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NEWS The Lok Sabha on July 26 unanimously approved the Companies Amendment Bill 2019 which the government says, aims at bringing more accountability and better enforcement to strengthen the corporate governance norms and compliance management in corporate sector Companies that are not able to spend their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) fund will soon face the consequences. The Lok Sabha on July 26 passed the Companies Amendment Bill 2019 which will make it mandatory for companies not spending 2 per cent profit on CSR activities for a total period of four years to deposit the amount in a special account. Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Bill seeks to tighten CSR compliance and ensure more accountability and better

CSR PSU A sum of `3,442.42 crore was spent by 146 Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities during the financial year 2017- 18, informed Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Arvind Ganpat Sawant in the Lok Sabha on July 2 this year. The expenditure made by the CPSEs during 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 was `2,450.31 crore, `4,028.04 crore and `3,336.50 crore, respectively, the Minister added.  Out of the 146 CPSEs, ten companies namely National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (`241 crore), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (`166 crore), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (`156 crore) NMDC Ltd (`169 crore), Oil India Ltd (`100 crore), Power Finance Corporation Ltd (`118 crore), Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd

PUBLIC DECISION More than five years after the enactment of the Lokpal Act 2013, the Government of India appointed eight members of its first anti-corruption ombudsman, the Lokpal, on March 22, 2019. The new Lokpal were administered the oath of office by President of India Ram Nath Kovind in New Delhi. Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose became the country’s first Chairperson of Lokpal. The President of India had approved the appointments of the Chairperson and members of the Lokpal after the selection committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recommended the appointments. A person who is or has been the Chief Justice of India or a Supreme Court Judge is eligible for appointment as Lokpal. Justice P.C. Ghose, 66, retired as

PUBLIC CAMPAIGN Bezwada Wilson is an activist and one of the founders and national convenors of the Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA), a human rights organization that has been campaigning for the eradication of manual scavenging, which has been illegal activity in India since 1993. His role at SKA has been recognized by theAshoka Foundation which has nominated him as Senior Fellow. On July 27, 2016, he was honoured with the Ramon Magsaysay Award. Wilson was born in 1966 in the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) in Karnataka. His parents Rachel and Yacob belong to the manual scavenging community. His father began working for the township in 1935 as a manual scavenger, manually removing excreta from dry toilets. He attempted to find

NATION BUILDING Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), a Government of India Enterprise under Department of Atomic Energy, has been playing a pioneering role in spurring the growth of electronics industry in India since 1967. Driven by the vision of self-reliance in strategic electronics and resting on the foundations of strong R&D, ECIL has proved mettle as a multi-product, multidisciplinary organization. ECIL’s Mission is to strengthen its status as valued technological asset to the nation in the area of Strategic Electronics, meeting the requirements of Defence, Atomic Energy, Aerospace, Surveillance & Security, Information Technology & Communication and e-Governance. ECIL is committed to act ethically and contribute to harmonious and sustainable development of society through its business while improving the quality

CSR PSU NMDC has been looking to add value to its CSR efforts by aiming for improvement in major thrust areas like education, healthcare and hygiene, creation of infrastructure, skill development and sustainable income generation and safe drinking water. NMDC is one of the leading iron ore mining companies in India since it started the journey in the late 1950s. The company has invested substantially in the socio-economic development of the local communities especially in the tribal belts close to the mining projects. NMDC is striving for excellence in promoting sustainable development and improvement in quality of life of surrounding communities through CSR initiatives based on ethical, transparent and sound governance practices. It has been a pioneer in the area

CSR PSUs Following amendments in the Schedule VII of the new Companies Act of 2013, with effect from April 1, 2014, every company, private or public limited, which either has a net worth of `500 crore or a turnover of `1,000 crore or net profit of `5 crore, needs to spend at least 2 per cent of its average net profit for the immediately preceding three financial years on corporate social responsibility activities (CSR). The CSR activities should not be undertaken in the normal course of business and must be with respect to any of the activities mentioned in Schedule VII of the 2013 Act. It is incumbent now upon all public and private corporates to follow the law of

GOVERNANCE In August 2012, three reports submitted by then Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Raion the allocation of coal blocks, functioning of the Delhi airport and allocation of additional coal blocks to Reliance Power had drawn immediate and sharp criticism from the government. The counter was coordinated from the Prime Minister’s Office. The Minister of State in the PMO, V Narayanswamy, was quick to state that the CAG was not following its constitutional mandate, rather over-stepping it by questioning government policy. In view of the recent judgment in the 2G spectrum allocation scam acquitting senior DMK leaders A Raja and M Kanimozhi of any wrong doing has once again brought the focus back on the functioning of the constitutional

PEACE AND JUSTICE Martin Luther King, Jr is the only non-president of US to have a national holiday dedicated in his honour, reports PRIYANKA TOMAR Every year on the third Monday of January, US observes its annual commemoration to honours the life and contributions of America’s greatest champion of racial justice and equality, the leader who not only dreamed of a ‘colour-blind’ society, but who also lead a movement that achieved historic reforms to help make it a reality. This year marks the 32nd anniversary of the federal holiday to honour Martin Luther King, Jr., (MLK), Nobel Peace Prize winning civil rights leader. This day celebrate the legacy of his life and the timeless values he taught everyone through his

WATER TECHNOLOGY Providing safer drinking water to those in need may become a little easier as Penn State researchers have developed a new desalination technique that removes salt from water using less energy than previous methods. The “battery electrode deionisation” method improves upon previous techniques by avoiding a regeneration step by alternating the direction of the electrical current. Thus, instead of using 1.2 volts, researchers switched between -0.6 and 0.6 volts to get the same result. “Globally, there is reduced access to fresh water,” said one of the researchers Bruce Logan, Professor at Pennsylvania State University in the US. “More and more, the waters that are being used are impaired, either due to salt or other contaminants, so we are