Adhyapana Team at the CSR Conclave

The Adhyapana Team attended a CSR Meet at Anekal organized by Erin Foundation on the 31st of January 2010. The meet was chaired by Martin chairman of the CSR company, Austria and Task Group Leader within ISO for the writing of the ISO 26 000 standard on Social Responsibility. We left Bangalore on Saturday evening to Usha Kirana, the training facility of Erin Foundation, situated near Pearl valley, surrounded by lush greenery. The ride was an enjoyable experience through the newly inaugurated elevated highway connecting Bangalore and electronic city.

On Saturday evening, all of us met over dinner and bonfire and discussed the agenda for the next day's meeting. The Meet started early on Sunday morning. In the first two sessions Martin explained, the meaning of CSR(Corporate social responsibility), the need for CSR,what constitutes CSR etc. Through various examples he explained how an organization must approach CSR.He pointed out that Social responsibility actually encompassed a lot of activities such as responsibility towards environment, labor issues, ethics in operation etc..
He went on to explain how these are encompassed into the new ISO standard to ensure that all companies implement social responsibility.

After Martin's session, which included some heated discussions, we moved on to presentations by individual organizations about their activities.We had some interesting presentations from Karuna trust regarding their extensive work in health care and tribal people. We too presented our work which was well appreciated by all present. We then got to hear about the CSR activities at Tech. Mahindra and how doctors started a free clinic for the uninsured in America. The meeting concluded with a wrap up session by Martin.

The meet was a wonderful opportunity for us to learn more about social responsibility. We understood the working of other organizations . The meet exposed us new perspectives and valuable experience.