The Boon Called Companies BiIl 

A big leap in the world of CSR 

 newsletter5th Oct 2013

1 

Issue III

 The new Companies Bill that was passed recently will

turn out to bring a big leap in the world of CSR. The

bill proposes that all companies of a certain size have to

mandatorily spend 2% of their three year average profit

towards CSR. India is one of the first nations to make

mandatory social welfare spending as part of company

statute by law. Nearly 8000 companies are in line to be-

come the impact creators. The total estimated amount to

be given out for this act will be anywhere between 12000

to 15000 crores. The main idea is to consider social

spending by organizations run by strategy. The decisions

of this spending have a huge impact on their bottom

lines. Hence, it is imperative that companies start taking

strategic decisions to improve society.

One way in which this can create a huge level of change

is to initially concentrate on 2 or 3 focus areas. For ex-

ample, take malnutrition or education. Even though

India is considered as an emerging economy, the gap

between the poor and rich are growing day by day. The

poor lack basic amenities which determine the standard

of living. Good access to health and basic education will

improve the status of our country. This focus on prima-

ry issues and making a strategic roadmap to improve

the lives of millions will be game changer for Indian

Society. We can just hope with earnest desire that this

law will be implemented effectively and efficiently. 

By V. Nishanth Shouri

 

 

5th October 2013

 newsletter

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Issue III

Facing Our Inner Mirror 

Probably I came across this quote when I was in the

IV standard , it has remained etched in my memory

since: "Generations to come, it may well be, will

scarce believe that such a man as this one ever in

flesh and blood walked upon this Earth” It was the

great scientist Einstein talking about Gandhi and

came as a strong unambiguous corroboration to the

lore of the  Mahamanab  Gandhiji, that I imbibed in

the lap of a family that lived and breathed Gandhi-

anism.

Pray, what was this Gandhianism all about? Perhaps

the answer can be found in a famous quote by Gan-

dhi himself: "I will give you a talisman. Whenever

 you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too

much with you, apply the following test. Recall the

face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman]

 whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the

step you contemplate is going to be of any use to

him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it

restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life

and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj

[freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving

millions? Then you will find your doubts and your

self melt away."

 This was one of the last notes left behind by Gandhi

in 1948, expressing his deepest social thought. It is a

 very clear indication of his belief that it is not possi-

ble to separate the individual from the society. He

also enjoins the duty of each individual member of

society to achieve collective good while working for

self development. These two issues are not mutually

exclusive and hence there is no scope for any conflict

between individual goal and social good.

 This philosophy stands in sharp contrast to the un-

bridled greed that has been unleashed through the

celebration of supposed individualism through wan-

ton consumerism. But what is the way forward?

 Maybe, the answer lies within all of us. Take a mo-

ment, take a deep breath, celebrate a moment of si-

lence and ponder what Gandhi said: “ Man is the

maker of his own destiny in the sense that he has the

freedom of choice as to the manner in which he uses

his freedom. But he is no controller of results.” He

added to good measure that “ True morality con-

sists, not in following the beaten track, but in finding

out the true path for ourselves and in fearlessly fol-

lowing it”.

By Prof. Sanjeeb Kakoty

 

 

5th October 2013

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 Twenty five years of patient struggle ended up in

success and Mendha became the first village in India

to be given the ‘community forest rights’ under For-

est Rights Act of 2006 in April 2011. This meant

that the tribal villagers would be entitled to a por-

tion of the forest for their livelihood. Like many

other acts the act previous to FRA also dated back to

the pre-independence era. The British constituted

the Indian Forest Act in 1927 to officially declare the

entire forest reserves in the country as government

property and thereby suppress the rebellion tribal

groups. The FRA of 2006 recognized the fact that

different tribes, popularly known as  Adiwasi , were

heavily dependent on resources of forest origin for

several generations. More importantly, it acknowl-

edged that the tribal people had a natural sense of

sustainability while using the resources therefore

they are better able to take care of the forest. How-

ever, due to internal corruption it took another 5

 years of struggle from the villagers’ side just to get

the law implemented. Another important change

 was reclassifying bamboo as a grass (earlier it was

classified into timber). This meant bamboo was now

considered a minor forest produce. The villagers of

 Mendha (Lekha) village were legally permitted to

harvest bamboo, honey, Tendu-Patta , Chiraunji  and

other minor forest produce from a specific area of

the forest. The ball was in the villagers’ court now.

 They were given the rights and now they had to

make the best out of it.

 The people of Mendha had evolved as a wise people

over generations. This village of 105 families

(around 500 individuals) had developed a unique sys-

tem of self-governance. It refused to follow the con-

 ventional Panchayat system where one Sarpanch was

elected who controlled most of the things; instead

they formed what is known as Gram-Sabha. Every

adult villager was a member of the Gram-Sabha and

all the decisions were made by consensus. In fact,

 when I first visited the village in 2012 I noticed a

banner on the Gram-Sabha hall that had two lines

on it meaning ‘Our government is in Mumbai and

Delhi; all of us are the government within our vil-

lage’. All during my stay later I discovered that they

really meant it.

If you go to any common village in the country you

 will definitely find a meeting place where the elderly

people will gather for informal chat. Most of the

times it is trivial – something like recent happenings

in the neighborhoods, good news, bad news and gos-

sips that’s it! Ratnakar came to call me early in the

morning for a meeting. All the aged villagers, in-

cluding women, had gathered at a common-place to

discuss something over a cup of tea. To my surprise,

the topic of discussion was ‘how to develop bamboo

nurseries in the village’. The discussion went on for

about an hour till everybody left for work after every

single person had put forth their ideas. The beauty

of the discussion was that everyone was equally in-

terested and listened patiently to others. That is why

no matter how immature his/her idea may be no-

body was afraid of making his/her point. A similar

gathering took place just after the lunch when even

the young were involved. Two of government offi-

Wiser Together 

The Story of a revoluonary village 

Issue III

By Rutwik Phatak

 

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Promong, praccing, studying,

commenng on & communi-

cang about sustainable business

& social pracces for the devel-

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5th October 2013

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ECoBiZ Club

Faculty Co-ordinator : Dr Natalie West Kharkongor

 Members : Ernesto DhileebanHriday Bikash Das Jeremy Simon NongrumPrasanthi BitrakantiRutwik Phatak

Contacts : 8974115744 / 8974055542e-mail : ecobiz@iimshillong.in

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Issue III

cials had come to discuss about Indira Aawas Yojana.

 After they explained the scheme completely one of the

 villagers said, ‘We discussed this among ourselves in a

meeting earlier; why don’t you identify all beneficiaries

and deposit the total aid with Gram-Sabha!’ Another

 villager added, ‘Since you give only one lakh rupees per

house, the Gram-Sabha will add some more amount to

it so that we don’t have to compromise on quality. We

 will ensure that all houses are built together without

any delay.’ From building houses to skill development

programs to qualifying tenders for selling bamboo; eve-

ry single decision in this village is made by unanimous

consent of the people. This is clearly the reason behind

the success of this village.

 The villagers have made incredible progress in the last

2 years only because of their collective intelligence. In

the last month, the villagers took a revolutionary step

by gifting their individual farm-lands to the Gram-

Sabha. This village has certainly created an example in

management of common-pool resources. The culture

of thinking together is inculcated so well in the society.

In the last season the Gram-Sabha earned revenues

amounting to more than 1 crore rupees only through

efficient use of resources. More importantly, this mon-

ey is being invested back in conservation of the forest.

 This village exemplifies how welfare of all could be

achieved through truly sustainable development by

making all the stakeholders party to the decision mak-

ing process.