mandated to spend for CSR activities. However, the pattern of spending of these funds has not changed as most of the companies splurge on education and healthcare. It is also found that out of the 100 NSE companies listed for CSR, the top 10 companies spend 50% of the total fund allocated.

In the very first year, it was found that 266 companies did not spend the prescribed amount on CSR that is almost Rs 2444 crore in unspent amount. A lot of companies tend to spend more on the promotional aspects than the sustainable implementation of the initiative and efforts.

The basic understanding of societal issues is required which can streamline the expenditure for CSR. A company cannot just throw money at a cause just because they are mandated by the government to do so. Considering the problems, the spending can be channelised towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

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What are SDGs and Why should India aim to achieve these goals?

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – a set of 17 universally applicable, indivisible goals with a 169 targets to be achieved by 2030.

India too ratified these goals in 2016 and thus has, today, about 12 years to achieve these tremendously ambitious goals.

Sustainable development in India’s context poses some unparalleled challenges – with 18 percent of the world’s population and a mere 4 percent of global natural resources; with nearly 30 percent of its over 1.2 billion population living in extreme poverty; with more than 50 percent of the population not having access to modern cooking energy and defecating in the open; a very poor performance on mitigating malnutrition, and so on – ranking it a lowly 110 on the sustainable development index despite impressive economic growth rates over the last decade and a half.

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Channelising SDGs with CSR

As a signatory to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, India is committed to participate in the international review of progress of Sustainable development Goals (SDGs) on a regular basis.

The Niti Aayog chaired by the Prime Minister has been assigned the role to ‘coordinate’ the achievement of India’s sustainable development goals both in quantitative and qualitative terms.

However, considering the challenges India is facing and also acknowledging the resource limitation for development, the CSR investments through private sector should be channelized towards SDGs. There are already certain laps between the Schedule VII of the CSR activity and the SDGs.   

For this, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India and Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) should integrate the SDGs and its associated targets into Schedule VII of Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 that governs CSR implementation in the country.

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What can be done?

Akanksha Sharma, an internationally acclaimed CSR & Sustainability Expert, raised this matter with United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs. She is a leading voice in the CSR space and heads CSR and Sustainability for an MNC currently. She has also worked with UNICEF and other organizations in the past. She has raised this matter with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Niti Ayog and with continued efforts now a committee is being formed to brainstorm this.

“Businesses and the Government should work in coherence to help the country optimize impacts towards the Sustainable development Goals and this alignment is required at all levels,” says Akanksha.

She says, “We should build bridges and not walls. Here, I’m talking about approx. Rs. 15,000 Cr. of the CSR pool of funds, that can be resourceful in helping India inch towards the global development goals. I’ve raised a petition on this to align the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the CSR priorities laid down by the law. It may not solve the whole issue, but it will definitely contribute.”
If you think CSR fund should be channelized and utilized to help India achieve the SDGs by 2030, you can sign the petition started by Akanksha here.

https://thelogicalindian.com/get-inspired/akanksha-sharma-csr/

Top 100 Indian companies should allocate 10% of profits towards CSR, says Narayana Murthy

Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy has urged the top 100 Indian companies to allocate 10 percent of their profits towards corporate social responsibility with a focus on areas like public health, nutrition, science and research and education.

Speaking at a panel discussion organised by Business Standard, he said, the companies could allocate an additional 8 percent "as against the current 2 percent of the profits earmarked for CSR" under Section 135 of the Companies Act, to achieve these goals, he added.

File image of Narayana Murthy. Reuters.

Murthy, a trustee of the Infosys Foundation, also said that he wouldn't mind sitting down with the chief executive officers of all the top 100 companies to achieve this goal.

"Let us be very clear, being rich in a poor country is not much fun. This may seem a little bit outlandish, but I think these are the kind of discussions we must have."

"If we can contribute towards making this a better society, I feel all of us will be much happier," he added.

Murthy stressed that the private sector needs to play a bigger role in Indian science and technology research.

According to a Business Line report,  India's spending on scientific research, as a percentage of GDP, has been stagnant at 0.69 per cent during the last three years, which is way lower than developing countries, who according to Department of Science and Technology, spend more than than 2 percent of their GDP in R&D.

Not just that, among BRICS countries, India was ranked at the bottom in terms of percentage of GDP spent on R&D, the report adds. The situation has remained dismal even though "India's gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) has been steadily increasing over the years, and has tripled in a decade from ₹24,117 crore in 2004-05 to ₹85,326 crore in 2014-15", it adds.

Murthy also said that India must improve the contribution of taxation towards GDP from the current 11.5 percent to 16-18 percent in order to reduce inequality in the country, and to achieve, he recommended that increasing the tax rates at the highest marginal levels and adding more people into the tax net.

"Unless you have money, there's no way you can solve these problems," he added.

http://www.firstpost.com/business/top-100-indian-companies-should-allocate-10-of-profits-towards-csr-says-narayana-murthy-4297941.html

BSE 100 cos meet CSR targets, spend ₹7,050 cr in FY17: IiAS study

59 firms out of 100 meet target, while 33 expend less than the mandated 2%

MUMBAI, JANUARY 12:  

The Companies Act 2013 mandates businesses to spend 2 per cent of their three-year average profits on social initiatives every year. A study by proxy advisory firm IiAS showed that in FY17, the BSE 100 companies spent ₹7,050 crore on CSR, an increase of 8 per cent compared to the previous year.

This puts the CSR spend at 98 per cent of the prescribed amount. Based on the Act, the S&P BSE 100 companies were required to spend ₹7,200 crore on CSR. Of the 100, 59 companies met or exceeded their targets while 33 spent less than the mandated 2 per cent. Four companies reported losses but still spent on CSR while Bank of Baroda was the lone entity in the top 100 that did not disclose or spend on CSR.

Education projects

Over 30 per cent of the aggregate FY17 spend was made towards education projects while another 30 per cent was spent on rural development and healthcare projects. With companies building their own social initiatives, contributions to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, and technology incubators have declined by 89 per cent this year.

Additionally, during the current year, 81 of the 100 companies disclosed they have undertaken an impact assessment, up from 59 companies in FY16.

Reliance Industries spent the most — ₹660 crore for CSR activities, followed by ONGC at ₹530 crore.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/markets/stock-markets/bse-100-cos-meet-csr-targets-spend-7050-cr-iias-study/article10030647.ece

CSR initiatives that make your employees proud and happy

By integrating the social, economic and environmental improvement it gives a holistic and sound impression of an organization and also helps its employees to be part of a greater cause 

 

 

 

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Image: Shutterstock

It has been no less of a challenge to provide a meaningful working experience to employees in this day and age of automation. It has increasingly become important that people in an organization have meaningfulness in the work they do, the people they work for and a sense of purpose attached to their lives. Corporate Social Responsibility essentially is an institute or an organization’s initiative to assess and take responsibility for the effects/ impact good or bad created as a result of all the actions taken up by an organization focusing on social and environmental well-being.

By integrating the social, economic and environmental improvement it gives a holistic and sound impression of an organization and also helps its employees to be part of a greater cause. Research shows that those companies that implement CSR practices successfully are known to have positive employee relations including recruitments, employee morale, engagement and productivity. It is important that CSR initiatives focus on employee giving, community partnerships, local involvement, philanthropy and volunteerism. Volunteerism is known to improve a given individual’s psychological well-being and this can only lead to employees feeling happier and a sense of pride in the work they do.

Most large companies demonstrate their commitment by sponsoring for events and donating the large sum of amount. However, this does not bring out the true spirit of volunteerism. It is in the involvement at the grassroots level that empowers employees and also exposes them to different experiences and realities. It is this experience that is priceless and makes it worthwhile for the company to go the extra mile to facilitate CSR events and activities.

CSR activities provide a platform for developing numerous skills of the employees in a rather non-judgmental fashion. This is a great way to build people skills, leadership skills and organizational skills. CSR initiatives must be employee driven and lead by employees with minimum involvement of managers. With this sort of an environment, it opens up opportunities to showcase initiative and innovation. It poses problem-solving situations and thereby becomes a platform to unlearn and relearn and foster more progressive attitudes which definitely spills over to work-related matters as well.

CSR activities generate a lot of positive feelings among employees which then results in a positive work environment leading to a highly positive work culture - a prerequisite for talent retention and attraction. Therefore ensuring that companies have a strong CSR programme can be significant in not only motivating employees but also to show up at work with a real sense of purpose. This has also shown to have a competitive advantage over other organizations and will extend loyalties to not just employees but also customers, partners, suppliers and other stakeholders.

As part of the human species, all that we ever wanted was to have a sense of purpose, to bring about a positive impact to the place we are living in. CSR involvement enables individuals to do so in a collaborative manner yielding fruits for employees, organization and the business in its entirety. According to the managing director of corporate citizenship of Deloitte, Douglas Marshall, 70 % of the millennials decision to work for an organization was dependant on the fact whether they undertook corporate social responsibility programs.

According to a CECP led ‘Giving in numbers’ study that focuses on corporate social strategies, it was found that the role of employees in CSR is on the rise. Organizations are more and more focusing on their social strategy in order to attract and retain purpose oriented employees who are known to be a lot more productive in the workplace. Purpose oriented individuals are known to have 20% longer tenure, 50% higher chances to take up a leadership position, 47% more likely to advocate the causes of the company and 64% more likely to have a fulfilled career. 2016 Edelman Trust Barometer states that 80% of the public feels that business can increase its profits while parallelly improving the societal and economic conditions of the community within which it operates.

Leaders play a huge role in driving the CSR programs and being the inspirational figure that all employees can look up to so that they can take initiatives in the upcoming projects. The top leadership needs to recognize and understand the value of driving a sense of purpose. More leaders are acknowledging the relationship between health and happiness which is said to improve as a result of leading a meaningful life. Happy workers are 12% more productive as opposed to those who aren’t happy. Big corporations are ensuring that skill-based volunteering and pro bono services are provided by the employees which a significant impact in the projects taken up by employees, thereby having a positive trend in the level of job satisfaction among employees.

Millennials are comprising most of today’s working population and they are also the most socially conscious generation ever to have existed according to a 2006 Cone study on the Millennial Generation. It is safe to say that volunteerism, community engagement and philanthropic efforts are aspects that are heavily assessed and taken into consideration to understand the probable value system a given organization contains and nurtures. A culture that is focused on CSR and service is only going to become a way of one’s work life increasingly if an organization wishes to have a happy, healthy and purposeful workforce. Businesses worried about the cost of implementing this should recognize how it can deliver true win-wins, engaging and improving brand reputation among external and internal stakeholders, contributing to the development of employees and ensuring they are proud of the company they work for and motivated to perform at their best.

http://www.forbesindia.com/blog/business-strategy/jingle-all-the-way-csr-initiatives-that-make-your-employees-proud-and-happy/