Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Rights

ITC Sustainability Report 2010

India has been witnessing a growing recognition of the place and relevance of Human Rights in the last quarter of the 20th century. It might be due to the increasing powers of the media, especially the electronic media that the country has witnessed since the advent of the World Wide Web. People have had the opportunity to vent out their feelings without any inhibitions and have made it a point to bring to fore every violation that they have encountered. Surprisingly though, human rights violation has seen no signs of decline on the corporate stage. Recent instances of such violations have been reported in cases of Posco and Vedanta in areas of Orissa. Allegations, as levelled against them by the National Human Rights Commission, relate to their forceful land acquisition and illegal eviction of villagers from their proposed project area. In the wake of these incidents, rigorous norms are being pressed upon the corporate today by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

ITC is one of the few corporate which swear by their ethical values and have time and again revamped their CSR policies to make them comply with the existing Government regulations at that time. Recently, ITC has come out with their Sustainability Report for the year 2010. Under the section of Human Rights, ITC has expressed it as “Significant Investments”. In the two page excerpt, the organization brings forward the initiatives it has taken. An expenditure of Rs. 1100 Crores, which forms 52% of the CAPEX cash flow for the year 2009-10, has been done to revamp and modernize its existing infrastructure as per the Corporate EHS (Environment, Health and Safety) and Human Rights clauses. The same have been rigorously audited by the Government and concerned officials over time. ITC has also regulated procurements for its agri-based businesses entirely through state controlled trading platforms and the open market. To have efficient checks at existing outsourcing facilities so as to ensure high standards of product quality while adhering to ITC's guidelines on EHS and labour practices, officials are placed by the company. Moreover, the facilities are routinely inspected by government officials for ensuring relevant labour and factory acts.

The excerpt also states the non-happening of incidents relating to human rights violation for the period of 2009-10. It states that no order cancellation, incident of discrimination, child labour or forced labour, or any risk to freedom of association and collective bargaining was witnessed for the period by the organization. ITC also states its intention to encourage diversity and equal opportunity based purely on meritocracy for its every process. ITC also mentions that the 11 Non-Executive Directors of the Board of Directors are chosen from different fields to lend multi-dimensional perspective to decision making. Lastly, the organization also states that the compensation policy followed complies with the Equal Remuneration Act¹.

Thus, the excerpt explains the initiatives taken by ITC in ensuring Corporate Sustainability and the importance it attaches to the protection of Human Rights in its realms.

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¹The Equal Remuneration Act is a gift of "the International Women's Year" to women workers. It is enacted to give effect to the provision of Article 39 of the Constitution of India which contains a directive principle of equal pay for equal work for both men and women. The Act provides for the payment of equal remuneration to men and women workers for the same work or work of a similar nature and for the prevention of discrimination on the ground of sex against women in the matter of employment. The main provisions of the Act are as follows:

•         Equal pay for equal work: No employer shall pay to any worker employed by him remuneration at rates less favourable than those at which remuneration is paid by him to the workers of the opposite sex for performing the same work or work of similar nature. {Section 4(1)}
•        No discrimination to be made while recruiting men and women: No employer shall make any discrimination against women while making recruitment for the same work or work of a similar nature. {Section 5}
•         Exceptions: The provisions of the Act shall be inapplicable when special treatment is given to women under any law or when special treatment is accorded to women in connection with the birth of a child. {Section 15}