Social Audit

  Mumbai town, is vulnerable site from the threat of high sea level. It has potential of damaging the banking business situated at Mumbai. But in the banking sector while disclosing BRSR report, this ESG risk  is missing. There is no contingency plan to handle this risk. This is one example of several other missing high ESG risks in the BRSR disclosure submitted to SEBI  by the Indian Banks * BIRENDRA K JHA  I visited a big branch of ICICI Bank at Delhi-NCR sometimes back. I found "5S" policy hanging in a clip placed in an isolated corner at bank, with lot of dust on it. In reality, policy is there but practice is missing. This is not the story of ICICI Bank alone. The condition of government sector banks are more poor and worst. One can't expect a systematic culture of "5S" here. You ask director level people sitting here in bank about the "5S". They start looking here and there! They try to skip their face! They try to avoid this question! This is sk...

                                                                       * BIRENDRA  K JHA The thrust of the Companies Act, 2013 on businesses,  puts fiduciary duties on the Directors of a Company under Section 166,  requiring them to promote the objects of the company for the benefit of its members as a whole, and in the best interests of the company, its employees, the shareholders, the community and for the protection of environment. If this mandate is read clearly then it requires the director to follow strictly, the Complaints/Grievances'  on any of the principles (Principles 1 to 9) under the National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct, based on reasonable assurance & audit. A large number of top Indian companies have been getting third-party audit-assurance on their sustain...

                                                                              * BIRENDRA K JHA   So far, what I know about the Adani,  the top leadership Mr. Gautam Adani, is very law adherent person. He has great respect for the social conscious business. People sitting in the downside or even sitting in the board of directors if are not doing their  job properly, then this is a gap point.   It requires complete training of people from top to bottom in the field of ESG skill. This is completely lack of skill,  at Adani, where  ESG practices are not managed correctly. Regular ESG Audit has become ever more essential tool for the companies to remain in business.  A regular thorough ESG Audit,  allows to identify corporate strategies gaps. A qualif...

* BIRENDRA K JHA  "Many HR Managers think that ESG is a technical job. No,  ESG is a tool for considering social concerns including equality, human rights, and labor relations. Hence,   this is pure HR job,  which involves, social dimension of handling the human resource compliance to the environmental compliance including the labor  related issues and problems. The HR Managers have failed to understand the job description of the ESG profile. They are shifting the ESG job from there own shoulders to the   other shoulders".  The high rate of carbon emission is a panic alarm for the regulatory authority. In most of the Indian companies, if ESG part is seriously audited, then the  result is very grim. Most of the ESG Auditors are not properly trained in human resource practices, so they are unable to audit effectively the "Social" pillar in the ESG Part and capture the gaps in the ESG practices. Many environmental compliance issues are...