CSR or Corporate social responsibility is a management concept whereby companies have ethical, moral, and philanthropic responsibilities in addition to their obligations to earn a fair return for investors and comply with the legal system of the country where the company operates. CSR involves business practices and initiatives that benefit all the stakeholders and society at large. It is the responsibility of organizations and institutions to return the favour in some or the other way to the society upon whose resources they depend directly or indirectly for survival and growth. Thus, CSR is a self-regulating model that businesses adopt which makes a company to be socially accountable, not only to itself, but also to its stakeholders and the general public. Practicing Corporate Citizenship, another term for corporate social responsibility, makes companies to be aware of the kind and depth of impact their different business operations have on all aspects of society that includes social, economic, and environmental. Hence, engaging in CSR merely means that, in the various courses of business operations a company is functioning in ways that improves the environment and the society, instead of contributing affecting them negatively. This is indeed a broad concept that can take myriad forms depending on the firm and industry. CSR activities, philanthropy, and other types of social services help businesses to uplift society while boosting their own brand name. CSR is important for the community and is highly valuable for a company. CSR activities helps o build and retain stronger bonds between corporations and employees, investors, suppliers, retailers, government body, environmental activists, NGO and many others. It increases every stakeholder’s morale, and help stay connected with the world around the firm. To be socially responsible, a company first needs to be accountable to itself. Most companies that involve in CSR activities have already been established in the market that they are capable of giving back to society. CSR is in fact a strategy of large corporations to attract and retain valuable stakeholders primarily investors, employees and customers, and to enhance the reputation of a firm and strengthen its brand. What the public thinks of a company is critical to the company’s success. To imprint a better picture of a company in the minds of the public, some firms take up CSR as a corporate strategy, while others take up CSR activities voluntarily without any legal obligations.. The more visible and successful a firm is, the more responsible it is to set standards of ethical behavior for its management, peers, towards competitors and society. Even small and mid-sized business organizations have their own CSR programs, though such activities and initiatives are not usually publicized as their counterparts do. Through CSR initiatives firms try to align their organizational activities to the goal of sustainable global development by setting up more comprehensive working objectives. This perspective implies that an organization to responsibly sustainable, it must be financially stable, reduce or ideally eliminate its ill effects on environment and function in conformity with societal standards and expectations. Well implemented CSR initiatives helps firms to achieve wide variety of competitive advantages like improved brand image and reputation, efficient human resource base, enhanced and easy access to capital and markets, increased sales and profits, savings of operational cost, increased productivity and quality, better decision making and risk management processes, and above all enhanced customer loyalty that helps the firm to continue to grow. In today’s world of cut-throat competition, it has becoming increasingly important and inevitable for firms to have a socially responsible image. Consumers, employees and other stakeholders look into the CSR initiatives and their accountability for effecting social change with their business beliefs, practices and profits while choosing a brand or company.
Nowadays, CSR activities are not only taken up corporates but educational institutions also. People, planet and profit is known as the triple bottom line and it forms one way to evaluate CSR impacts of any firm or institution. ‘People’ stands to fair treatment of personnel, ‘Planet’ for sustainable eco practices and ‘Profit’ refers to the surplus generated by the organization. Adopting this measure helps institutions be more conscious of their social and moral responsibilities and to measure the positive impacts of their activities, and negative impact if any which can be eliminated. For educational institutions, CSR programs can also help to attract competitive students who believe in uplifting the society and wants to contribute to the betterment of the world around them. Some potential students consider an institute’s CSR policy before deciding to join the institute for further studies. CSR can also help the staffs of the institute to involve in different social activities through fundraising or community volunteering. An ethically strong institute will find the right talents whose moral obligations align the institute’s ethical values, and this can be done through various CSR initiatives. CSR strengthens the students and staff loyalty based on different ethical values. Some institutes even use their commitment to the stakeholders and environment as their primary positioning tool. At present, a large number of educational institutions are involved in CSR activities in one form or the other. Their realization of the need for serving the environment and people for their upliftment has contributed to the betterment of various societal aspects that has also helped them to grow and be more visibility.
Nehru College of Educational and Charitable Trust of Institutions and CSR
Nehru College of Educational and Charitable Trust was established with the primary objective of rendering selfless, dedicated and yeomen service to cause of higher education. Its educational service to the poor underprivileged and downtrodden in the society is freely accessed and widely appreciated. Over the period of nearly four decades, it has established and patronized a number of prestigious Educational Institutions that are commonly known as Nehru Group of Institutions (NGI), all of which have grown to the stature of being accredited with ISO 9001:2000 certification by the International Certification Services. PK Das Institute of Medical Sciences is one of the superior of our institutions that are fully into serving humanity. All our educational institutes have different forms of CSR activities which involve all our students to work for the improvement of society as a whole. Our corporate social responsibility training programs for the college students have made them realize the importance of individuals, organizations and institutions to be responsible corporate citizenship. They come up with the best CSR activities ideas which gets implemented with the help our faculty members. This instills a sense of satisfaction, and accomplishment of a greater good among our students. We have different cells in our institutions that encourage our students to take up various CSR activities in the college.
Our various activities towards the betterment of the society include:
- Our NSS unit, honored as the best in the state of Kerala, is ever dedicated in all its activities. Whether it is celebration of commemorative days, service for society or fight against communal problems, our NSS wing is all set for the track to act and excel. The National Service Scheme was started to establish a meaningful linkage between the campus and the community. Student youth, teachers and the community are considered the three basic components of the NSS. Our college supports all the activities of its NSS unit, and they have proved their love and affection towards the institution and the society.
- National Cadet Corps (NCC), that trains the young boys and girls to be better citizens and future leaders of our country, is a premier youth organization which functions directly under the Ministry of Defense. NCC cadets of Nehru College, Pampady, under 23 Kerala Battalion, Thrissur conducted various social awareness programs such as Unity Run, Cycle Rally, Blood Donation Camp, and Tree Plantation in the outskirts of the institution. Our NCC wing is dedicated for “Unity and Discipline”. ‘Unity’ implies the brotherhood of all the Indians regardless of their caste, colour or creed, and ‘Discipline’ is the very bedrock on which any nation is founded.
- Padham Onnu Oru Kai Sahayam: A charity program for poor school students. This program was initiated by our staff club associating with ClubFM radio, a leading FM radio station in Kerala, owned by the Mathrubhumi News Media. Through this event our staff club SWAN could sponsor the Study materials for many poor students located in various regions. Our faculty team was generous enough to contribute towards this noble event, and we as teachers feels it our duty to support the whole student community, known or unknown.
- Samanwaya was one of our highly noted program that showcased our recent inventions. Our College was on the frontline in the war against Covid19, and our team of Students and Staff came out with some novel innovations and ideas to help the general public. Automatic Sanitizer dispensing unit, UV powered cleaning device, Incinerator for used Gloves/Masks, Pedal controlled dispenser, and Sanitizing Tunnels were displayed during the event, attaining wide Media coverage. These devices were supported by our Technology Business Incubator (TBI) and Patent application is under process.
- PK Das Dream Home: In fond memory of our founder Late Sri. PK Das, a well-known philanthropist, the Nehru Group has extended various socially relevant programs. ‘Dream Home’ is a project which helps the underprivileged sector of people to build their houses. NGI has initiated many such Dream Homes.
- Other CSR activities: Our College considers CSR a strong means to support the society. NGI is actively involved in community development as a part of its social responsibility. It includes Kalalayathullikal , Medical Camps, Dhalam, Samanwaya, Amrutha Surabhi, Sradha and various social activities initiated by different departments.
- Village Attachment and Food for Stray Cattles were noted projects initiated by our B-School students. Sponsoring Computer and UPS for self-help units were initiated by PG students. Establishing a small Library for Sabari ashram (established by Gandhiji) was another notable activity.
- Nehru Vigyan scholarships: Nehru Vigyan is Scholarship initiative of Nehru Group. Students with high merit are provided with financial support to complete their education under our institutions.
These are a few of our socially responsible activities to empower the society that we dwell in. If you strongly believe in ethical values and in serving others, then join Nehru institution. Together, we will make this world a better place for the under privileged people to live in, without harming the environment.
