Role of Corporate Sector in Conservation of Natural Resources and Livelihood Generation in Rural India

Ambuja Cements Limited is a manufacturer of cement in India. At ACL the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been an integral part of the way they have been doing their business since inception. Through the Ambuja Cement Foundation, it carries out its CSR activities, primarily in areas of their operations. For more than 25 years, the Company's CSR initiatives has played pivotal role in improving the lives of the communities and society through natural resources development at large and in & around their operations with an objective to energize, involve and enable them to realise their potential. This has also enabled them to fulfil their commitment to be a socially responsible corporate citizen. It has several Watershed Interventions, Skill and Entrepreneurship Development Institutes, which provides vocational training to local youth, agro and skill-based livelihood generation, health programs, Education, Women Empowerment and Infrastructural Development. The paper attempts to explore Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices particularly in the context of rural development through watershed intervention. The research questions examine, what CSR initiatives taken for development of rural areas' natural resources and how the corporates implement their CSR initiatives as a part of their business strategy. Finally it evaluates impacts of CSR actions on the socio-economic development of rural people. For the purpose, Ambuja Cement Foundation has been selected to study their CSR practices in the context of rural development. The methodology of the present study relied on the webbased research, review of print literature and visit to the selected sites to witness CSR practice. The paper concludes that social responsibility is regarded as an important business issue of Indian companies irrespective of size, sector, and business goal. Therefore, CSR actions have positive impacts not only on development of rural community but also in their business. Keywords:- Corporate Social