In an effort to improvise the implementation of corporate social responsibility in India, a team of young and vibrant entrepreneurs have recently launched a start-up named ‘The Bridge’. The startup was inaugurated by Vanitha Mohan, President of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on May 6th.
Kishore Kumar who conceived the idea of this start up shares with SimpliCity the idea behind The Bridge, "The emerging concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) goes beyond Charity and requires the company to act beyond its legal obligations. We aim at integrating social, environmental and ethical concerns into business processes.
During the financial year 2015-16, Tamil Nadu has emerged second in CSR activity and spent nearly 4.46 Crores towards it. According to the norms, the companies with at least Rs 5 crore net profit, Rs 1,000 crore turnover or Rs 500 crore net worth, have to spend 2% on CSR activities. But till date, there are no strict rules or penalties through which the CSR activity could be monitored. of companies spend lakhs and crores on CSR activities but sadly there is no guarantee that the money is used on genuine projects.
Our start up will basically act as a bridge between the corporate, CSR activities and the government departments. We will be working on key areas like tribal development, upliftment of tribal schools, sanitation, women empowerment and skill development. We have a well-informed and dedicated team who will take care of project implementation and monitoring of the CSR. At present 'BRIDGE' will focus on the implementation of CSR activities within the state of Tamil Nadu."
The start-up has initiated a CSR magazine which will showcase the CSR activities of the corporate sector around Tamil Nadu as well as a website which will cover CSR activities of all South Indian States.