On 20th August 2021, North East Development Foundation and Council for Social and Digital Development organized the policy brief consultation on “Bridging the CSR and Philanthropy Divide in North East India”. The keynote speaker of the discussion was Prof Mahendra P Lama, a development economist, the pro-vice chancellor of IGNOU, and the founding vice chancellor of Sikkim University and part of the national steering committee for the North East Vision Document -2020.
The other speakers of the session were Ms Naghma Mulla, the CEO of the EdelGive Foundation, the philanthropic initiative of Edeweiss Group – one of India’s leading diversified financial services group; Dr Sunil Kaul, Managing Trustee, formerly the CEO based in the Action North East’s campus in Rowmari; Raju Sharma, Director of CSR at (Inter Globe Aviation Limited) IndiGo; Ritupon Gogoi,Foundation for Social Transformation (FST); Dr Rajdeep Singha, Assistant Professor, Centre for Labour Studies & Social Protection, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Guwahati Campus; Dr Riju Sharma, Associate Professor and Dean of School of Humanities and Social Science, Assam Don Bosco University; Prof Archana Barua, Professor and Head of the Department, North East Study and Comparative Religion and faculty, Department of Philosophy, Assam Don Bosco University; and Dr Amiya Kumar Das, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Tezpur University. The session was moderated by Dr Sriparna B. Baruah, Head (Centre for Industrial Extension), Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship.
This policy brief consultation and dialogue, the first of its kind focusing on the North East, was a way to start discussion and debate surrounding the various nuances of CSR spending in the region. CSDD and NEDF have taken out a policy brief called “Bridging the CSR Divide in North East India: A Decade of Corporate Social Responsibility and Beyond” which seeks to map the trends in CSR expenditure in the region, capture the gaps in spending as compared to the rest of the country and within the region, explore the various reasons for existing gaps, and suggest ways to bridge this investment gap.
The discussion gave rise to several insights and various important issues regarding the status of CSR in North East India got highlighted. Read more