Karnataka government is reaching out to corporates with new CSR portal 'Akanksha'

Among the highest spenders on corporate social responsibility, the State of Karnataka enjoys the warm support of corporates, mostly comprising technology companies that are conscious of societal welfare. Private companies in Karnataka spend CSR funding largely on health, education and environmental initiatives.

Organisations like Infosys, Wipro, Accenture, Biocon, Sobha, Bosch, ABB India, Titan have not only been running CSR projects for decades, they also contributed heavily to the Karnataka Chief Minister’s Relief Fund during the first and second waves of COVID-19. Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has nothing but appreciation for the corporates operating in his State. While their donations to the CM’s Relief Fund for Covid relief last year added up to Rs. 300 crores, during the second wave, the state government has received corporate and private contributions of oxygen concentrators, Remdesivir, ventilators and other equipment amounting to Rs. 175 crores.

BS Yediyurappa was speaking on Wednesday at the launch of Akanksha, a comprehensive new website to connect corporates with officials of the Karnataka government concerned with CSR for greater transparency and compliance.

The UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) has helped them create the portal, which has another objective: implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the year 2030. It will enable the CSR stakeholders to align their CSR goals with the State’s SDG priorities and showcase the best CSR practices for further scale-up.

UNDP and the Karnataka government have jointly formed Mission 2030 to reach the SDG targets. Yediyurappa said that the state has already allocated Rs. 61,000 crore in the budget for Mission 2030. Out of this, Rs. 11,650 crore has been set aside for healthcare. NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, who was also part of the virtual event, said the Akanksha portal “will help uniform development of all parts of the state”.

This CSR matchmaking platform has the backing of Department of Planning, Programme Monitoring and Statistics, Government of Karnataka and UNDP’s Sustainable Development Goals Coordination Centre (SDGCC).

In the post-Covid world, joint public-private endeavours like these, done in a spirit of solidarity, will pave the way for normalcy.