The mandatory norm for corporates to undertake spending for corporate social responsibility (CSR) has “derailed” affirmative action for reserved categories of workers from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, Milind Kamble, founder Chairman, Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) and Chairman, Board of Governors, IIM-Jammu said Tuesday. Speaking at the Idea Exchange organised by The Indian Express, Kamble said the industry had committed to affirmative action but no specially focused effort has been there to ensure support for employability of reserved categories, adding that even the vacancies for reserved categories in educational institutes such as Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) do not get filled. “The agenda for affirmative action had come from the industry side, saying that they will implement… Government heard it out. Initially there was a push for it.but over the period this affirmative action has gotten derailed from industry's agenda. There is no doubt about it. We are partners for CII on affirmative action. Our continuous effort is to see how to keep it (affirmative action) on track.the survey for employment was done. in the category of employees working on the floor, about 40 per cent (are there), but as you go to upper managerial levels, then nobody is there. There is no one at Board level, there might be only one or two at senior managerial levels. like we see even in the Government of India also, reservation in Class III and Class IV employees is full but if you go above, then the situation is like any industry,” Kamble said. He further said that the commitment for affirmative action is different from CSR spending but corporates cite CSR spending instead to show that action is being taken. “The law which came in for 2 per cent CSR spending, (they say) we are doing for schools, doing renovation in schools, distributing kits in schools and likewise. And so CSR has derailed it, and everyone feels they are doing it. I say it often that CSR is different, it is philanthropy, that's for you. But affirmative action is a commitment to the government. When Dr Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister, the industry had given commitment for it.the commitment is different, saying that we will work for SCs/STs, their entrepreneurship development etc. This 2 per cent CSR spending is one of the reasons to derail the affirmative action agenda,” he said. As per government data, 335 public sector undertakings spent Rs 4,480.70 crore as CSR in 2020-21, while 17,677 non-PSUs recorded CSR spending of Rs 21,233.95 crore. In 2019-20, 478 PSUs spent Rs 5,307.64 for CSR, while 22,475 non-PSUs spent Rs 19,647.14 crore. Under The Companies Act, 2013, companies are required to spend a minimum of 2 per cent of their net profit over the preceding three years as CSR.
