Dear Members,
As i write to you, india and the rest of the world is engaged in a ierce battle against the spread and damage caused due to COVID-19. Combating the coronavirus pandemic has created a war-like situation of complete lockdown, curfew and restrictions on movement of people and goods. Apart from the tragic human consequences, there is a complete standstill of business and economic activity resulting in uncertainty about the future of the global economy. There are also talks about an emergency type of situation with panic amongst citizens. This is a Black Swan event for the world. Amongst all the gloomy and negative propaganda on the event, we should learn and practice to think positively and act accordingly to overcome fear and negative thoughts that can cause depression, stress and a lot of unhappiness. We need to focus on the good things, inculcate positive thoughts, spend time with positive-thinking people, learn to enjoy nature, be thankful and have gratitude and above all keep faith and hope. Positive thoughts de-stress the mind, help in having a positive outlook, improve mental health, thus leading to living a successful and happy life.
Positives from the situation. As I see it, in these times of compulsory staying at home (social distancing), we have been able to do so many things that make us happy, which we had forgotten and used to do once upon a time. Most importantly, we now get to spend time with our children, parents and family. We have been running a race away from them and now is the time to match our pace with that of our family. Get the basics right and learn to enjoy and respect nature. Read, upgrade your skills, work on your itness, meditate, listen to music, cook, talk to long-lost friends, cousins. Learn to live and help others too.
India is grappling with the concept of ‘work from home’ (WFH), a work culture that is not yet very popular and accepted, particularly with the small and medium enterprises. WFH is changing the way we live and the way we work. Many of us proactively worked on technologies like cloud computing, remote access, VPN, network security, data backup and recovery and other such collaborative tools to prepare for WFH. If used wisely and appropriately, WFH has the potential of building a smart and effective remote workforce for business and our profession. This could lead to substantial reduction in overhead costs, increased productivity, boost employee morale and eficiencies, thus resulting in better customer satisfaction and thus proitability. Despite the challenges, one thing seems certain, that the time for WFH has come and more and more people would like to experiment with it.
CSR draft rules 2020: The MCA recently issued a draft of ‘The Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Amendment Rules, 2020’. These Rules have proposed considerable and far-reaching changes in the existing Companies (CSR) Rules, 2014. The most signiicant and draconian change is in clause 4(1) – CSR implementation. The proposed new rule seeks to amend this to ‘CSR activities to be undertaken by the company itself or through a company established under section 8 of the Act, or any entity established under an Act of Parliament or a State legislature’. This amendment effectively makes registered societies and other public charitable trusts ineligible to carry out CSR activities, projects or programmes in future. This, I believe, is a potentially hazardous amendment. In India, historically, effective charitable work has been carried out by public charitable trusts and registered societies. Section 8 (or section 25 under the erstwhile Companies Act) are more recent phenomena. Charitable organisations depend heavily on donations and support from businesses and corporates in the form of CSR funds. I would like to believe that this is just a drafting error and will be corrected when the inal rules are notiied. However, looking at the recent trends and changes in various statutes (Income Tax Act, FCRA and others), it appears that the Government wants greater accountability, more transparency and stricter supervision of the NGO sector. We at the BCAS have made a strong representation seeking amendment to the draft CSR rules.
Normally, this is the time of year when all of us work towards inancial year-end compliances and prepare for the beginning of the new inancial year. However, this year is going to be completely different. A nationwide lockdown and the deferment of the statutory and regulatory compliances will ensure that March, 2020 will be a different and a once in a lifetime occurrence.
India’s strengths, lexibility and adaptability have withstood many such challenges in the past. Ancient Indian philosophy has encouraged us, as a human race, to adapt to new ideas, absorb shocks and face challenging circumstances with equanimity. Over the years, we have developed endurance and resilience to ight any eventuality. I am sure that we will bounce back quickly and emerge as a more powerful, united and happier Nation in the days to come.
Yes, this storm will also pass, humankind will survive, most of us will still be alive — but we will inhabit a different world.
Jai hind!
With Best Regards,
CA Manish Sampat
President
