CRB International Dialogue Forum and Conference 2015 : India and Sustainability Standards

Social Dialogue at Workplace in Global Value and Supply Chains: Experiences from India, Wider Asia and Way Forward

Social Dialogue, as defined by International Labour Organisation (ILO), include negotiations, communication, consultations, or simply exchange of information between or among representatives of governments, employers and workers, on issues of common interest relating to economic and social policy in a workplace. Governments, employers or workers acting alone cannot achieve economic and social progress and stability, and require continuous and constructive interaction and engagement to arrive at social consensus and/or compromise. Social Dialogue provides participating stakeholders with opportunities to jointly decide on their mutual and individual responsibilities and futures. Social Dialogue as a mechanism and an effective tool for solving collective challenges by creating structures and environment suitable for efficient problem -solving, facilitates conditions for establishing better working and living conditions and social justice for workers in particular, and enhanced harmony and productivity at workplace for employers and managers.

Social Dialogue is an integral component of ILO’s Decent Work agenda and extremely relevant in the context of Asia as a major part of global production networks (GPN) and value and supply chains. ILO’s fundamental principles and rights at work, and particularly the right to associate and bargain collectively, are pre-conditions for social dialogue. However, effective operation of social dialogue is required for these principles to be fully realized. The benefits of social dialogue within enterprises have been recorded in the form of improved worker-management communication, initiation and strengthening of forums for communication, dialogue, deliberation and solution oriented decisions and improved industrial relations. Worldwide Enhancement of Social Quality (WE Project), a partnership project between Tchibo, a German retailer, and GIZ, could be seen as a good example of social dialogue at workplace. WE Project improved production rates by 30% and reduced turnover rates from 10% to 6% during the project period.

However, wider implementation of social dialogue methods at workplace in GPNs and value and supply chains in India and wider Asia is far from desired, due to several complex challenges around policies, context and practices. Senior management in organizations in GPNs do not view employee engagement as a strategic function, since there is no apparent direct link between benefits of social dialogue within an organization and it’s bottom-line. Limited awareness amongst workers and managers about labour standards and worker’s rights, and absence of democratically elected worker unions results in limited two-way communication between workers and senior management.

Centre for Responsible Business (CRB) in partnership with several garment and apparel and footwear brands is engaged in initiatives on social dialogue in their value and supply chains to enable creation of systems and processes in factories to practice and promote social dialogue and bridge gaps between the management and workers. To share experiences, perspectives and learning on social dialogue as an effective mechanism and chart future steps, CRB in collaboration with ISEAL Alliance, UK, is organizing a webinar on the topic “Social Dialogue at Workplace in Global Value and Supply Chains: Experiences from India, Wider Asia and Way Forward”. The webinar will bring together a panel comprising of international organisation and experts, who will share their experiences and discuss the role of various stakeholders, complexities and challenges in formulating, initiating and deepening social dialogue practices and systems, and the scope of promoting cordial industrial relations and improved working environments through social dialogue.

Human Rights and Business in India

Businesses, with their geographical and monetary reach owing to extensive globalization, have had a powerful impact on the Human society through employment generation, raising living standard, community development and provision of goods and services for enhancing daily-life convenience. Particular emphasis has been on its effects on Human Rights, and today it is considered an integral pillar of the Business Responsibility discourse. The most significant development on this in the recent years has been the release of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) for implementing the UN “Protect, Respect and Remedy” framework in 2011. Developed by the United Nations through a consultative process spanning 6 years, it enumerates the roles and responsibilities of Governments and Businesses towards protecting Human rights, and encourages nations to have a national action plan on businesses and human rights.

India has actively espoused the importance of Human Rights, having played a key role in developing and adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and followed this with the adoption of the Constitution of India, and its articulation of Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy. In more recent times, the Government of India enacted the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 and the establishment of a National Human Rights Commission. However, there were no clear directives for the role of businesses in Human Rights emancipation. To this end, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs released the National Voluntary Guidelines (NVGs) for Business in 2011, wherein one of its Nine Principles of Business Responsibility is devoted to Human Rights. The Companies Act 2013 relies heavily on the NVGs to provide frameworks for businesses to advance Human Rights both inside and outside the workplace.

Despite the presence of suitable legislative architectures, the awareness in businesses regarding their roles and responsibilities on advancing Human rights, and amongst citizens about their rights as consumers, is very low. Businesses need to incorporate Human Rights into their core businesses and CSR initiatives, and engage with various stakeholders to implement, assess and report their initiatives. To discuss these issues further and chart a way forward, Centre for Responsible Business (CRB) in collaboration with ISEAL Alliance, UK, is organizing a webinar on the topic ‘Advancing Human Rights in Businesses in India’. The webinar will bring together a panel comprising leaders from companies and civil society organizations with extensive Human Rights experiences to share their perspectives on this topic. The 90 minute webinar will be organized on 15th April 2015, and will start at 10:30 pm (GMT).

E-waste management in Electronics Sector in India

The Electronics and IT sector is one of the fastest growing sector of India, with a total size of $ 69.6 Billion in FY 12 (India Brand Equity Foundation, 2013). With rising domestic purchasing power and reduction in electronics goods worldwide, the sector is estimated to touch $ 400 Billion in market size and employ 28 Million people by 2020 in India. The sector also contributes significantly to India’s exports, leading to $ 8.9 Billion revenue generation in 2012. The high demand for ICT and CE goods has led to creation of manufacturing clusters all over India, with both global majors and indigenous SMEs playing a significant role (NSDC, 2009). The total production for the Electronic System Design & Manufacturing industry stood at $ 32.7 B in FY 2013 (IBEF, 2013).

This rapid sectorial growth, coupled with constant product innovation is leading to high product obsolescence. This is resulting in generation of large quantities of electronic waste (e-waste) in India, leading to 4 lakh tonne waste annually. Most of this waste, which is toxic in nature due to presence of chemicals such as lead, mercury, cadmium and certain brominated flame retardants (BFRs), lands up in the informal sector, where it is recycled without paying any heed to safety and environment. Apart from endangering workers’ health and surrounding biodiversity, these practices also prevent extraction of valuable non-renewable materials from electronic items.  To control the situation, Government of India has introduced the E-waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011, which is based on ‘Extended Producer Responsibility’ (EPR) principles. The policy came into effect in May 2012, and a One-year timeframe was provided to the producers, to establish infrastructure and processes for take back programme and channelizing of e-waste for further utilization. Unfortunately, there is not much progress on this take-back program (Toxics Link, retrieved 2^nd April 2015)

Sector driven recycling standards can go a long way in mitigating these issues. Apart from streamlining and formalizing recycling sector, these standards can also enable suitable infrastructural mechanisms which will ensure that materials reach the right recyclers, resulting in suitable disposal and extraction of valuable materials. With the Make in India programme, Government of India is emphasizing on self-regulation by corporates, providing further encouragement for a sector wide collaborative on institutionalizing voluntary standards for e-waste disposal.

To discuss these issues further and chart a way forward, Centre for Responsible Business (CRB) in collaboration with ISEAL Alliance, UK, is organizing a webinar on the topic ‘E-waste management in ICT/CE sector – Is self-regulation the way forward?’. The webinar will bring together a panel comprising leaders from companies, industry associations, standards and civil society organizations to share their experiences and discuss the role of various stakeholders can participate in formulating suitable industry wide standards and mechanisms for implementing them. The 90 minute webinar will be organized on 15th April 2015, and will start at 10:30 pm (GMT). Hope to see you there! 

Children and Business Supply Chains

New Delhi ,January 30, 2015: UNICEF and Centre for Responsible Business (CRB) organized a half day roundtable consultation to initiate conversations on the effect of business supply chains on children’s lives and their rights, and how CRBP and other Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) can be used by businesses and associated stakeholders to address these issues. The consultation, organized in India Habitat Center, saw participation from over 70 representatives across businesses, standards and civil societies over wide-ranging discussions backed by experiences on how businesses can work towards promoting child rights within regional and sectoral contexts.

The event was kicked off by Mr. Louis-Georges Arsenault- Country Representative, UNICEF India, who remarked on various child rights challenges faced by India, and how the path-breaking CSR Mandate as part of Companies Act 2013 can play an important role in creating frameworks for child-rights engagement for businesses. Dr. Bimal Arora-CEO, CRB, contextualized the discussion and highlighted the need to increase business awareness about presence of children in supply chains and create a roadmap for businesses to follow to mitigate such issues. Mr. Michael Copping- Corporate Engagement Manager, UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Region Office, emphasized the CRBP framework and gave anecdotal evidence of its impact in Regional markets. The first round was capped by Ms. Ruchira Gujral- CSR and Corporate Engagement Officer, UNICEF India, where she emphasized the role of UNICEF in engaging with corporations and academia for formulating long-term solutions for child rights issues. 

  

This was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Mr. Vivek Law–Business Journalist and ex-Editor, Bloomberg TV India, and comprising of Ms. Diya Sharma (Programme Manager, ETP), Ms. Vandana Verma (Programme Director, IKEA Foundation) and Mr. Manoj Bhatt (Country Director, GoodWeave India) touched upon the level of corporate sensitization towards child rights and steps they are taking to incorporate them in their respective value chains. Ms. Diya enumerated how this incorporation is good for businesses by giving anecdotal evidence of yield increment resulting from favorable child rights policies in the tea valleys of Sri Lanka. The floor was then opened to the audience for discussions, where the need for strengthening public institutions, in particular educational ones, was enumerated by several participants. Sensitizing consumers, proliferating worker’s rights, formulating multi-stakeholder partnerships, making supply chains transparent and policy strengthening were some of the other points mooted to champion the cause of child rights by businesses.

  

Lastly, Dr. Bimal enumerated the way forward and a need for all present to participate in furthering the CRBP ambitions in India. Mr. Viraf Mehta –Convener, Human Rights & Business Resources Group, spoke about the need for businesses to contextualize the overarching UNGC Human Rights Frameworks for child rights activities. Ms. Christine Edier-Chief, Resource Mobilization and Partnerships, UNICEF India, gave a vote of thanks to all speakers and talked about her take-away from the multiple discussions and experience sharing from all present. She concluded by emphasizing the need for companies to take their role in safe-guarding the future of children seriously, and commenting on the utilization of CSR Mandate towards that end in India.

CRB and AWS organize Foundations of Water Stewardship training

New Delhi, December 18, 2014: Centre for Responsible Business (CRB) and Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) organized a “Foundations of Water Stewardship” workshop, a one-day training program to provide an introduction to the emerging area of water stewardship and the AWS International Water Stewardship Standard. The event was organized in India Habitat Centre, New Delhi and was attended by around 25 consultants, trainers and CSR professionals from corporate and developmental organizations.

                                                                                 

India has more than 18% of the world’s population, but has only 4% of world’s renewable water resources and 2.4% of world’s land area. There are further limits on utilizable quantities of water owing to uneven distribution over time and space. Improved water supplies are critical since they mitigate several allied issues like child mortality, poor maternal health, lack of universal education, gender inequality and poverty. Keeping this in mind, the National Water Policy 2012, formulated by the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India, treats water as economic good which will promote conservation and efficient use of water.

Mr. Adrian Sym, Executive Director, AWS, said “Water stewardship helps companies understand and improve their water use in this context of a catchment. Importantly, the AWS Standard allows companies to demonstrate their good stewardship of our most precious resource to other stakeholders, whether that is government, communities, investors or through supply chains. Today’s training program in Delhi is an important step to rolling out water stewardship in India and building the networks and partnerships that are needed to achieve the maximum impact for the country’s critical water resources.”

Another important step, taken by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, is the introduction of CSR clause (Section 135 of Companies Act, 2013) which mentions water issues and environmental sustainability (which includes sustainable water use) as one of areas in which corporates can pursue CSR activities. All these steps are aimed at making corporates a major player in the area of water conservation through proactive stewardship.

Ria Bakshi, Senior Consultant at Grant Thornton and a participant at the workshop said “AWS training was quite comprehensive from knowledge perspective. Integrating various standards like GRI, CDP etc with AWS particularly on the data requirements was a good learning. AWS very well encapsulates the concept of Natural Capital Accounting in its framework, which I shall be promoting to my clients since it makes a lot of long-term business sense. The training was extremely engaging and interactive too!” 

Dr. Bimal Arora, CEO, CRB, said “Stewardship is the best way forward and Alliance for Water Stewardship offers the framework to engage in that stewardship for companies where they can ensure the four outcomes - sustainable water balance, good water governance, important water related areas and water quality. This is in my view is going to be very helpful for companies and also in process of engaging with stakeholders.”

For further information, please contact Tilak Pattnaik at 011-41088853 or drop a mail at communications@c4rb.net

Dialogue on Sustainability Standards in the evolving context for CSR in India

New Delhi, December 16, 2014: Centre for Responsible Business (CRB), has partnered with ISEAL Alliance, UK to organize a day-long seminar on the topic ‘CSR Mandate & Voluntary Sustainability Standards: Contribution to Business, Economy, Society and Environment in India’. The event was organized in Leela Ambience, Gurgaon and included speakers from the Government of India, United Nations, World Wildlife Fund, International Labor Organization and Quality Council of India. The entire day was dedicated to discussing various aspects of engaging with CSR and sustainability through voluntary standards, in both the public and private sector businesses and was attended by over 120 representatives from government, businesses and civil society organizations.

India is currently ranked 142^nd in World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ index, and the Government of India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is committed to reversing this situation through the ‘Make in India’ initiative. An important step being taken by the Government in this direction is the effort to ease the regulatory landscape by reducing government interference and promoting self-regulation. Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) can play an extremely important role in providing businesses with frameworks for self-regulation, and making them more competitive in the sustainability conscious global markets.    

Mr. Ashok Kumar Pavadia, Joint Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises, Government of India, mentioned in his keynote speech how CSR in India has evolved over a period of 6 years. He said, “India is a happening place as far as CSR is concerned because of the number of changes going on here. We have formulated our own perspective since different stakeholders in different countries have different perspectives on CSR and sustainability.”

Ms. Karin Kreider, Executive Director, Iseal Alliance, said, ”In the coming years, India will face tremendous challenges in terms of sustainability issues like population growth, climate change, water pressures and sustainability standards offer a roadmap for both sustainable production and consumption to help producers to improve their sustainability impact.”

While roll out and implementation of CSR Mandate, enabled through the Companies Act, is gradually shaping up in India, Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) as a framework and tools for businesses/industry self-regulation, are increasing in use and scope, and standard setting, as a trend, is gaining momentum in India. While use of VSS in the domain of sustainable development is much higher in the developed economies, awareness and understanding of impacts of VSS in India is relatively low.

Dr. Bimal Arora, CEO for CRB, said “We try to achieve 8 percent growth target with balanced growth in all sectors. While this is commendable, it also has negative impacts on environment and biodiversity. Correspondingly, there has been increase in number of institutions working on CSR, and CRB is one such institution working towards sustainability in a trading context”.

For further information, please contact Tilak Pattnaik at 011-41088853 or drop a mail at communications@c4rb.net