The Hindu Business Line : `Handle corporate social responsibility at top level'

New Delhi March 8 The Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, on Thursday asked India Inc to pay more attention on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and have a senior management executive to specifically look into such issues.

"Just as you have a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and a Chief Operating Officer (COO), you must have somebody who is a chief to address issues of corporate social responsibility," Mr Chidambaram said at a meeting on post-Budget issues organised by Assocham here on Thursday.

Mr Chidambaram pointed out that none of the Assocham members at this meeting spoke about how they would employ physically challenged people or how they would come forward to run an industrial training institute (ITI) in partnership with the Government.

Include the poor

"It is very important for all of India to travel with us in the road to progress and prosperity. You cannot leave behind half of India and say that we will continue with our journey. If half of India is limping behind, you cannot say well that is the problem of the Government and that's not the problem of industry and services," Mr Chidambaram said.

"It's very important to look at the Budget and the annual financial statement from a different perspective. It appears that we are on a high growth path and that 2007-08 would be another good year of growth. All indicators point to a year of very high growth. This is the time to tell the people of India that since growth is a given in 2007-08, can we spread the gains of growth a little more justly and fairly," Mr Chidambaram said.

Meanwhile, corporate observers point out that CSR was mostly handled at the level of middle management in most of the companies and not at the senior management level as suggested by the Finance Minister.

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