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Corporate social responsibility is a concept which according to me makes the nature come into balance, since corporations takes things from the nature such as natural resources, manpower, time for their own motives, it is imperative for them to give something back in return. The rule of give and take applies to every organism on the planet and as a matter of fact if corporate is seen as a separate legal entity or an artificial person by the law, it should follow the laws of nature. In order to confirm conformance of this laws government of India has introduced clause 135 in the companies act which briefly states that companies with an annual turnover of 1,000 crore and more, or a net worth of 500 crore and more, or a net profit of five crore and more are supposed to spend at least 2% of their average net profit of last 3 years in CSR activities. In my view, there exists an implied contract between a business and the society, although a business fulfills its main duty of producing goods or providing services for the betterment of peoples lives, but its duties do not end there. Businesses especially large scale ones have some amount of power, sometimes nearly equal power of running the country as the government. For example RIL controls natural gas supply for almost all of India, if RIL shuts down even for one day the whole country would go berserk , this shows the importance of big business houses in controlling the country, in a sense they are acting as a subsidiary government which has influence over the lives of the common people. In a democracy its the duty of the government to take care of people, ergo businesses who hold great power like a countrys government should implement the concept of corporate social responsibility in their operations. Companies with significant CSR contribution: According to a survey, top 3 Indian companies who spend maximum amount on CSR activities are Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat petroleum and ONGC. Heres a brief of the CSR activities they do: Indian oil corporation: The Indian oil corporation has a separate entity know as Indian oil foundation for performing CSR activities. Its a not for profit trust which aims at preserving the countrys heritage, also every year it distributes sports scholarships and works in the area of healthcare, education, providing water in villages. Bharat petroleum: Project boond was launched by the company in 2005 which tries to help draught affected villages, several programs including adoption of villages, spreading awareness about HIV AIDS to the nooks and corners of India have been undertaken by the corporation. ONGC: Company has launched many wild life conservation projects such as eastern swamp deer conservation project which aims at protecting rare species of deer in the kaziranga national park in Assam, also ONGC provides healthcare for the rural areas by

running mobile medical units. The vans of the unit go to villages which lack basic health facilities such as maternity ward. In 1972, a conference was held at the United Nations which was held to discuss the topics related to environmental concerns. India did participated in this event but it was not until the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1985 that India took a heed to environmental concerns, there was no proper law to prosecute or convict the accused of the tragic event, as a result the environmental protection act was drafted in 1986.According to the act it is the duty of the Indian government to pay attention for protection of environment which includes natural resources such as land, water and air and also living organisms which includes humans, animals, plants, microorganisms that benefit. The act is applicable to whole of India including Jammu and Kashmir. The act also defines various nuances such as: -What comes under the domain of environment? -Classification of pollutants and the amount in which they can be present in the atmosphere before they cause harm to humans, flora and fauna -How should hazardous wastes be handled if they are being produced by industries -Definition of maximum limit of pollutants that can be present in air water or land and remedies to bring them down by measures such as prohibition of certain chemicals and location of industries to be far away from city. -Punishment terms for different degrees of crimes and violations. Reasons for strict implementation of the act: Environmental protection need not be done just for the sake of it & not for dubious reasons like we take so much from mother nature we should preserve it for our future generations, this reasons although acceptable but are more of sentimental in nature not logical. The real logical reason why the environment should be saved, in spite of having very less time and resources to devote to it, is there exists a relationship between environment and economy, countries who have implemented green technology or have instructed organizations to implement green or eco-friendly production techniques have seen their GDP rise, for example china who has ordered all the major manufacturers of plastics to use only recyclable plastic materials, this move from the end of china government has increased the GDP of china by 2% for the year 2011. This clearly shows that saving the environment can yield economic benefit if we put our mind into it, and economic benefit interests all of us. Other reason why protection of environment is necessary: For making sure continued survival of human species. To maintain proper weather cycles on earth. For controlling and prohibiting corporations taking undue advantage of the environment for selfish motives For preventing industrial disasters such as afore mentioned Bhopal gas tragedy and the Chernobyl nuclear plant tragedy

Its essential that we live a proper and healthy life not unhealthy and sick lives causes by various pollutants which unknowingly and slowly causes common diseases like allergies to severe diseases such as cancer.

As a future manager, do you think it is an ethical responsibility to protect environment, or do you believe that saving and protecting environment is the job of a few handful working for the cause? Section 51A of the environment protection act itself says that the state shall endeavor to protect the environment wildlife and its the duty of every citizen to make sure it is done. Environment is a pretty big thing and only a few handful of people cant work for its betterment, collective effort is needed. A proper example of above would be if theres a city whose municipal tries its best effort in order to keep the city clean but the residents of the city are irresponsible and keep throwing the garbage on the street, no matter how hard the municipal tries it will fail in its task, it may reduce the garbage by some amount but wont be able to make the city absolutely clean, and after sometime the municipal itself will lose interest and not take its best effort. The same corollary can be applied to the environment. Cleaning, preserving and protecting environment is not a job of government of NGOs but all the organisms and organizations with mental and physical capability to take care of it.