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Pratibha: strike a balance between economic, social goals

Special Correspondent

“Industry can also create awareness of welfare schemes”

— Photo: S. Subramanium

Leadership awards: President Pratibha Patil presenting the Lakshmipat Singhania-IIM Lucknow National Leadership Award to the Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, Anil Kakodkar, in New Delhi on Tuesday. The others receiving awards are: Rajan Bharti Mittal (on behalf of his brother Sunil Bharti Mittal); Subhiksha Managing Director R. Subramanian; Akshay Pratishtan founder Aruna Dalmia; and Atish Dabholkar.

NEW DELHI: President Pratibha Patil on Tuesday asked industry to follow a self-imposed code of conduct for striking a balance between economic and social goals. She asked the corporate houses to participate in social development by providing health, educational and training facilities for the disadvantaged sections and using their vast network to spread social messages.

Working ethically

Speaking at a function after presenting the “Lakshmipat Singhania-IIM, Lucknow, National Leadership Awards” here, Ms. Patil said that as industry grew, it needed to reflect on its responsibilities. “Questions regarding good governance and corporate responsibility have assumed centre-stage positions. Corporate governance is about working ethically and finding a balance between economic and social goals. It includes the ability to function profitably while obeying law, rules and regulations. A set of principles voluntarily agreed to by the business world and corporate houses in India could be developed into a self-imposed code of conduct,” she said.

Bottlenecks

Referring to the role that the corporate houses can play in improving the lives of the disadvantaged sections of society, the President said one of the bottlenecks was that the people were not aware of the policies and schemes designed for their welfare.

“It would be good if the corporate sector can look at creating awareness about the welfare schemes. Along with their product they can also give a message to their customers,” she said while suggesting that the communication industry carry messages on immunisation, prevention of child marriages and female foeticide.

Not fast enough

Similarly, in remote and rural regions, the corporate network could convey information about prices of commodities as well as the newly introduced special schemes for the weaker sections, she said.

Pointing out that the Indian economy was growing, but not fast enough to generate the employment levels required, Ms. Patil said people would have to be encouraged to become entrepreneurs and the management institutes of the country should focus on promoting entrepreneurship and related skills that could make medium and small enterprises successful.

The major industrial houses together with management education institutions could develop such models for promoting viable support services for those enterprises so that more jobs were created.

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