(a) whether the public/private sector companies are spending funds for Saansad Adarsh Gram Panchayats under their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the details of the amount released by the public/ private sector companies for Saansad Adarsh Gram Panchayats in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh during the last three years and the current year?
MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION; MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS
[RAO INDERJIT SINGH]
(a) to (c): The broad framework for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been provided under Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 (‘Act’), Schedule VII of the Act and Companies (CSR Policy) Rules, 2014. Under the Act, CSR is a Board driven process and the Board of the company is empowered to plan, decide, execute and monitor the CSR activities based on the recommendations of its CSR Committee. Schedule VII of the Act indicates the eligible list of activities that can be undertaken by the companies under CSR. The Ministry vide General Circular No.14/2021 dated 25th August, 2021 had clarified that activities mentioned in Schedule VII are broad based and can be interpreted liberally. Further, CSR should not be interpreted as a source of financing the resource gaps in Government Schemes.
The CSR framework is disclosure based and CSR mandated companies are required to file details of CSR activities annually in the MCA21 registry. All data related to CSR
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filed by companies in MCA21 registry is available in public domain and can be accessed at www.csr.gov.in . The Ministry does not specifically maintain CSR funds
spent by the companies for Saansad Aadarsh Gram Panchayats separately in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Item no. (x) of Schedule VII, inter alia, includes ‘rural development projects’ as an eligible CSR activity. On the basis of annual filings made by the companies in the MCA 21 registry, the details of CSR funds spent in ‘rural development projects’ by the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and Private companies, in the State of Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh during the last three Financial Year (FY) 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 is as follows:
CSR Expenditure on Rural Development projects (In Rs. Crore).
State FY 2018-19 FY 2019-20 FY 2020-21
Rajasthan 97.24 45.98 33.24
Maharashtra 208.24 146.84 97.34
Uttar Pradesh 136.08 111.30 54.97
(Data up to 31.03.2022) [Source: National CSR Data Portal]
Further, the companies are required to file the CSR data for the FY 2021-22 on or before 31st March, 2023.
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