160
S
tate
of
I
ndia
’
s
L
ivelihoods
R
eport
2015
being carried out by companies and the
kind of supervision arrangements required
for the purpose of the Act. The Ministry of
Corporate Affairs has provided detailed clari-
fications.
3
Now most of the companies have
framed their own CSR policies established
by CSR committees of the board and also
invested in monitoring systems that would
measure and report results. In a number of
cases, the CSR policy mimics the guidelines
given by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs
with no additions. But there are also com-
panies that have framed very focussed and
at the same time elaborate CSR policy. Some
of the policy documents reviewed contained
detailed measures on governance of the
policy, procedures for preparation of projects
and sanctioning and implementation, moni-
toring and reporting.
The companies with
detailed CSR policies were engaged in doing
CSR for a long time much before introduc-
tion of the Companies Act, 2013.
The CSR policies of a few companies
were taken up randomly to examine their
outlook on supporting livelihoods. Bayer
Crop Sciences for example has proposed
to design a well-planned initiative to
provide vocational and skill development
training, support identification and adop-
tion of new income generation livelihood
opportunities with new technologies and
improved agricultural and non-agricultural
incomes. The company also proposes to
work towards creating markets for local
commodities, products and skills. Rural
Electrification Corporation Ltd. proposes
to promote rural enterprise and livelihoods
including skill development and training,
providing development support to com-
mon facility centres and production centres
in rural areas, promoting and developing
rural technologies for micro enterprise
promotion, undertaking relevant com-
munity development programmes. It also
proposes to support vocational, technical
and higher education to disadvantaged and
marginalised sections.
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has set up a
foundationnamed theDr Reddy Foundation
which among other things focuses on rural
livelihoods. It aims at ensuring regular
income to farmers by introducing technol-
ogy interventions in their doorsteps. It had
the objective of reaching 22,000 farmers by
March 2015 in nine states and 29 locations
across the country.
Its primary and periph-
eral interventions are inmajor crops such as
paddy, maize, cotton, sugarcane, vegetables
and pulses. The foundation also is engaged
in skilling rural youth.
Presently there are
five projects in skilling rural youth being
run. A livestock improvement programme
focussing on animal healthcare for preven-
tion of major disease such as foot andmouth
disease has also been initiated.
In case of livelihoods the CSR interven-
tions are both in the farm sector and non-
farm sector area. In the farm sector the
interventions relate to soil and water con-
servation, optimising use of water, improved
crop practices, attention to crop and animal
health care and introducing package of
practices and production advisories that
will improve productivity. There are very
few interventions that focussed on linking
farmers withmarkets. However some corpo-
rates have taken up linkage with markets as
part of their overall livelihood development
strategy. On the non-farm sector the focus
of CSR has been on supporting creation of
micro enterprises as also building up skills
among youth for improving employability.
In fact investments in skill building have
been a strong area that attracts corporates
because it directly benefits the corporates
with improved quality of labour force on a
variety of sectors. The industry collabora-
tions with skill training institutes seem to
be strengthening. Under the government
programme 1,227 ITIs across the country
have industry partnerships where the cor-
porate sector provides faculty training, lab
upgradation and placement support. Apart
3
General Circular No. 21/2014 dated 18 June 2014
by Ministry of Corporate Affairs, GoI.
