Corporate social responsibility (CSR, also called corporate conscience, corporate citizenship, social performance, or sustainable responsible business/

Responsible Business)[1] is a form of corporate selfregulation integrated into a business model. CSR policy functions as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby a business monitors and ensures its active compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards, and international norms. In some models, a firm's implementation of CSR goes beyond compliance and engages in "actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required by law."[2][3] CSR is a process with the aim to embrace responsibility for the company's actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere who may also be considered as stakeholders. The term "corporate social responsibility" became popular in the 1960s and has remained a term used indiscriminately by many to cover legal and moral responsibility more narrowly construed.[4] Proponents argue that corporations make more long term profits by operating with a perspective, while critics argue that CSR distracts from the economic role of businesses. McWilliams and Siegel's article (2000) published in Strategic Management Journal, cited by over 1000 academics, compared existing econometric studies of the relationship between social and financial performance. They concluded that the contradictory results of previous studies reporting positive, negative, and neutral financial impact, were due to flawed empirical analysis. McWilliams and Siegel demonstrated that when the model is properly specified; that is, when you control for investment in Research and Development, an important determinant of financial performance, CSR has a neutral impact on financial outcomes.[5] In his widely cited book[6][7] entitled Misguided Virtue: False Notions of Corporate Social Responsibility (2001) David Henderson argued forcefully against the way in which CSR broke from traditional corporate value-setting. He questioned the "lofty" and sometimes "unrealistic expectations" in CSR.[8] Some argue that CSR is merely window-dressing, or an attempt to pre-empt the role of governments as a watchdog over powerful multinational corporations. Political sociologists became interested in CSR in the context of theories of globalization, neo-liberalism, and late capitalism. Adopting a critical approach, sociologists emphasize CSR as a form of capitalist legitimacy and in particular point out that what has begun as a social movement against uninhibited corporate power has been co-opted by and transformed by corporations into a 'business model' and a 'risk management' device, often with questionable results [9] CSR is titled to aid an organization's mission as well as a guide to what the company stands for and will uphold to its consumers. Development business ethics is one of the forms of applied ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment. ISO 26000 is the recognized international standard for CSR. Public sector organizations (the United Nations for example) adhere to the triple bottom line (TBL). It is widely accepted that CSR adheres to similar principles but with no formal act of legislation. The notion is now extended beyond purely commercial corporations, e.g. to universities.[10]

Our Vision

"To actively contribute to the social and economic development of the communities in which we operate. In doing so, build a better, sustainable way of life for the weaker sections of society and raise the country's human development index." Mrs. Rajashree Birla, Chairperson - Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development

Making a difference

Before Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) found a place in corporate lexicon, it was already textured into our Group's value systems. As early as the 1940s, our founding father Shri G. D. Birla espoused the trusteeship concept of management. Simply stated, this entails that the wealth that one generates and holds, is to be held as in a trust for our multiple stakeholders. With regard to CSR, this means investing part of our profits beyond business, for the larger good of society. While carrying forward this philosophy, our legendary leader, Mr. Aditya Birla, weaved in the concept of 'sustainable livelihood', which transcended cheque book philanthropy. In his view, it was unwise to keep on giving endlessly. Instead, he felt that channelising resources to ensure that people have the wherewithal to make both ends meet would be more productive. He would say, "Give a hungry man fish for a day, he will eat it and the next day, he would be hungry again. Instead, if you taught him how to fish, he would be able to feed himself and his family for a lifetime." Taking these practices forward, our chairman Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, institutionalised the concept of triple bottom line accountability represented by economic success. Our community work is a way of telling the people among whom we operate that We Care. Our strategy

Our projects are carried out under the aegis of the "Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development", led by Mrs. Rajashree Birla. The Centre provides the strategic direction, and the thrust areas for our work ensuring performance management as well. Our focus is on the all-round development of the communities around our plants located mostly in distant rural areas and tribal belts. All our Group companies Grasim, Hindalco, Aditya Birla Nuvo and UltraTech have Rural Development Cells, which are the implementation bodies. Our partners in development are government bodies, district authorities, village panchayats and the end beneficiaries the villagers. The Government has, in their 5-year plans, special funds earmarked for human development and we recourse to many of these. At the same time, we network and collaborate with like-minded bilateral and unilateral agencies to share ideas, draw from each other's experiences, and ensure that efforts are not duplicated. At another level, this provides a platform for advocacy.

Project identification mechanism All projects are planned in a participatory manner, in consultation with the community, literally sitting

with them, and gauging their basic needs. We take recourse to "participatory rural appraisal", which is a mapping process. Subsequently, based on a consensus and in discussion with the village panchayats, we prioritise requirements. And thus a project is born. Implementation is the responsibility of the community and our team, as is the monitoring of milestones and the other aspects. Monitoring entails physical verification of the progress and the actual output of the project. Village meetings are held periodically to elicit feedback on the benefits of our community programmes and the areas where these need to be beefed up. We try and ensure that while in the short term we have to do enormous hand-holding, the projects become sustainable by the beneficiaries over the long haul. Once this stage is reached, we withdraw. In this way we do not build a culture of dependence, instead we make the villagers self-reliant.

Model villages One of our unique initiatives is to develop model villages, so each of our major companies is working towards the total transformation of a number of villages in proximity to our plants. Making of a model village entails ensuring self-reliance in all aspects viz., education, health care and family welfare, infrastructure, agriculture and watershed management, and working towards sustainable livelihood patterns. Fundamentally, ensuring that their development reaches a stage wherein village committees take over the complete responsibility and our teams become dispensable. Our project operations

The geographic reach, annual spends The footprint of our community work straddles 3,000 villages across the length and breadth of our country. We reach out to more than 7 million people annually. Over 60 per cent of these live below the poverty line and belong to scheduled castes and tribes. The Group spends in excess of Rs.130 crore annually, inclusive of the running of 18 hospitals and 42 schools. The Group transcends the conventional barriers of business and reaches out to the marginalised as a matter of duty and to bring in a more equitable society. Our focus areas Our rural development activities span five key areas and our single-minded goal here is to help build model villages that can stand on their own feet. Our focus areas are healthcare, education, sustainable livelihood, infrastructure and espousing social causes. Education Formal and non-formal education, adult education Scholarships for girls, merit scholarships and technical education for boys

Distance education Girl child education Digital literacy / computer education Health care and family welfare Pulse polio programme Mobile clinics doctors' visits General and multispeciality medical camps, cleft lips Reproductive and child health care, supplementary nutrition / mid-day meal projects Safe drinking water, sanitation household toilets, community hospitals HIV / AIDS, cancer, TB awareness and prevention camps Blood donation Responsible parenting Social causes Widow re-marriage / dowry-less mass marriages Social security (insurance) Culture and sports Women empowerment Infrastructure development Community centres Schools in villages Health care centres and hospitals Roads Homes for the homeless Rural electrification Irrigation and water storage structures Sustainable livelihood Self-help groups (microfinance for women and farmers) Integrated agriculture development Integrated livestock development Watershed management Microenterprise development Skill development / vocational training through Aditya Birla Technology Park for integrated training programme and VT centres at most of our plants in collaboration with ITIs Our partners WHO, Australia India Council, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, CII, European Union (EU), British Council, City& Guilds (UK), Global Compact Network, International Rotary Club, NSDC, FICCI, NABARD, NACO, CARE, IGNOU, Aide et Action, SEWA, BAIF, MYRADA, Basix, CARD, Art of Living Foundation, Smile Foundation, Maya Foundation, Childline India Foundation, local NGOs, District Development Offices, Central and State governments.