Csr at Ongc

resources within the country's boundaries was mainly undertaken by private oil companies like Assam Oil Company6, Burmah Oil Company7 (both of which operated in Assam), and the Indo-Stanvac Petroleum project8 (in West Bengal). In 1955, the Gol decided to undertake exploration and production activities for oil and natural gas resources in different regions of the country.

I I In the same year, an Oil and Natural Gas Directorate was set up as a subordinate office under the then Ministry of Natural Resources and Scientific Research.In August 1956, the Directorate was elevated to the status of a commission and named the Oil and Natural Gas Commission. I In 1959, with the Oil and Natural Gas Commission Act 1959, the Commission became a statutory body. Its main objectives were "to plan, promote, organize, and implement programs for development of petroleum resources and the production and sale of petroleum and petroleum products. " In 1991, as part of the liberalization initiatives of the Go', core sectors like petroleum were deregulated and de-licensed.

Consequently, in 1993, the Oil and Natural Gas Commission was converted into a public limited company, ONGC Ltd. , under the Company's Act, 1956. | CSR at ONGC The mission of ONGC stated that the company would have an "abiding commitment to health, safety, and environment to enrich quality of community life. "And this mission was reflected in its CSR activities. CSR at ONGC began as a philanthropic activity where the company contributed to several socio-economic developmental programs like building schools and hospitals, developing agriculture and cottage industry, building infrastructure facilities, etc. around its areas of operation on an ad hoc basis.

.. Corporate Level Programs ONGC's CSR programs at the corporate level focused on disaster relief management nd water management projects. When disasters struck India, ONGC provided relief and helped state and central governments in rehabilitating those affected. For example, when a heavy cyclone hit the eastern state of Orissa in 1999, the company provided immediate relief like food, drinking water, temporary shelters, medicine, clothing, etc. ONGC doctors provided medical treatment round the clock.

The company also contributed Rs. 80 million toward the Prime Minister's relief fund and took steps to rehabilitate the cyclone victims... I Work Center Level ; Community Development Programs ONGC was involved in various community development programs like promoting literacy and higher education by providing grants or scholarships to the economically disadvantaged, donating money for the construction and renovation of schools, promoting healthcare by organizing medical camps, eye camps, through mobile dispensaries, etc..

.A P J Abdul Kalam, President ot India, put tortn the concept of PURA - 'Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas'. This aimed to bridge the urban- rural gap through a balanced socio-economic development program. The main idea was to provide four major connectivities -physical (transportation and power), lectronic (communication network through telecom, the Internet, and IT services), knowledge (institutions and vocational training centers), and economic empowerment (through overall socio-economic development) - to rural communities..

.I ONGC and the Global Compact Program The concept of 'global compact' was initiated by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in July 2000. The idea was to form an international corporate citizenship network for the advancement of universal social and environmental principles (Refer Exhibit IV to learn more about the Global Compact program)... Environment Protection Programs ONGC took several measures to reduce pollution and support conservation of resources through the utilization of waste.

The company formulated its Environment Policy as early as 1983 and adopted environment protection as one of its objectives in 1988.It even created a separate department called the Department of Environment (DoE) to ensure that environmental safeguards were in place. The environment policy of the company made it mandatory to submit an "environmental impact assessment report"to the DoE at the time of project formulation...

I Safety ONGC set up the Institute of Petroleum Safety, Health and Environment management IPSHEM) in 1989 with the objective of improving the safety, health, and environment standards in the Indian petroleum industry.The institute offered training courses in safety and environment management and a special training program for off-shore personnel...

Other CSR Initiatives ONGC also participated in promoting sports and games like cricket, football, hockey, athletics, basketball, chess, golf, billiards, and volleyball in India. In 2004, it received the "Best Corporate Initiative in Sports"award from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)... CSR: The Way to Go? The importance of CSR has increased with globalization, as both investors and customers have become highly sensitive to societal and environment issues.According to Dr.

Madhav Mehra (Mehra), President of the UK-based World Environment Foundation and the World Council for Corporate Governance, the importance of CSR would further increase as the future market would be driven by a younger population (around 54% of India's population is below 25) for whom social, ethical, and environmental issues were very important and who liked to be "informed"about the organizations they were buying from or investing in... India's exploration and production major ONGC (ONGC.

NS : 1255. 9-3. ) on Friday said that it has increased its allocation for CSR activities to Rs 300 crore, which is 2% of its net profit in the previous fiscal, from Rs 145 crore. ONGC's move comes in the wake of petroleum ministry's directive to hike CSR spending to 2% from 1%. "ONGC has already taken a decision to earmark Rs 300 crore for CSR activities which will be carried out across the country.

The company has also made additions in the projects to be covered by the increased spending," AK Balyan, ONGC director (business development, HR) told FE.ONGC' s CSR projects include promotion of literacy and higher education, grant of scholarship and assistance to deserving young pupils of weaker sections of society, facilities for constructing schools, renovation of school buildings, other infrastructure. Besides, the company also spends on healthcare and family welfare and community development. The emphasis is also given on development of infrastructure facilities--improvement of roads, bridges, street lighting, drainage systems and development of agriculture and cottage industries. ONGC's move is crucial as the petroleum ministry will closely review the CSR activities f oil PSUs.The ministry will carry out quarterly review of CSR projects in a bid to ensure that the funds are used in the actual development of society.

Besides, the ministry has also announced that it will prepare annual report on CSR activities by oil PSUs and it will be made open for public. CSR Initiatives by ONGC The major CSR initiatives taken by ONGC are as follows: ONGC subsidiary MRPL has taken CSR initiative "Samrakshan". Under this initiative the company has done construction of an Anganwadi building, donating scientific teaching aids, providing infrastructural facilities including cupboards to schools.This initiative also covers 53 schools around MRPL and 16 schools around sarpadi village. ONGC has started an initiative called "PURA", concept put forth by former President Dr. A.

P. J Abdul Kalam. The main idea of this initiative was to provide four major connectivities -physical (transportation and power), electronic (communication network through telecom, the Internet, and IT services), knowledge (institutions and vocational training centers), and economic empowerment (through overall socio-economic development) - to rural communities. The company has taken an initiative in the field of education too.This initiative includes Establishment of Centre for Research in Petroleum and Biotechnology at Tezpur University in Assam, support for establishment of IT Park at Kanchipuram, Tamilnadu.

The support is also given by ONGC in the healthcare also. This includes contribution for setting up ofa 600 bed hospital in Behala, West Bengal, and support to Centres of excellence in medical research in the country example: Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai. The company has started a project named "Saraswati" through the collaboration of Indira Gandhi Nahar PariyoJna.