The year 2017 was an eventful year for the CSR Times as it saw both the re-launch of the magazine in a refurbished avatar and also of our website csrtimes.org. The year was not just the year of revival for the CSR Times but also for the Indian economy and society. The year also marked the completion of seven decades of independence. In these years the nation has taken definite steps towards social and economic development. Deepening of democracy, success of parliamentary form of government, rule of law and people’s faith in democratic process and institutions are the biggest achievements of independent India which have surprised many. The uniqueness of this achievement is the fact that every change of government since independence has been only through the ballot box. Even some of the Western countries cannot lay claim to this achievement. In the last 70 years India has come a long way from a poor country that ranked low on many key development and performance parameters to a developing economy that’s currently growing at a faster rate than the developed world.
A developing economy has its own challenges. As we enter the New Year, we realize that Narendra Modi government in the past years has tackled policy paralysis and moved ahead with ground-breaking reforms in the infrastructure space with a decisive push for affordable housing, railway development and in construction of roads and highways. However, project implementation has remained challenging at ground level. Similarly, agriculture, the main cog in the body of the domestic economy has continued to remain at the mercy of the weather gods, which has added to the subsidy burden on the government in the form of pressure for farm loan waiver and similar other subsidies. The Modi government has shown the vision for a more productive utilization of the CSR funds and using them for innovative schemes. Thus 2018 could see CSR playing a major role in the revival of the Indian economy.