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HEALTH Powell is an emerging company on the block, but it has already identified future growth. The company is committed to a mission of serving billions of countrymen by worshipping them as living Gods. Power of Wellness or simply put Powell Laboratories Pvt Ltd is a young firm with lots of promise and potential. It is built on a strong foundation of fundamentals created by Late Prof. Dr Sailendra Nath Roy, in 1975. The company is currently operating in a niche market but aspires to become a market leaders in wellness industry. “We have the vision to touch Rs.100 crore and are moving towards that direction soon, with capacity enhancement. Our efforts have begun to show results on many segments

CSR REPORT A total of `8,314.08 crore of CSR funds remained unspent during the 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 financial years while some of the leading business houses spent more amount than they are mandatorily required to do. Since the Companies Act was amended in 2013 paving the way for the emergence of the idea of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in structural sense, there have been many dialogues and debates. Earlier, CSR was discussed only in board meetings of both public and private companies but now the discourses are in the public domain. Now corporates hire professional executives to manage their CSR spends on specific mandate of their choice. The budgets of the corporates are going northwards year after year truly

OPPORTUNITY Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are important factors in economic growth and transformation, creating positive value for the economy, contributing towards sustainable and balanced economic growth, employment and social stability. They are the silent drivers of economy. And yet despite their importance, SMEs in emerging markets frequently suffer from insufficient access to financing, preventing these businesses from expanding their production and making a larger social and economic impact. Their access to finance is limited to the entrepreneurs own funds and bank finances. They lack their ability to access funds is on account of lack of collateral security, stringent lending criteria and short repayment terms. The lack of capital to the SMEs substantially diminishes the growth potential of these small

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