President Kovind confers CSR Awards

Says respect is achieved by donating wealth not by storing it

A Akhter / New Delhi

President Ram Nath Kovind today urged upon corporate to motivate their employees and sensitise them for the service of the marginalised sections of society. He said that this single step will generate enough goodwill for wealth creators among ordinary people.

President was speaking after conferring the first National Corporate Social Responsibility Awards to the companies for their outstanding contribution in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) here today.

Mr. Kovind said, it is important to internalise social welfare in the corporate culture and the companies has shown that it is possible to be profitable while being socially and environmentally responsible.

Commending the efforts of Ministry of Corporate Affairs for initiating the National CSR Awards in the year of Gandhiji’s 150th birth anniversary, he said, these awards will be conferred every year on 2nd October.

The president said, many illustrious business families like Tata, Birla and Bajaj and many others associated with our freedom struggle were sensitive to their social responsibilities. He said, Mahatma Gandhi developed the principle of trusteeship on the basis of the generosity of industrialists associated with him. He further said that every fiscal year since 2014-15, the corporate sector has set aside more than Rs. 10,000 crore for social welfare and various social sectors like education, environment, health, poverty eradication, sanitation and safe drinking water have benefitted from this effort.

He said, India has been consistently improving its rank in ease of doing business indicator by the efforts of the government and the government is also sensitive about the need to calibrate the CSR regime to make it more effective.

The President said that the government is sensitive about the need to calibrate the CSR regime to make it more effective.

Mentioning a quote, the president said, respect is achieved by donating the wealth not by storing it, clouds attain a higher position by giving away water whereas the oceans remain at a lower position by storing water.

Winning companies were felicitated by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.In her address, Finance Minister said that CSR is not merely contribution of funds, it is the corporate contribution towards inclusive societies which matters.

MoS Anurag Singh Thakur highlighted the contributions of companies through their CSR programmes in various sector such as sports, Clean Ganga, Education, health, divyang and skill & livelihood etc. He further added that CSR programmes of companies have delivered good results for divyang people.

Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Injeti Srinivas said that CSR is no longer an act of philanthropy. Rather it now flows out of business responsibility towards society and environment.

DG & CEO, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, Dr Sameer Sharma delivered ‘vote of thanks’ wherein he acknowledged the contribution of various stakeholders including central and state governments, industry chambers, professional institutions, academic institutions, for their help in carrying out the award process.

The National CSR Awards have been instituted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to recognize corporate initiatives in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to achieve inclusive growth and inclusive and sustainable development. The Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA), think-tank of the Ministry, has rendered technical and logistics support in the conduct of the rigorous award process.

Winners in different categories:

Honourable Mentions in different award categories: