Mining CSR must sync with national priorities for sustainability, say experts

CSR initiatives in mining, metals and infrastructure sectors will fail to drive long-term transformation unless aligned with national priorities and communities take ownership of welfare programmes, experts warned, underscoring the need for deeper local engagement amid rising scrutiny on sustainable development.

CSR initiatives in mining, metals and infrastructure sectors will fail to drive long-term transformation unless aligned with national priorities and communities take ownership of welfare programmes, experts warned, underscoring the need for deeper local engagement amid rising scrutiny on sustainable development. This comes as India accelerates critical minerals exploration and infrastructure under Atmanirbhar Bharat to secure supply chains for EVs, renewables, and defence, ”with CSR spending surpassing Rs 15,000 crore yearly in these sectors. ''The mandated 2 per cent CSR spending must be matched with 100 per cent accountability if welfare initiatives are to create sustainable and measurable outcomes. Ultimately, CSR is a collective and cumulative social responsibility (CSR). The challenge today is not resources or policy,” it is ownership at scale,'' said Pavan Kaushik, sustainability and CSR advisor for sectors like mining, metals and infrastructure. CSR in the mining sector must align with national priorities such as Skill India, Atmanirbhar Bharat and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to create meaningful and lasting social impact. Since 2014, SECL has spent over Rs 850 crore on CSR initiatives focused on skill development, quality education, healthcare and sustainable livelihoods across coalfield regions, Coal India arm South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL) CMD Harish Duhan said. ''Our approach goes beyond infrastructure creation to empowering people, enabling women and youth, and strengthening community capabilities. SECL believes true transformation is achieved when local communities become active partners in the development process and are equipped to build a self-reliant future,'' he added. Kaushik said CSR initiatives in the mining, metals and infrastructure sectors will struggle to deliver long-term transformation unless they align with national priorities and communities themselves begin taking ownership of welfare programmes. According to him, the biggest challenge facing CSR today is not lack of funding, but lack of ownership. Encouragingly, most CSR interventions today are broadly aligned with national priorities such as healthcare, education, sanitation, skill development and cultural upliftment. However, long-term success depends on ensuring genuine community ownership of these initiatives, Arun K Shukla, a former CMD of Hindustan Copper Ltd and currently an advisor with NMDC, said. ''Mining companies mine minerals for national growth, but minerals are national wealth. Communities surrounding mining regions must also become stakeholders in that development and prosperity,” provided communities also recognise the role of responsible mining in national economic growth,'' Kaushik said. CSR in mining and metals sectors has become unnecessarily complicated, while communities largely connect with simple and practical interventions linked to everyday realities such as education, water, sanitation, healthcare, women empowerment, safety, connectivity, rural infrastructure and sustainable livelihoods, he said. ''We complicate CSR in presentations, reports and frameworks. Communities understand simplicity. If people do not emotionally connect with the purpose of a project, they will never own it,'' he added. With a view to achieving the objective of CSR, it is imperative that the corporate social responsibility programmes need to be driven in consultation with the host community. Many of the mining companies are spending much more than the stipulated mandatory contribution of two per cent of the average net profit, a senior official with FIMI said. For any CSR initiative to succeed, it is important to secure the necessary buy-in among stakeholders, particularly beneficiaries. This is all the more true for mining companies that are required to spend a substantial amount on CSR, since these companies are generally profitable and the mining areas are relatively underdeveloped. However, to derive full value of these spends, it is critical that the projects taken up are not only aligned to national and local priorities such as medicare and education but also aligned to the needs of the local population like potable water, former Coal India chief Partha Bhattacharyya said. The government had earlier stressed the need for a corporate social responsibility framework for companies operating in the coal sector to serve as a guide to promote responsible and sustainable practices. Coal additional secretary Rupinder Brar had urged the coal companies to converge their CSR, welfare, and sustainability efforts for the benefit of the community and also for business by quantifying these efforts to earn green credits.