Bangalore, February24 , 2015: Global Compact Network India (GCNI), the Indian arm of United Nations Global Compact (UNGC),  held its 10th National Convention in Bangalore last week with its theme: finding ways to turn the new sustainable development vision into reality for millions worldwide.    The event  was inaugurated by Dr. Bhaskar Chatterjee, DG & CEO, IICA, Ministry of Corporate Affairs
The event saw   over 250 participants, including  many industry leaders, government representative and civil society leaders including Dinesh K Sarraf, Chairman & Managing Director, ONGC and President, GCNI,  N.K.Nanda, Director – Technical, NMDC and Vice President (Southern Region) GCNI, Vishvesh Prabhakar, Managing Director, Accenture, Alexandra Wrage, President, Trace International, USA, Brig Rajiv Williams, Corporate Head-CSR, JSL and Member, Governing Council, Global Compact Network India, Rajiv Banga, MD & CEO, Mangalore Special Economic Zone India, to name a few.
UNGC primarily operates on four major realms - Human Rights, Labour, Environment and Anti-Corruption, and are further dispersed into ten universally accepted principles adopted by diverse signatories across geographies, as value based approaches in achieving sustainable development. Over the years, with more than 12,000 participants including over 8000 businesses in 140 countries, as a network-based initiative, it has established 103 local networks across the world and operates with an internal yet diverse governance framework. UNGC has transformed into being one of the largest corporate citizenship and responsibility initiatives in the world and continues to inspire companies.
The 10th National Convention concluded with remarks from  Richard B Saldanha, Chairman-Trans Maldivian Airways and Gokaldas Exports, “Education is nothing but refinement of one’s emotions and therefore it needs to be leveraged to ensure overall development’ and Connecting with the community is important for any business to progress”.
Dr. Bhaskar Chatterjee, DG & CEO, IICA in his inaugural address stated that “Sustainability is not about changing the game or changing the players – rather it is about changing the thinking”. It is not sustainability or CSR rather it is sustainability & CSR – one envelopes the other. He also stated, “Corporate and Companies can support with funds, but society plays the role of foot soldiers to bring change”.
The key stakeholders Roundtable on ‘Sustainable Transformation for India: 2015 & Beyond’ moderated by Vishvesh Prabhakar, MD, India-Strategy & Sustainability Services Accenture included  panellists such as   Ashok Kumar Pavadia, Additional Secretary & Adviser Inter-State Council Secretariat, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, Alok Misra, ED-Chief CSR, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd,  Babu Rangaswamy, Director-Technology Services HP,  G.S Krishnan Regional President, Novozymes South Asia Pvt Ltd, Prof. J. Philip, President XIME Bangalore, Sucharita Eashwar, MD-India, Weconnect International and  Tom Thomas, CEO, Praxis. 
Said Sucharita Eashwar, MD India, WeConnect International:  “Women don’t need upliftment, what they need is access that enables economic empowerment”.