With Rajya Sabha approving the legislation on 8th Aug'13 which was earlier passed by Lok Sabha in December,2012, the new Company Act,2013 will become a law after the President puts his signature. This new act which will replace the existing Company Act,1956, has incorporated several changes to promote transparency in investments, strengthening the rights of minority shareholders, making it tough for companies to hide illegal transactions, promoting gender equality on company boards, addressing issues related to spending under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) etc.
As far as CSR is concerned, undoubtedly, India Inc can make a lot of difference in the quality of life of millions of fellow Indians by sincerely working on it. The areas can be any and many in a country like ours where majority of population is leading an unworthy human life due to lack of proper nutrition, sanitation, education, health care, employment, to name a few.
Millions of young people have acquired degrees by spending lots of money and time but there is serious issue of their employability. On the other side, it is quite unfortunate and equally disgraceful that more than a quarter of country's population is still illiterate and even elementary education is not available to the eligible students despite RTE Act,2009.
It is a well known fact that the poor and BPL (Below Poverty line) families which comprises 40% of our population i.e., nearly 500 million people, have very little option but to use unclean and unsafe water. As such, various water borne diseases affect them badly resulting in large number of deaths every year.
There are lots of basic problems which our rural masses are facing day in and day out which can be comprehended and appreciated only by first hand observation. We have more than six lac villages in the country with majority population still living there and earning their livelihood in and around those villages. Despite lacs of crore being earmarked in the budgets of Central and State Govt. for the welfare of the poor and downtrodden in the country, little change is noticeable as far as improvement in quality of life of these targeted groups is concerned.
It is heartening to note that Corporates like Wipro, Thermax, Tata Group, Godrej, Bharti, Ambuja etc. have taken up some of these social issues and already made a commendable beginning. Many other corporates need to engage themselves in socio-economic activities hugely in their own way within the provisions of the new Act to register perceptible change in improving the life of millions of disadvantaged countrymen within a reasonable time.
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