Corporate Social Responsibility is now a career option, said Dr. H. Chaturvedi, Director, Birla Institute of Management Technology. Speaking at the end of the inaugural session of a 2-day summit on Corporate Social Responsibility here today, Dr. Chaturvedi said the Summit, organised by BIMTECH, was yet another reflection of the high degree of his institute's involvement in CSR and its complete commitment towards the national campaign for inclusive growth. 'That is precisely the reason why BIMTECH has a stand-alone course on CSR, which is aimed at instilling in our students a deep sense of being responsible for the overall growth of the Indian society and help them build a career in this field.'

Delivering the keynote address at the Summit, the Minister of State for Corporate Affairs, Mr. Salman Khurshid, suggested that companies ask their shareholders to be part of India Inc's corporate social responsibility programme on their own and help bring about inclusive growth in a burgeoning economy. He said, 'CSR should be linked with democracy and must be accepted as a practice.' He indicated it was high time companies sensitized their shareholders to the issue of CSR, which he described as a human behavior beneficial to one and all. Speaking on the occasion, Arun Maira, Member, Planning Commission, felt India needed a new framework for business management in the 21st century. 'CSR and philanthropy can never be an adequate response to the huge challenges of inclusion and sustainability that capitalism and business must address. The question is not how much of your profits will you give to social and environmental causes, but the processes by which you make those profits. The huge potential to harm and do good lay in the mainline business operations of corporations from which the profits are made.'