1. Corporate Social Responsibilty- Its practices in India, Initiatives, Mechanisms, Issues & Challenges- A multilateral approach to the subject. By: Adv. Dipak Bhattacharyya, Honorary Director (Academics), Institute of Engineering and Management, Kolkata

2. OBJECTIVE In this paper we point at how the rhetoric of CSR, forces managers to balance the jigsaw between idealizations and hypocrisy, and how managerial social legitimacy is maintained only if managers are seen to work towards reduction of the gap between status quo and ideal, i.e. “minimization of difference” We point at the necessity for managers to provide visionary and attractive images of their organisations whilst nurturing the necessary gap between image and status quo.

3. . Corporate Social Responsibility….. Is it stalking horse for an anti-corporate agenda? Something which, like original sin, you can never escape? Or what?

4. KEY DRIVERS OF CSR: Enlightened self-interest Social investment Transparency and trust Increased public expectations of business

5. CURRENT ISSUES RELATED TO CSR: The shrinking role of government Demands for greater disclosure Increased customer interest Growing investor pressure Competitive labour markets Supplier relations

6. CHALLENGES TO CSR: –Generation of inefficiency and confusion in the buyer CSR codes. –Traditional implementation of CSR Strategies not achieving the desired results –Insufficient information about the business benefits of CSR implementation

7. CONSLUSION: concept describing corporate activities beyond profit- making which is also increasingly used to describe the role of business in society involves a broad commitment by companies to social welfare and the common good and to the policies that support them involves not just the products that a company manufactures but also being a good corporate citizen in terms of the employees that it hires and the way it looks after them. It is also about protecting the environment and getting involved in the local community and the wider culture in which the company engages in business.