Thaindian News

New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) Over 1,500 private companies in India are running various social welfare programmes voluntarily as a part of the affirmative action plan to help the weaker sections of the society, an official statement said Tuesday.

“More than 1,500 companies in the private sector have adopted a voluntary code of conduct for implementation of affirmative action,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

The action hinges on four major points, also termed as 4Es — employability, education, entrepreneurship development, and employment.

Some 1,12,702 people have benefitted from the private companies’ voluntary programmes so far, according to a statement released after the meeting of industry chambers with Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary T.K.A. Nair here.

The leading industry chambers - Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) - are actively involved in the affirmative action plan.

FICCI and Assocham have appointed an ombudsman to monitor the progress, while CII is in the process of doing so.

CII has adopted the district of Nawashahar in Punjab and Cooch Behar in West Bengal, and FICCI has adopted Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh for implementation of the so-called 4E programme, which focus on skill development and livelihood promotion for disadvantaged population in these districts.

FICCI has reported imparting skill training to 11,000 Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates to enhance their employability and have also forwarded voluntary code of conduct to nearly 2,70,000 industrial entrepreneurs in the country.