5 CORPORATE SOCIAL IRRESPONSIBILITY :

1. Reliance CAG faceoff: Reports of Reliance Industries seeking a premature revision in prices
sparked an uproar within the government and industries, which would have to bear the
increased cost of gas. The report was denied by Reliance, but the controversy did not end there.
A face-off between Reliance Industries & the Comptroller and Auditor General, which had been
brewing behind the scenes, hit the headlines. The question was whether CAG can audit Reliance
Industries performance (in the KG-D6 basin) and its finances. The bigger issue was whether CAG
can audit the accounts and performance of a private firm. While the questions remain
unanswered, conciliatory efforts were made on both parts and a middle of a financial audit but
not a performance audit may have been reached.
2. The cash-for-favours controversy over Labour donor Lakshmi Mittal erupted again last night. It
emerged that the Home Office took the extraordinary and highly questionable step of asking
Belgian authorities to help him obtain secret details of a major criminal inquiry. The Brussels
public prosecutor's office was asked to give information to the millionaire steel baron about a
probe into bribery and money-laundering. Stunned Belgian authorities rejected the request.
3. State-run United Bank of India became the first lender to declare debt-ridden Kingfisher
Airlines and its promoter Vijay Mallya as wilful defaulters. The bank's exposure to Kingfisher
Airlines was around Rs 350 crore as part of consortium led by State Bank of India. The
consortium of 17 banks, has an outstanding debt of about Rs 4,022 crore from the now-
grounded carrier and outside the consortium, the bank gave about Rs 60 crore loan for Pre-
Delivery payment.
4. As an aggressive multinational, Coca-Cola has faced labor disputes in many countries. One
of the most turbulent took place in Central America in the 1970s when workers at the Coca-
Cola bottling operation in Guatemala organized a union. This fledgling organization
experienced attacks, resulting in the deaths of more than a dozen people, from right-wing
death squads. The International Union of Food & Allied Workers Associations mobilized an
international campaign that prompted the Coca-Cola Company to put pressure on its
Guatemala franchisee to see to it that the union's rights were recognized. Despite the signs
of improvement in the situation, the company decided to close the plant in early 1984. After
the destitute workers occupied the facility for more than a year, Coca-Cola arranged to keep
the operation going under the control of a new set of investors.
5.