Bhubaneswar.November 14: The Make in Odisha Conclave today established a platform for taking benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility (COP) to every corner of Odisha.

The session on CSR saw participants from various global and national organizations sharing information and knowledge through various presentations.

Odisha Industries Minister Ananta Das releases of ‘Odisha CSR Knowledge Paper’ which focuses on benefitting citizens in various districts of Odisha leading to the overall development of the state.

Congratulating Odisha for astonishing work in the field of CSR, Injeti Srinivas, Ministry of Corporate Affairs Secretary, said, ” You will be amazed to know that much before we had started developing a legal framework for CSR in 2013 for companies, Odisha in 2006, already had established rehabilitation and resettlement policy, containing many aspects of current CSR policy.”

Odisha Industries Minister Ananta Das said, “Odisha has been a pioneer of CSR activities and projects in India and has worked towards enhancing the standards of people living in its various districts. We have constituted district level committees who will identify and recommend various areas, which require CSR support to state-level committees, which in turn will work together with corporates to implement effective and efficient CSR programme in these respective areas.”

“This will lead to the holistic development of the people of the state and will ensure the benefits reach to all the unreached districts as well,” Das added.

There was an interesting panel discussion on the topic ‘Reaching the Unreached Districts’ which was presided and participated by eminent speakers including Dr. Vineeta Dutta Roy, Associate Professor & Lead CSR, Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH); Mr. Injeti Srinivas, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India; Mr. B.K. Thakur, Director HR, National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO); Mr. Harish Krishnaswamy, COO, Tata Trusts; Mr. L.N. Mishra, Director, MCL; Mr. Vishal Bharadwaj, CSR Head, Dalmia and Ms. Foroogh, Deputy Representative, UNICEF.

A CSR award ceremony was also organized in the evening of ‘Day 3’ of MIO 2018, which facilitated the extraordinary work done in the field of CSR by various organizations.

The winners of CSR awards were:

Maximum CSR Outreach Award: Odisha Mining Corporate Ltd., 21 out of 30 districts in Odisha is covered by the company. Most Innovative CSR Project: ACC Ltd. Name of the project – ACC Vidya Uttkatsh.

More than 25 thousand students reached out with the quality of education. Most Impactful CSR Award: Tata Steel, Thousand School Program, which aims to create universal standards of elemental education across Odisha. The diversity of CSR Spending Across Sectors Award: Mahanadi Cold Fields Ltd., Company does exemplary sustainable work across 9 sectors out of 11.