Sustainability Challenges - Poverty and Social Inequities

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Key Impacts, Risks and Opportunities: Sustainability Challenges

Poverty and Social Inequities

Nearly 700 million people living in rural India, with low adaptive capacities, have a direct and symbiotic dependence on climate sensitive sectors (agriculture, forest and fisheries) and natural resources (such as water, bio-diversity, mangroves, coastal zones and grasslands) for their substance and livelihood. Limited options of alternative off-farm employment combined with endemic poverty continue to imperil the livelihood security of millions of small and marginal framers, mainly in the rain-fed agriculture regions. The production regime in rain-fed agriculture is inherently fragile and getting more so due to a number of factors:

An estimated 147 million hectares suffer from various forms of land degradation due to water and erosion, stemming mainly from unstable use and inappropriate land management practices. Erosion rates are reported to be in the range of 5 to 20 tonnes/ hectare.

As many as 99 districts spread over 14 states were identified by the Central Water Commission as drought prone in the country. Such areas are concentrated in the states of Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

Of the total utilisation water available for agriculture, groundwater alone accounts for 39% of the water used in agriculture yet, the central Ground Water Board reported that 1,565 blocks (one-third of the total) ranged from semi-critical to over-exploited groundwater status.

Based on the current evidence, there is a compelling case to argue that these factors are likely to get exacerbated due to the changes wrought by climate change, leading to an increase in the frequency and intensity of droughts and floods. Climate change over the long-term will thus affect the rural economy in a number of ways – the majority of which would threaten food security for the most vulnerable people.

ITC’s Initiatives

Recognising that business enterprises are economic organs of society and draw on societal resources, it is ITC’s belief that a company’s performance must be measured by its Triple Bottom Line contribution to building economic, societal and environmental capital. ITC is therefore, committed to creating larger ‘stakeholder value’ by aligning its performance to such Triple Bottom Line objectives. As an Indian enterprise, ITC believes that this approach can unleash strong drivers, making growth more inclusive and equitable and also ensures long-term business sustainability and competitiveness.

ITCs has implemented an extensive social Investments programme in geographies where the Company has strategic business interests and presence. To ensure long term sustainability of these investments, and to enable replicability and scalability, these programmes have been aligned and integrated with the business value chains of the Company.

The programmes strive to empower stakeholder communities to conserve and manage their natural resources, create sustainable on and off farm livelihood sources and improve social infrastructure in order to support creation of sustainable livelihoods on a significant scale backed by an empowered stakeholder community.

ITC has implemented an extensive social Investments programme in geographies where the Company has strategic business interests and presence

The scale and impact of these initiatives are reflected in the following:

ITC e-Choupals have empowered over 4 million farmers in 40,000 villages.
ITC’s Social and Farm Forestry Programme has created over 56 million person days of employment and has greened over 125,000 hectares.
ITC’s Watershed Development Programme covers nearly 90,000 hectares of moisture stressed areas.
ITC’s Livestock Development Programme has reached out to over 5,00,000 milch animals.
ITC’s Women’s Empowerment Programme has benefitted nearly 40,000 rural women.
ITC’s Supplementary Education Programme has covered nearly 2,70,000 children.