Impact of CSR on Education & Healthcare of Underprivileged Sections of the Society

Education and Healthcare keeps an important position in the development paradigm of a country. India, having more than 1 billion population, requires an inclusive growth where each section of society might claim benefits of growth. It is estimated that approximately 29 percent of the Indian population lives below the poverty line (World Bank 2003). This figure accounts for more than 290 million people, or nearly 25 percent of the world's poor population. On average, the poor have lower levels of education than the general population and suffer from higher disease prevalence. Scheduled castes and tribes are overrepresented in below-poverty-line (BPL) households. More than 65 percent of scheduled caste/scheduled tribe (SC/ST) households live below the poverty line. Apart from health sector, even education system of the country is in pitiable condition. The education system of a country doesnot functions in isolation from society. In such a condition, extending educational opportunities to marginalized groups has been considered an antidote to this longstanding discrimination. Therefore, several organizations working in profit sector have proceeded in the area of advancement of marginalized sections of society through initiatives in education and health sector known as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The organizations like Tata, HDFC, Infosys have been actively involved in educational development of marginalized sections. Even public sector enterprises like SAIL, BPCL, BHEL have provided growth of marginalized sections through some of their initiatives in education and health sector. Therefore, this paper seeks to highlight conditions of education and health in the wake of marginalized sections of our society and critically examine contribution of CSR initiatives of both public and private sectors for their advancement.