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Journalism of Courage
Corporate social responsibility,a mantra dear to the hearts of many in this country and across the world,isnt an easy thing to understand. A persuasive argument can be made that the only social responsibility that corporates have is to their shareholders and to the law of the land and the regulations that govern their industry. Using money that could be sent back to minority shareholders to fund projects,even if charitable,dear to the heart of the companies promoters or its directors can become exploitative. Hence,few will be pleased with the news that the government is planning to get public sector companies that make a profit to treat the UPAs social sector schemes as CSR vehicles as The Financial Express reported on Thursday,quoting Minister of State for Heavy Industries Arun Yadav.
It also raises larger questions about the UPAs orientation about public sector industries. Certainly,there have been useful moves towards disinvestment in public sector units. But there are worrying trends that demonstrate a push in the other direction as well. Theres the admiration for success stories elsewhere in state-led development in sectors such as petrochemicals,mining and utilities such as the giant Chinese and Russian utilities. An acceptance of the principle that such sectors need to be subordinate to state dictates has very real repercussions: consider,for example,the recent letter from Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh to the mines ministry. The mines ministry is in the process of carrying out much-needed reform to increase transparency and reduce rent-seeking in the mining sector. But the steel ministry insists that specified quantities of mineral resources be reserved for PSUs,tilting the playing field in their favour,as they needed continued support in the larger national interest. Such thinking is dangerous,misguided,and backward-looking,and mustnt be allowed to catch on.
