In mandating a corporate social responsibility spend under the Companies Act, we in India have followed a widely accepted global trend. But a prescriptive approach does not gel with a progressive nation. By its very concept, the CSR stands placed above mundane finance; treating it as a tax is to degrade it. The annual CSR awards for companies should promote inclination and incentive to improving the social milleu. Instead of pedantic clauses, riders and ham-handed penalties, the government ought to facilitate and mould the groundswell. Contributions to the Prime Minister’s relief fund are the most unimaginative route to CSR. Originality counts most as CSR is but a part of the tapestry of social empowerment
R. Narayanan,
Navi Mumbai
