The future belongs to companies that design and implement business models that make local communities direct beneficiaries, says Rajni Bakshi. Reports about dilution of Indian regulations that require companies to seek the consent of tribal communities for industrial projects will be welcomed by many investors. However, this joy is likely to be short-lived. Businesses that either take local communities for granted or see them as an obstacle to be ‘managed’ are skating on thin ice. This reality has certainly been acknowledged by global networks of mining companies over the last decade, it is now becoming seeping into Chinese as well.
Why corporates must design projects to involve local populace
Rajni Bakshi is Gandhi Peace Fellow at Gateway House. Her article on designing projects involving local populace was republished on Rediff.com