Last Tuesday, Bank of India, a public sector bank donated a substantial quantity of medical supplementary aids to the Tertiary Cancer Centre, TRIHMS for use of cancer patients as a part of their Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR and expectedly had received admiration.

 

We don’t have any fixed definition of CSR, but broadly speaking it’s the responsibility of the corporations to contribute towards economic, social and environmental development that creates positive impact on society at large , a step outside of just earning profits.

 

CSR in Indian context is something that has always received a warm reception and reasons for this overwhelming acceptability is not difficult to understand. Ours is a land of myriad contradictions. If on one hand it has grown to be one of the largest economies in the world with increasing global stature, on other hand, it’s still home to the largest number of people living in absolute poverty with largest number of undernourished children. 

 

Even if every single major policy initiative in this country has been driven with concern for the disadvantaged and marginalised, disparity, inequality and the growing divide in our societies still define our existence today. Our quest for an equitable, inclusive and sustainable growth to banish poverty and human deprivation are still far cries.

 

Now, it’s a fact that in this country ‘turning a blind eye’ towards socially relevant issues is almost a custom and nothing really happens or chance to happen unless there is a legislative back-up. Imbibing such hard contextual elements, inclusion of CSR was attempted by government to involve businesses with national development agenda through Companies Act, 2013, the landmark legislation compelling the large (above a specified threshold level) firms to spend 2% of their net profits on CSR projects.

 

As of now, as per latest reports , total CSR spending by top 500 companies in country since it was made mandatory is likely to cross Rs 50,000 crore by March 2019.

 

Sounds rosy? Not at all, if we view it from Northeast perspective, inclusive of Arunachal Pradesh. The major chunk has been received by various non-Northeastern states and it’s only a trifling till now, in our accounts.

 

It’s understandable that corporates prefer to work in vicinity of their operating bases for brand-building based on ‘giving back to the community’ concept. But sadly that results in concentration of funds in and around major cities leaving the vast majority particularly the marginalized & disadvantaged parts like Northeast, plagued inherently with infrastructure constraints and geographical challenges, with little or no support.

 

Echoing the spirit of Prime Minister’s comment that without a developed Northeast there cannot be a developed India we can only say that an egalitarian Indian society minus the Northeast is inconceivable.

 

Arunachal & whole of Northeast requires not just occasional peeps, but responsible glances.