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Continuous issue-14 | September- October 2014

AN APPRAISAL OF GREEN INITIATIVES OF SELECTED MAHARATNA COMPANIES

Abstract:

The ecological disturbance all over the world has become the topic of concern for the governments and the corporate field of the world. They are worried about the growing pollution in the environment. The world governments, pressure groups, non-governmental organizations and corporate bodies have brought a concept called ‘sustainable development’ in the fashion. According to the concept of sustainable development, the present generation should satisfy the needs in such a way that the future generations are also capable to satisfy their needs. This concept requires special efforts from the corporate field, because the manufacturing concerns are the great contributors to the pollution on the earth. To control the pollution and to save environment from destroying further, the companies are required to fulfill the environmental responsibility. The companies are required to reduce the usage of non-renewable resources, recycle the resources, should reduce the wastage of resources.
In this article, an effort is made to appraise the efforts to protect the environment by three Maharatna Companies of the Government of India. A brief review of major efforts for controlling pollution and protecting the environment is presented here.

Keywords- Ecological Disturbance, World Government, Pressure Groups, Sustainable Development, Maharatna Companies

Introduction:

The ecological disturbance all over the world has become the topic of concern for the governments and the corporate field of the world. They are worried about the growing pollution in the environment. The manufacturing enterprises emit large amount of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur, nitrogen dioxide and other poisonous gases in the environment. In the last 40-50 years the level of pollution has increased drastically. This has resulted into several adverse effects on the ecological system. The depletion in the ozone layer, increasing temperature of the earth, disturbance in the season cycle, etc. are the results of increasing pollution and exploitation of the natural resources. If this situation continues for some more years, it would not be possible for the future generations to sustain their lives on this earth. Hence, the world governments, pressure groups, non-governmental organizations and corporate bodies have brought a concept called ‘sustainable development’ in the fashion.
According to the concept of sustainable development, the present generation should satisfy the needs in such a way that the future generations are also capable satisfy their needs. This concept requires special efforts from the corporate field, because the manufacturing concerns are the great contributors to the pollution on the earth. To control the pollution and to save environment from destroying further, the companies are required to fulfill the environmental responsibility. The companies are required to reduce the usage of non-renewable resources, recycle the resources, should reduce the wastage of resources. The companies are required to give information about their efforts in the annual reports under the head of ‘corporate social responsibility’.
The companies that use environment friendly practices in their operations are said to be ecologically ethical companies. The Indian companies are also required to follow the ecological ethics.

Research problem:

As we know that there is increasing pollution and exploitation of resources on this earth. Our unwise use of resource has created danger not only for the mankind but also for the birds and animals on the earth. The manufacturing enterprises are the biggest contributors to this hazard to the environment. It is now recognized that the manufacturing organizations should take certain steps to prevent this hazard to the environment and to take some steps to recover the already created damage to the mother earth.

The manufacturing enterprises are exploiting the natural resources.

The exploitation of natural resources has caused danger to the species on the earth.

There is an increasing awareness in the people about the environment protection.

The world governments and world organizations are increasingly active for environment protection.

The national governments have also started active movement for the environment protections.

Objectives of the study:

Any research work can be completed timely and effectively only if it is started with some objectives. The objectives give the path for the study to be completed.

To analyse the deteriorating condition of the environment.
To analyse the contribution of the manufacturing enterprises toward the deteriorating condition of the environment.
To analyse the contribution of the Petroleum Companies toward the deteriorating condition of the environment.
To analyse the efforts of the world governments and national government to prevent the environmental hazards.
To analyse acts related to the environment protection.

Appraisal of the Green Initiatives of Selected Maharatna Companies:

Here, an appraisal of the efforts of following three Maharatna Companies towards environment protection and control of pollution are appraised.

No.	Name of the companies	Year of Establishment	Sector
1	Bharat Heavy Electricals	1964	Manufacturing
2	Coal India Limited	1973	Mining
3	NTPC	1975	Electricity

Green Initiatives by BHEL:

BHEL is a life time member of United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), India Network. BHEL emphasized its commitment to the United Nation’s Global Compact Program and continued to play a lead role in promoting the set of core values enshrined in its ten principles. BHEL demonstrated its commitment through continuous communication about its efforts for environment sustainability on UNGC website. The company publicly advocates UN Global Compact principles to its stake holders through its annual reports, press conferences and other public communiqués.
BHEL has developed a CSR scheme and its mission statement on CSR is “Be a committed Corporate Citizen, alive towards its Corporate Social Responsibility”. This article focuses on the environmental sustainability efforts of BHEL.

Sustainable sourcing of material is a focus area in BHEL. To ensure transparency and to avoid using paper documents in procurement process, BHEL is implementing e-procurement in phased manner.
Company has a strong institutionalized mechanism to recycle the products and wastes. One of their units, Central Foundry Forge Plant (CFFP) manufactures Steel Forgings and casings for which the molten steel required is produced in steel melting shop using steel scrap as a major source of raw material.
BHEL recycled/reused 3-5% of its material as recycled input materials, thereby reducing impact on natural resources.
Energy Management is an important thrust area in BHEL. It conducts energy awareness program at factory, offices, sites and township. It uses renewable energy sources, performs periodic energy audits for improvement and adopted the concept of green building.
Through various energy efficiency and energy conservation efforts, uses of approx 6.73 million units were avoided in the year 2012-13.
BHEL is making consistent efforts in developing rain water harvesting at all their premises. Under sustainable development projects in 2012-13, total 7 rain water harvesting projects were undertaken at their different sites.
Total Factory area under BHEL’s Manufacturing units is 6282.285 Acres which is acquired through various modes like right-to-use basis from state government, on lease, purchase of land, etc. As such none of the BHEL’s unit is surrounded by any biodiversity/protected area and thus there is hardly any impact on the biodiversity because of their presence. All the premises of the BHEL are surrounded by good greenery and the same is maintained and enhanced every year. BHEL is undertaking forestation, tree plantation and development of green belt. In 2012-13, more than 20000 trees have been planted and more than 3000000 trees have been planted till date around all the premises of the company.
In case of managing emissions, BHEL is a responsible organization. It has switched to the use of cleaner fuels in order to reduce carbon emission. On overall basis, BHEL has reduced the carbon footprints of their operations by 17% in 2012-13 as compared to 2011-12.
Different types of wastes generated in the units are segregated at the source and stored and handled in environmentally safe manner. All hazardous wastes are handled, stored and disposed off according to the prescribed standards for such wastes.

Green Initiatives by Coal India Limited:

Coal India Limited is committed to follow environmentally responsible practices and adhere to environmental laws and regulations in all respects. All the activities of coal mining projects are assessed by Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) study for each project and on the basis of it Environment Management Plans are prepared. Keeping in view the concept of sustainable development, the company has approved the ‘Corporate Environmental Policy’ in December, 1995. This policy has vision of Green Mining and Mission of 100% compliance of environmental statutes applicable to coal mining. Some of the efforts undertaken by Coal India Limited are presented below.

Since, coal is a non renewable source of energy, the company plans prudent extraction of coal to meet the national requirement. The company plans projects on the basis of sustainable development with due consideration to environment safety.
Mining projects are undertaken by incorporating the latest mining equipments with higher capacity and technology to make them more environments friendly.
Generation of dust is controlled at the source to the possible extent with necessary measures at the time of drilling, loading, unloading, etc. operations.
The company tries to minimize dust generation along coal transportation.
Green belt is crated around the source of dust.
Surface water source is mostly not affected by the company’s project.
Pumped water from mines is recycled for domestic and industrial purposes and supplied to the surrounding villages.
In order to conserve rain water and replenish the ground water reservoir, six rain water harvesting plants are established.
To reduce the noise pollution, the company keeps proper maintenance of equipments, created green belt around the mining area, controlled blasting and blasting at the day time.
The company is committed to restore the degraded land and mined out area through technically reclaimed mined out areas and subsequently biological reclamation by plantation on the technically reclaimed area.

Green Initiatives by NTPC:

Since its inception, NTPC has remained committed to the environment protection. The Ministry of Environment and Forest, The Ministry of Power and NTPC were involved in preparing the draft of National Environmental Policy. This policy was approved by the Union Cabinet in May, 2006. In November 1995, NTPC brought out a comprehensive document titled ‘NTPC Environment Policy and Environment Management System’. Through this document, NTPC has adopted proactive approach for environment protection. Following are the glimpses of the efforts undertaken by NTPC for environment protection.

The organization has pursued the Environment Management System (EMS) ISO 14001 and Occupational Health and Safety Assessment System OHSAS 18001 at all its establishments.
In order to ensure that NTPC complies with all the stipulated environmental norms, several state of the art pollution control systems have been installed to control air and water pollution.
The Ash Utilization Division (AUD), established in 1991, strives to derive maximum use of ash produced from its coal based power stations.
NTPC established Center for Power Efficiency and Environmental Protection (Cen PEEP) in collaboration with USAID with a mandate to reduce GHG emission per unit of electricity generation.
NTPC undertakes afforestation programs covering the vast tracts of land in and around its projects.
Saving existing trees, planting right at the beginning of the construction phase, preservation of trees and advice from State Forest Departments and agricultural universities are some of the guidelines used by NTPC.

Conclusion:

The above given appraisal presents that all the three Maharatna Companies are very sincere in their efforts of controlling pollution and protecting the environment. The companies are undertaking very sincere steps for controlling waster pollution, noise pollution, air pollution, and rain water harvesting, a forestation and several other steps. These steps are the guideline for other private sector and public sector companies for their efforts for protecting the environment.

REFERENCES :

Arthur-Day, M.L. "Transnational Corporate Social Responsibility: A Tri-Dimensional Approach to International CSR Research." Business Ethics Quarterly 15 (2005): 12.

Raval, M. and Gorvadiya, A. (2014), “Green Profit - A Case of WIPRO Initiatives”, ICAI Research Bulletin, (Institute of Cost Accountants of India), Vol. XXXIX, June, 2014, pp. 70-78

www.bhel.com

www.coalindia.in

www.ntpc.co.in

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Dr. Manish B. Raval
Assistant Professor,
SDJ International College,
Vesu, Surat – 395 007

Ashish B. Gorvadiya
Ph.D. Research Scholar,
Saurashtra University,
Rajkot