The Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India has enforced the Act and the CSR Rules from 1 April 2014. The provision of Section 135 for CSR in the Act was introduced in order to enable companies to build social capital through a regulatory structure. By doing so, India became the first country to have a legal requirement to spend on CSR and also the first to empower businesses to make an impact on the social front in a structured manner. TRANSITION FROM DONATIONS TO CHARITY INTO CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 1.1 EVOLUTION OF CSR & INTRODUCTION According to Rules, there is a provision of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) under Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013, Schedule VII of the Act enlists the activities, which can be undertaken by the companies under their CSR policies; and Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2014 provide the manner in which eligible companies can comply with CSR provision of the Act. Sections 135, Schedule VII, and Companies (CSR Policy) Rules, 2014 were notified on 27th February, 2014 and came into force from 1st April, 2014. Following are the essential features of the CSR provisions: o Companies above the specified threshold of turnover of INR 1, 000 Crore or more or net worth of 500 Crore or more or net profit of INR 5 Crore are required to spend at least two per cent of their average net profits earned during three immediately preceding financial years on CSR activities o Each such company is required to constitute a CSR committee of the Board o The Board of each such company is required to have the company’s CSR policy formulated and monitor its implementation o The Board of such company shall ensure that at least 2% of the average net profit of preceding three financial years is spent on CSR This report analyses the top 20 listed companies as per market capitalization from manufacturing sector. The companies considered for survey fall within the ambit of this definition and need to have at least the CSR committee in place; a CSR policy should be available in the public domain and an annual report on CSR in the Directors’ report.
Climate change is a global challenge posing varied consequences to all nations of the world; whether for the developed countries to sustain their development, for developing countries to achieve their requisite economic growth or for least developing island countries to save their existence. And the gravity of the challenge has only been intensified in last few years with research proving the ‘Limited Time’ and ‘Limited Carbon’ space available for the world to contain global temperature within 2 degrees Celsius. The changes have already started appearing in form of extreme weather events and natural calamities. And this change is increasing exponentially through lack of action in tackling the problem. India, with a population over 1.2 billion in 2015, is facing highly complex economic and social challenges. Further, because of its ecosystem dependent communities it will also be among the most severely hit countries from the impacts of climate change. In light of this reality, its development imperatives, its rising contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions, and its roadmap to achieve resilience to climate change are the key parameters vital for India in responding urgently to the crisis. The upcoming CoP at Paris where a new climate architecture is expected to be rolled out, is therefore crucial from this perspective. The international community during COP 17 in Durban agreed on negotiating a comprehensive climate regime by 2015. Subsequent to it, for the first time in the history of climate negotiations, an ex-ante process was launched at COP 19 in Warsaw which showcased the intention to bind together all the nations to build an effective long term path to prevent the dangerous climate change. At the Warsaw conference all the parties and observers delineated the necessity of an individual country specific national communications (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs)) to build a transparent and a strong Agreement which should be practically enforceable; which yields on ground reduction in Temperature below 2 degree celsius and also mutually benefiting the developing nations macroeconomic indicators like GDP and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG)/SDGs. Thus, all Parties to the Convention were invited to prepare their ‘Intended Nationally Determined Contribution’ (INDC) for the period post-2020 by the first quarter of 2015, giving adequate time for scrutiny before 2020. Communication of INDCs will help the Convention/ climate community to preview the aggregate effect of contributions from all Parties and thereby assess if such contributions are adequate to limit global average temperature rise to 2 degree Celsius2. The role of INDC thus fulfills this need of a clear concise and committed movement towards a climate resilient future. There is intense global curiosity on what India’s INDC would be like. After China and the US, India is the
This training manual is prepared under the financial support by Department for International Development (DFID) for the project Strengthening Performance Management in Government (SPMG) being implemented in Madhya Pradesh state of India. SPMG is an initiative of Department for International Development (DFID) to provide assistance to Government of Madhya Pradesh for strengthening planning and governance systems. One of the key focus areas of SPMG is to ensure environmental sustainability and climate compatible development in the state. As part of this initiative, Development Alternatives (DA) is recognized by Government of MP and DFID to provide technical support to Madhya Pradesh State Knowledge Management Centre on Climate Change (SKMCCC), EPCO. DA is assisting SKMCCC in facilitating integration of climate change concerns into departmental activities and plans, through strengthening technical capacities and generating strategic knowledge.
This course has been designed to provide the participants with the basic knowledge of climate finance mechanism and to enable them to participate effectively in the process of National Development Goals through low carbon development pathways and build a climate impacts resilient society by access and mobilization of climate change funds available from sub-national, national, and international (bilateral/multilateral) sources. The basic objectives of the course are:
1. Supporting the sub-national process in India on climate finance access and leveraging by strengthening the capacity of Government of Madhya Pradesh officials to access, manage and deliver on targets of
State Action Plan on Climate Change.
2. Imparting capacity building by providing skills, learning and practical examples to enhance
understanding on national and international climate finance landscape and enable them to participate
in global climate change finance mechanism such as Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund, Climate
Investment Fund etc.