Corporate Social Responsibility and Sanitation

Sanitation in Indian cities is a neglected service; out of the one billion people in the world who have no toilet, India accounts for nearly 600 million.

Slow but steady progress has been made under the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) and now the Swatch Bharat Mission as the average number of toilets constructed per year has increased in the last 5 years.

In this context, when state governments are struggling for resources, the Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, provide the opportunity for industries, corporate houses, private/public limited companies to support the government’s Swachh Bharat Mission and effectively upscale planned interventions through channelised and targeted funds.

Companies that were traditionally undertaking CSR, are currently streamlining their existing
contributions in meeting social targets. Historically, toilet-building has been adopted under different governmental schemes and over 185 billion Indian Rupees has been spent (2010 World Bank report) in the last two decades to build about 70 million toilets. Still, census 2011 showed that about 60% of the population living in India defecate in the open. Building toilets only, is not the solution to achieve 100% ODF India, the companies need to also provide funds towards creating awareness. For this, community mobilizers can be supported through CSR funds who could work with local volunteers, self-help groups and the gram panchayats to stage periodic interventions through individual interactions and community meetings to raise awareness about using toilets.

The case studies documented in this publication highlight specific interventions carried out by industries and companies in the area of sanitation under their CSR portfolio.