Why Universities Must Examine the Paradigms of Corporate Social Responsibility

1. Why Universities Must Examine the Paradigms of Corporate Social Responsibility S Parasuraman 16th October 2014

2. Pathway to Development • Development Theories state that “transition from poor, predominantly agricultural economy where majority of workers are self-employed to a more prosperous society that is predominantly urban and industrial where most workers are employees. Self employed small producers are squeezed out of agriculture and non-agricultural activities.

3. Pathway to Development • Historically the transition is bound to involve prolonged periods of ‘non-inclusive’ growth during which some people accumulate capital and control over deployment of resources, including land, while others lose their (i) access to the means of production and (ii) control over production processes, together with (iii) their relative independence. (Colquhoun, Patrick, 1806)”.

4. Washington Consensus (1990s)Restating Patrick Colquhoun’s 1806 Point • The Washington Consensus that prescribes 18 policy agenda for economic reforms advocates two policies to deal with poverty created as a consequence of reform agenda: (i) Social safety nets, and (ii) Targeted poverty reduction measures (Hansjorg Herr / Jan Priewe, 2005)

5. Preoccupation with Economic Growth Has Tendency to Exasperate Poverty • India has grown to be one of the largest economies in the world. • it is still home to the largest number of people living in absolute poverty and largest number of undernourished children. • What emerges is a picture of uneven distribution of the benefits of growth which many believe, is the root cause of social unrest. Widening disparity, inequality and the growing divide are the defining attributes of Indian Society.

6. Acute Poverty • The Rangarajan Committee (2014) estimated that the 30.9% of the rural population and 26.4% of the urban population was below the poverty line in 2011-12. The all-India ratio was 29.5%. In rural India, 260.5 million individuals were below poverty and in urban India 102.5 million were under poverty. • Totally, 363 million were below poverty in 2011-12. • The United Nations estimates of 396 million people extreme poverty in 2010 is close to 363 million people below poverty line in 2011-12 are consistent.

8. Poverty and Vulnerability • The National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector after examining the nature and extent of poverty concluded: “an overwhelming majority of the Indian population, around three quarters, is poor and vulnerable”; a staggering 836 million as of 2004-05 (64th round of National Sample Survey). • The 66th round of NSS for the period 2009-10 reflects the same trend.

9. State’s Response • Collective efforts from the Government, Industry and Civil Society required overcoming loss of livelihoods and skills, and re-skilling people for work new sectors • India needs to skill / re-skill about 500 million people in the next 15 years (National Skill Development Council)

10. Social Policies to address Poverty and Deprivation • Every single major policy initiative in India is largely driven with a stated perspective that an overwhelming concern for the disadvantaged and marginalised, a multidimensional view of poverty and human deprivation, the focus on fundamental rights and the need to expand opportunities. • Companies too have been the target of those perturbed by this uneven development and as a result, their contributions to society are under severe scrutiny.

11. CSR as an instrument to aid State’s intervention in addressing Poverty • The inclusion of the CSR mandate under the Companies Act, 2013 is an attempt to supplement the government’s efforts of equitably delivering the benefits of growth and to engage the Corporate World with the country’s development agenda.

12. Why CSR? • CSR has expanded considerably in recent decades and on a global scale (Carroll, 1999) but poses an important question: • is this expansion a sign of a more humane capitalism or a desperate attempt to resolve the contradictions of capitalist globalization? • It seems that capitalist globalization is intensifying two pre-existing crises: increasing class polarization and deepening environmental depletion.

13. References • To be added