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Huge Profits - Corporate Social and Spiritual Responsibility

Dt:  25/10/18

Huge Profits -  Corporate Social and Spiritual Responsibility

Dr T.H.Chowdary*

 For the wellbeing and increasing prosperity and happiness  of a nation, primary requisites are universal good quality education and  health care. Unfortunately, these are the   two requirements which had come to be    ignored,  if not   positively neglected. While countries like Myanmar and Sri Lanka and Malaysia which became independent later than  India, have achieved higher levels of literacy and education, in India   despite seven decades of independence and socialism and slogans of  social justice, just  70% only are literate.  Admission to a private hospital   is becoming passage to bankruptcy.   And all this is  happening while   some of our  companies are making super profits.  What do they do with those profits ?  Government  has made the law obligating  Corporations to spend upto   2% of their  profits to discharge their  social responsibility  to our people.  Let us look at the   profits  of a few companies for the  second quarter  of  the  year   2018-19. 

Super Profits of Some Companies

By any stretch of analysis these are  super profits. 

2. It is good that they make profits because  profit  is the  only  right index of good performance of  a corporation. The  question is,  “what do they do with the profits?  It is good that  they give handsome  dividends and the shareholders  will be  happy because of the  appreciation  of  the  share price. Beyond this good towards the   shareholders  and  efficient performance,   there  remains  the moral question of what to do with the   humongous   profits.

     What does it  avail if a man  is economically well off  but  morally,  ethically and spiritually ill. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul ?  (Bible: Mark 8:36). Man does not live by bread alone (Bible: Luke 4:4).  Na vittena  tharpaneeyo manushyaha (Man is not satisfied by wealth alone) ( Kathopanishat) .

3. Besides the  2% spend for CSR which is  too little for the  companies  which are  making super  profits,  there should be an obligation that they invest their  money through  appropriate  vehicles for promotion of quality  education and  health  care. It is unfortunate   in fact, morally  depraved  that   42% of the  school -going age children  are not in government  schools  but  in private & corporate schools which  are charging immense  amounts. It is much more unfortunate that even maid servants and daily waged majdoors (workers) are at immense  sacrifice to themselves, sending their  children  to the  costly private schools   even  while  in government schools there are  no fees,  books and uniforms are given free and mid-day meals are served.

4. The illiterate and hardly -literate labouring  parents are having  to engage tutors at extra expense for their  children  to help them to do homework and also to teach them what they did not   understand  in the schools through the English medium of instruction.  It is tragic that  politicians, especially of the regional parties   and  caste and class  conflict -promoting    leftists, dalit activists  and   anti-Hindus  are  advocating and becoming successful to impose English  medium  in government schools also .  The fountains  of  morality and  ethics and righteousness  that our   classical literature in mother tongue  are  (that is,  Mahabharta and Ramayana)  denied  to the   children,  as a matter of policy  in private   schools and now  as a matter of expediency, in government   schools.

5. Long ago, in the  1930s Mahatma Gandhi wrote that    upto secondary stage education must be   only in government  schools  and all higher  education  should be promoted and rendered by  private   sector. Here are his  words: Writing in the Harijan of 2^nd Oct 1937 Mahatma Gandhi observed, “ higher education should be  left to private enterprise    for meeting national  requirements whether in the  various industrial, technical , arts or fine arts.  The State universities should  be purely examining bodies, self-supporting through the  fees charged for examinations. … no private school should be run without the  previous sanction of  the respective universities. University charter should be given liberally to anybody of  persons  of proved  worth and integrity, it being always understood that universities will not cost the state anything except that it will bear the cost of its central education department . ….. The Tatas would be expected to run a college for training engineers under the supervision of the  State, the Textile Mills Associations  would run among them a college for training  graduates whom they need . Similarly for the other industries …”

6. I am arguing   that   the super -profit making  companies  have not merely a social  responsibility but a  spiritual responsibility, a duty to  their mother -land  and  to    the Bharatiya  dharma   to utilise their profits to establish good schools and  hospitals. May be, they can create Foundations and through them, impart the education  of high standard, secular and spiritual  as well as health care . In the armed  forces, there is Army  Education Corps .  They take care of the  soldiers’ education so that   after their  discharge, they can be  gainfully employed.   If the  Armed Forces can have such laudable   social responsibility, why cannot our profit -making companies ?

7. Besides the promotion of education & health care,  the super profits  should also be utilized   for the  defence,  propagation and promotion of dharma  for the preservation of  Bharatiya samskruti, to build up the moral and  spiritual fibre of our people.   The world’s largest companies including those in the   I.T sector like Microsoft making  super profits contribute  huge amounts to church  organisations,  even for their  evangelical  enterprises. They call  such contributions, their   spiritual obligation.  In India too, we should    have  such a spiritual obligation embraced  by profitable enterprises to promote dharmic foundations and institutions  at the core of which are  Hindus  temples.  It is worthwhile remembering that  India’s freedom  movement - especially  Gandhiji and the Congress were financially supported   by the  Birlas   and   the Bajajs  and such other companies  .

8.  It behoves organisations  like the Viswa Hindu Parishad, Ramakrishna Mission, Chinmaya Mission and of course, the RSS to deliberate upon the   need of instilling  corporate  spiritual responsibility (CSR)  in  companies and other commercial organisations   in our  country so that  the famed Bharatiya  dharma  is protected and promoted and is instilled in every  child  born in this country.  Finally, we must recall the  great aphorism, sookti:  Maanava Seva is Madhava Seva ( Service  to man is service to God) .  (1028 words)

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