Corporate Social Responsibility - Sustainable Development Policy ...

Corporate Social ResponsibilityBoth the growers and the farmers pay 50% Cess to the Government. This Cessfund is used for the development of the area. Farmers and the mills are meant toequally share this but usually farmers are made to pay it in full according to theexisting research. 34VII. Payment to FarmersVery few managers actually accepted that the payment process to growers wasnot efficient and/or fair. The Competition Commission reports that there is nowell thought-out and planned apparatus of ensuring payment to the cultivator.The provincial governments fix the ‘support price’ but fail to provide a mechanismensuring payment to the farmer.Figure 3: Huge Stocks of Sugar Bags at Mills waiting to be Dispatched at Higher PricesLegally a farmer can move the AdditionalCane Commissioner or Provincial CaneCommissioner can be moved against thenon-payment by a mill. However, nomechanism exists for the implementationof this verdict. If the factory does notrelease the payment to the farmer afterone year of the order the commissionercan send the case to civil judge ormagistrate after imposing an 11-time fineon the outstanding amount against the factory. But the proceedings in the courtsof civil judge or magistrate come under civil suit, which also prolong the matterfor years. 35It was discovered that usually industries attempt to save the mark-up by delayingthe payment to growers. Every mill protecting its honor claimed that there wasno delay in payment in their mill. Once in a while if the delay does occur it is dueto bumper stock of sugarcane. There is a law stating that payment cannot bedelayed beyond 15 days but implementation of the law is questionable as farmersclaimed the delay lasts longer than many months at times. The payment to farmersis released only after the sugar stock is sold. The mills assess the rate of sugar in34Farmer Report, Punjab Lok Sujag. October 200835Farmer Report, Punjab Lok Sujag. October 2008y 36