CII Central Office

NEW DELHI

Water Management Initiatives

CII is increasingly concerned at the deteriorating water situation in India and has taken up a proactive role by setting up cell as part of Social Development Programme with the objective of –

Developing benchmark initiatives in partnership with Corporate Members to find solutions and pathways for typical water sector issues in India

Developing network of experts and expert organisations having expertise in specific water and land management issues

Providing expert services to Companies that wish to address water related issues as part of Corporate Social Responsibility as well as business

Policy campaign with Central and State Governments and international agencies at a time when there is a serious policy search going on India

Benchmark projects: An inventory of typical water sector issues has been developed and projects are being developed/ implemented in partnership with Companies as well as by CII itself. The inventory is as follows –

Micro planning for watershed based water and other natural resources development and management. This done using methodologies based on combining scientific and participatory techniques

Community based integrated water and land resources management Participatory Irrigation Management in canal command areas with emphasis on

conjunctive use of surface water with local water, co-management of exogenous water with local water and co-management of water and pumping energy (renewable energy)

Community management (for irrigation) of treated effluent water released by industrial units

Watershed based joint management of water resources by communities and industrial units based in rural areas

Rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge in industrial and business establishments

Network of experts and expert organisations: Water is only a means for consumptive and/or productive activities. As such both, the resource generation as well as use practices need to be addressed as part of water management. This calls for expertise in varied aspects of water management. So as to be able to provide comprehensive services covering all aspects pf water management CII has/is developed/developing partnerships with expert NGOs and R&D organisations. The areas of expertise, and concerned organisations, to name a few, include –

Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSS) to users and planners – Natural resource Data Management Systems (NRDMS) Division, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India

Water efficient cropping choices, robust high breed varieties and scientific crop management techniques – International Crop Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)

Ground water hydrogeology for enabling community / user management of groundwater

Canal engineering Rural drinking water and sanitation Equitable sustainable management of water by rural communities

Expert services: CII offers expert services to Corporate Members and Foundations supported by Corporate Members on all the issues mentioned in1 and 2 above.

Policy Campaign: The water policy in India is at a crucial stage of evolution and this CII feels this is the right time to campaign on policy issues. With this in mind CII proactively made representations to certain important Ministries and Institutions. The response has been encouraging. CII now is being invited to make representations and / or to participate in various important bodies of central and state governments. Some of the involvements are as follows –

National Advisory Council – CII made a representation Parthasarathy Committee of Government of India for recommending changes in

watershed programme – CII was invited to depose Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development – CII was invited to

depose on private Public partnership o Rural Housing Provision of Urban Amenities to rural Areas (PURA), Ministry of Rural

Development, Government of India – CII has been invited to make presentations on Private-Public Partnership models for PURA

Artificial Groundwater Recharge Council, Government of India – CII was invited to join the council

Working Group on Natural Resource Management, Government of India – CII was invited to join

Sub Committee for More Crop and Income per drop of water, Government of India – CII has been invited to make a submission.

Government of Rajasthan Task Force on Agriculture – CII was invited to join the task force

Government of Rajasthan Steering Group for the sector partnership programme with European Commission for Integrated Water Resources Management – CII was invited to join

For further details, please contact: v. damle@ciionline.org

Ability Forum

CII-National Capital Region Ability Forum

In the second meeting of CII’s NCR Ability Forum held on 25 July 2007 in New Delhi, Mr Niranjan Khatri, General Manager, Welcome Environ Initiatives, ITC Welcomgroup, who leads the sensitisation activity of the group, shared various engagements of ITC with People with Disabilities (PWD). He emphasised that employment of PWDs should be part of HR policy and not a CSR activity. Companies should encourage their vendors also to employ PWDs. He also felt there was a need to provide skills to PWDs, which would enable them to be self-employed and which would be an asset when they applied for jobs. He demonstrated how production and propagation of solar cookers and drip irrigation systems could provide gainful employment for PWDs.

For further details, please contact: rakhee.gupta@ciionline.org

Success Story - ITC Welcomgroup

Firm in the belief that PWD can contribute positively to work environment, ITC Hotels has undertaken a number of initiatives utilizing their skills. The PWD, part of the ITC family, have proved that their will is superior to their circumstances.

Ensuring that PWD are creatively and empathetically involved in the mainstream and acknowledging the value of their skills and talents, ITC Hotels has employed 59 in the last 15 months. Innovative measures and technologies ensure that the hotels are PWD friendly and operationally efficient. Some of the PWD employed are as follows:

• A girl with cerebral palsy is handling the linen room at ITC Rajputana Sheraton, Jaipur.

• A mobility challenged girl is handling the telephone in the engineering control room at Welcomhotel, New Delhi.

• A visually challenged violinist plays at Grand Bay, Visakhapatnam.• A visually challenged flautist plays at ITC Park Sheraton, Chennai.• Two Pianists-one male, one female-both visually challenged, play at ITC Grand

Central, Mumbai.• A hearing/speech-impaired boy works in housekeeping at the ITC Green Centre,

Gurgaon.• A PWD youngster is employed in the Bakery as an Apprentice Trainee at ITC

Park Sheraton, Chennai.

Creating an environment of sensitivity and caring, family members of the PWD are invited to the interview to dispel apprehensions about the job and work environment. Daily monitoring by the Manager Learning Services, feedback from supervisors and from PWD employees themselves, makes sure that all is on track. Special badges for the visually impaired, whistles for hearing-impaired employees to use in an emergency and sign language classes for the staff to communicate with them are just a few examples through which they create an atmosphere of sensitivity and caring.

Road Ahead

All ITC Hotels are in the process of adopting technologies that will be more PWD friendly. To begin with they are working at making future buildings more PWD friendly; creating more employment opportunities in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) where physical distance is less of a factor.

CII Eastern Region (ER)

KOLKATA

Industry NGOs Partnership

In order to identify, promote and have effective and meaningful engagement of business with civil society organizations, CII has formed a National Committee for Industry NGOs Partnership.

Brainstorming Session on Industry NGO Partnership, Kolkata

Taking the agenda of the National Committee for Industry NGOs Partnership forward, aBrainstorming Session on Industry – NGO Partnership was held at Kolkata on 18 September 2007.

Mrs Anu Aga, Chairperson of the CII National Committee on NGOs briefed the members on this new initiative in CII. She shared the vision of this Committee, which is to “Promote partnership between business and the voluntary sector for inclusive, equitable and sustainable development.” She said that since this was a new initiative in CII, she would want the group to share their thoughts and expectations that can be taken up by the group in their regions.

Prof. Shantanu Roy, Dean, ICFAI Business School and Mr. P.K Sen, Senior Advisor, CII Eastern region, who were present at the meeting, mentioned about the importance of building and facilitating partnership, between companies and NGOs, and finding out ways to work together in a transparent and sustainable manner. Prof. Shantanu Roy talked about the social initiatives at ICFAI and their fruitful partnership with Sanlaap, Kolkata to implement various initiatives.

Main points that came out of the interactive sessions were forming the Industry NGO Partnership Committee at the Eastern Region; capacity building of both the NGOs and the companies on how to promote and have effective and meaningful engagement of business with civil society organizations; to develop set of values like non-discrimination and equity in order to develop a common vision for sustainable development and inclusive growth and also to strengthen the partnership between Industry and NGOs; the capacity building of companies on how to evaluate/assess NGOs.For further details, please contact: bharati.shah@ciionline.org

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Interactive Session with Phoenix Yule on CSR

Phoenix Yule Ltd, the leading manufacturers of conveyor belts in South Asia approached the social development wing of CII Eastern Region to understand the issue of CSR and thereby structure their own CSR activities.

CII ER social development wing, on 3 August 2007 made a presentation to the executive staff of Phoenix Yule Ltd on CII’s CSR initiatives and also of various Indian companies CSR initiatives. The session was attended by Mr T. K Mukherjee, Managing Director, Mr J K Mukherjee, Head (HR & IR) and Mrs Smita Pandit (Chakraborty) Senior Manager (HRM). After CII made its presentation, Phoenix Yule made a presentation about their in-house CSR programme and showed interest towards undertaking CSR initiatives in a more effective and productive manner.

CII visit to Presidency Jail

The State Government approached CII to partner in an exercise, which would harness the human resources available at the jails towards their self-sustenance. Traditionally, all jails engage the prisoners in productive activities and skills development according to their interests and abilities. This helps the prisoners obtain employment after they are released. In view of the above, a visit to Presidency jail was organised on 31 August 2007. Members who visited the jail were: 1) Mr Gautam Chatterjee, Chairman, West Bengal State Council 2) Mr Ambarish Dasgupta, PwC 3) Mr Ramakrishna Maganti, Lafarge 4) Mr Abhijit Sen, Tata Ryerson 5) Mr Abraham Stephanos, Tata Ryerson 6) Mr R Awasthy, ITC Ltd 7) Mr Arka Deb Bhattacharya, Patton

CII Secretariat: 1) Ms Gargi Mitra, 2) Ms Bharati Shah 3) Ms Bidisha Das

Mr Kamal Mukherjee, Superintendent, Presidency Correctional Centre, provided information about the various manufacturing units operating inside the correctional centre where the convicts were deployed according to their capability and specilisation. The manufacturing units which operates in the jail are as below:

1) Tailoring 2) Crafting3) Making of aluminum utensils

4) Making umbrellas5) Candle making6) Oil mill 7) Bakery8) Phenyl making

All these units operate in small scale due to poor infrastructure. There is also lack of opportunities to market the products produced by convicts. The mustard oil and the bakery items produced by the convicts are used for in house consumption.

Some thoughts that came forth following the jail visit were:

• Using the skills of educated prisoners for data entry work.• Installing new machinery in jail premises (with approval from relevant authority) • Up gradating of existing machinery.• Organising skills development training programmes of their own for convicts.

A meeting will be organised at CII ER office with all the members present along with Mr. Mukherjee and IG Prison to deliberate on the future course of action.

Ability Forum

Sensitisation Meeting with the Construction company leaders, builders, engineers on the issue of Accessibility for the PWDs

The CII ER Ability Forum has taken the lead to do advocacy with the concerned stakeholders and decision makers on the issue of accessibility for the PWDs. A sensitisation meeting with construction company leaders, builders, engineers was the first initiative taken by CII ER on 27 July 2007. Among those present for the meeting were Mr S A Ahmed, Special Secretary to Chief Minister & Chairman, NDITR, Govt. of West Bengal and Mr Amabrish Dasgupta, Chair, CII ER Ability Forum. Mr Amabrish Dasgupta in his welcome speech requested the participants to incorporate barrier- free features as a standard requirement in designs and plans for all new construction, renovation and expansion of buildings and facilities used by the public. A major factor restricting the equal participation of PWD is the prevalence of negative perceptions and practices. Often, the abilities of persons with disabilities remain unrecognized. Opportunities are limited for the full development of their potential. To rectify this, it is important that all the awareness campaigns on equality emphasise the abilities of PWD and their value as productive citizens and members of society with full rights to participate in the mainstream development process. Two presentations were made to make the participants responsive towards the need for accessibility for the PWD.

It was agreed that CII ER Ability Forum would organise more such sensitisation meetings on a regular basis. Mr S A Ahmed requested the forum to organise a sensitisation meeting at his office “Naba Diganta” at Salt Lake, where he will invite all IT Companies and make them aware of the issue of Accessibility.

A two-day training programme on “Accessibility” was announced. This programme will have the participation from Civil Engineers, Urban Planners, Constructions Company leaders, Architectures and PG Students in the related field in collaboration with National Institute of Orthopeadically Handicapped (NIOH).

For further details, please contact: bharati.shah@ciionline.org

CII Southern Region (SR)

BANGALORE

Ability Forum

Session on “Diversity in Workplace- The need for employing people with disability”

On 10 August, 2007, CII Karnataka organised this session on “Diversity with a view of bringing the Companies, Government and NGO sector together on a platform and facilitate the way forward to the employability of the PWDs.

Senior government officials of the Department of Women and Child Development, companies like Titan Industries, ITC Limited and Reuters; and NGOs who highlighted the importance of providing greater opportunities to the disabled including accessibility and infrastructure attended the session.

Session on “Diversity at Workplace” held at Bangalore

The session was followed by a recruitment drive exclusively for the candidates with disabilities, organised in association with Reuters. By the end of the day, Reuters had recruited 15 candidates with disabilities.

CII Karnataka proposes to organise similar recruitment drives in partnership with Enable India. Ability Forum at CII Karnataka is looking for a similar collaboration with motivated companies to take up recruitment drives for PWD.

For further details, please contact: seema.naqvy@ciionline.org

CHENNAI

CSR Initiatives

Subsequent to the National Summit on CSR in June, CII Southern Region planned four workshops and two conferences on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to spread awareness and promote good CSR practices among members.

Workshop on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Principles & Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) - G 3 Version

The workshop was held in Larsen and Toubro Limited – ECC HQ Campus, Manapakkam, Chennai on 22 August 2007.There were 13 participants from various companies across Chennai. Mr T T Ashok, Chairman, CII CSR Sub Committee for Southern Region, Mr V S Ramana, Head, Corporate Communications, L & T Limited and Mr D K S Moorthy, DNV and Mr Santhosh Jayaram, DNV, were present at the introductory session in which Mr V S Ramana gave the welcome address. He laid emphasis on the growth

of CSR and how it should acquire an important place in the central business processes.

Mr D K S Moorthy spoke about CSR, its Concepts, Initiatives, and Drivers and how management systems can help in CSR implementation.

Mr Santosh Jayaram, DNV, lead the session on the Global Reporting Initiative - What is it and why we use it. He also laid stress on the Stakeholder Involvement, Materiality, and Sustainability context. Standard Disclosures – Profile, Strategy and Management approach - were also discussed. He made use of case studies in order to help participants relate to the topic

more easily. He conducted a group exercise, which transformed the theoretical knowledge acquired during this session into practice.

The next session commenced in which Mr Santosh Jayaram talked about The Global Reporting Initiative - Performance Indicators, Principles for report quality – Balance, Clarity, Accuracy, Timeliness, Comparability and Reliability followed by another group exercise.

Overall the feedback was positive. The delegates felt this was a novel method of reporting which was also essential for the company’s records.

Report on CSR – Actionable Business Agenda, Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility

The conference was held in Hotel Sangam, Tituchinapalli on 11 September 2007. There were 50 participants from various companies across Trichy.

Mr T T Ashok, Chairman, CII CSR Sub Committee for Southern Region, Mr Santhosh Jayaram, DNV, Srimathy Shivashankar, Head, Diversity Office, Infosys and Dr Kinnera Murthy, Dean of Studies, Administrative Staff College of India were present at the introductory session in which Mr T T Ashok delivered the keynote address emphasising on the growth of CSR and the need to integrate it into one’s core business.

Mr M P Ramasamy, Past Chairman, CII Trichy Zone was presiding the conference along with Mr Leo Ananth, Chairman – Training Programmes & Industrial Missions. Mr K Premanathan, Chairman, Trichy Zonal Council and Mr A Annamalai, Vice Chairman, CII Trichy Zone were also present at the conference.

Dr Kinnera Murthy led the session on CSR in Indian Industries. This session included:• Industrialisation Initiatives• Evolution of Timelines• The World Economy • CSR & Business Return

The conference’s speakers and their topics were as follows:• Ms Srimathy Shivashankar - CSR for Competitiveness• Mr. Santhosh Jayarma – Benchmarking and Standards• Mr Jagadish M, Student, Bharathidasan Institute of Management – CSR - A

Management School Perspective• Dr G Kannabiran, professor, National Institute of Technology - CSR in Titan

industries (A Case Study)• Mr A S Venkateswaran, GM HR - CSR initiatives by G. B Engineering

Enterprises Pvt Ltd. • Mr S Krishnan, Senior Group Leader - CSR activities at SRF Limited. • Mr Santhosh Jayaram facilitated the group discussion on “A road map for CSR-

The future of CSR”.

Overall, the conference was a success with the full participation from Industries and Management Schools.

For further details, please contact: s.sripriya@ciionline.org

Skills Initiatives and Affirmative Action

Roundtable on Skills and Affirmative Action (AA) was held on 19th September 07 at Taj Connemera, Chennai.

Mr ShaktiKanta Das, IAS, Industries Secretary Government of Tamil Nadu, Mr B Santhanam, Chairman, Task Force on Skills, Employability and Affirmative Action and Mr G R K Reddy, CMD, MARG Constructions chaired the Roundtable. The forum comprised of CEO’s and HR heads from companies such as Ford India, Amararaja Batteries, L&T, Reliance-Retail, Wheels India, Saint-Gobain, and Motorola.

Mr G R K Reddy, spoke about the CSR perspective of MARG Constructions stressing that “Inclusive Growth” is the Guiding Principle of their CSR initiatives. He then spoke on the following issues:

• CSR Business Models, a holistic approach• MARG Parivarthan- identifying specific needs for intervention in areas of

concern and using the existing resources / utilising the services of vendors for execution of programs.

• Seekanakuppam case study including inventions in the following areas:- Education- Health & Nutrition- Skill Development & Livelihood Generation

• Grassroots Level Skill Development Initiative by MARG.

Mr. ShakthiKanta Das informed that there was internal discussion within the government regarding developing skills for the rural youth. He also spoke about:

• Employability issues of ITI students and the role industry can play.• Issues of Inclusive growth, Affirmative Action and Human Resources• An action plan to be released soon by the Government.

Five key focus areas, which came across, are as follows: Government and Industries have to work together, they have to partner in this initiative to train the rural youth and provide employment opportunities.

Going to interior areas to identify young unskilled youth and train them on skills. The training for them should be based on the industry requirement. The target population should be X pass students, XII passed students and school dropouts. Training should be imparted to the young people so that they are prepared to take up jobs.

Industry Clusters.

Training should be imparted to the unskilled and semi skilled (ITI pass out). They have to be trained according to different industry cluster requirements like:-Automobile Industry and Electronics in Chennai-Textile industry in Erode -Leather and related industry in Ranipet.

Cluster based training programs.

A committee consisting of Principals of ITIs and Industrial bodies to be set up to oversee the efforts and for up gradation of the curriculum for the trainees according to the needs of the industry. Short term trainings would be conducted which would run up to either 3 months or 6months.

There would also be faculty support from the ITI s, Trainers of Trainer programmes. Industry would also be requested to provide small equipments and provide short-term stints for trainees in the Industry. The focus should be on developing strong local level public private partnership initiatives.

HR Skill Development Government proposes to set up institutes of excellence in areas like research, Nano Technology, in leather product designing etc

Focus on Soft Skills Discussion is going on with the education department for soft skills training. Soft skills training to be provided from high school level.The soft skills should concentrate on areas like communication skills, handling interviews etc.Commitments from Industries:

• Rohit Modi, L and T expressed his desire to work with CII on CSR initiatives. • Mr Sanjay Raina, Motorola spoke about how CII can act as a catalyst for many

projects and about the CSR initiatives that Motorola is involved with. • Mr B Venkataramana from Reliance Retail shared his views about integrating

issues of the underprivileged in the Retail Sector.• Mr Dilip Hari, Indian Oil pointed out that they have been practicing the points

that were highlighted during the meeting and have devised effective methods to channelise funds.

• Ms Rama from UNDP said, AA can be implemented at lowest level entry and bold steps at the higher level are also required for its success.

The Roundtable ended with concluding remarks by Mr Santhanam.

For further details, please contact: kala.sridhar @ciionline.org