In a first of its kind initiative, Bihar Skill Development Mission (BSDM) organized a day- long summit in Delhi on Tuesday (March 19) to explore and discuss alternate funding networks; develop positive synergy between government and corporation; and widen the spectrum of training and sustainable skill development in the field of Manufacturing, Entrepreneurship and IT.
The event titled “Confluence of State Skill Mission and CSR for Sustainable Development of Skills” was aimed at creating synergy between State Skills Mission and CSR wings of PSUs and corporates for sustainable development of skills.
One of the key objectives of the summit was to tackle the twin problem of channelizing and ensuring proper utilization of resources to bring sustainable change in the life of all youths of Bihar and to address the major challenges and its probable solutions to harmonize the relationship between corporate and government.
Talking about the initiative, Labour Department Principal Secretary and CEO of BSDM Dipak Kumar Singh said, “The concept of CSR is evolving. It’s no longer an act of few people carrying out philanthropic activities but is being increasingly seen as a medium of active cooperation between people, government and corporations.”
Mr Singh said, just like that, skills development is also a dynamic concept. “We need to evolve the public-private partnerships to better address the challenges of current society in terms of unemployment, generation of livelihood opportunity, enhancement of skills in disadvantage groups and develop various model of up skilling and livelihood.”
This can only be done through Multi Stakeholder engagement with quality inputs, assistance from stakeholder and by sharing resources, building blocks on new and innovative models and adopting best practices, he added,
Since its inception, the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility has undergone a sea change. It’s no longer thought of as a philanthropic gestures aimed at gaining goodwill for few but is being actively seen as a medium of engagement with the community and the society in large.
A well thought out blueprint for CSR partnership can have far reaching consequences in terms of resource management; alternate funding networks, utilization of funds, and creating a broad network of training personnel and agencies. Such partnerships also have an added advantage of being subjected to relaxed funding regulation from government agencies and reaching a wider target group, thereby increasing goodwill and publicity for organization, as well.
Appreciating the efforts of the BSDM, a representative of CSR wing of the Indian Oil Corp Limited said the BSDM has given quite a new dimension to the whole gamut of CSR activities being undertaken by private entities in Bihar and beyond.
The summit was graced among others by Ministry of corporate affairs Joint secretary G.K. Singh and Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) Director General U.D. Choubey.
Representatives of several big PSU’s and corporates participated in the summit including Power grid, Indian Oil, Gail, NTPC, Microsoft India, HCL, Dabur, Usha Internationals, Jubilant Food Works etc.
Bihar Skill Development Mission (BSDM) is the nodal agency in Bihar, which is working with the vision to increase the capacity & capability of the system to deliver quality skill training and knowledge to the youths of Bihar to enhance their employability.
J P GUPTA for Smart Governance
