Ranchi, Feb 4 (IANS): The Jharkhand government has approved its first-ever CSR (corporate social responsibility) policy with a view to realise the overall development of its people and to create an environment to increase the total volume of CSR investments.

"With the help of this new Jharkhand CSR policy, the government plans to create a conducive environment for attracting CSR investments and best management practices to address various developmental challenges within the state of Jharkhand. It will lead to the establishment of a partnership between the state government, corporates, civil society organisations and streamline their priorities and activities," an official statement said.

"This policy will also create transparency and avoid duplication of efforts arising out of similar Central and state-sponsored schemes and thereby rationalising the utilisation of resources for positive impact. It will also help prioritise meaningful CSR projects to create a sustainable, long-term impact on communities and the environment".

It said that with this new policy, corporates will also get to know about the priority areas to work upon, as earlier, in the absence of this policy, corporate houses used to face difficulty in the selection of projects which would prove to be a long-term sustainable development project.

To realise the goal of the Jharkhand CSR Policy 2020, the Jharkhand Corporate Social Responsibility Authority will be constituted under the administrative control of the Department of Industries and chaired by the Chief Minister. This authority will work towards increasing CSR investments in Jharkhand. After the establishment of the Jharkhand CSR Authority, the Jharkhand CSR Council will be disbanded.