The Govt. of India has enacted Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Act in 2013 with the objective of engaging the companies in managing their business to produce an overall positive effect on society and environment. CSR is governed by clause 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 that encourages companies to spend at least 2% of their average net profit from the previous three years on CSR activities.

In order to meet the growing requirements of the power sector, the country is seeing a surge in the expansion of power transmission line network across the country, many of which are being aligned through areas harbouring avifaunal populations and growing network is becoming a threat to the survival of a range of rare and endangered birds. In order to mitigate this situation, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and Powergrid Corporation India Pvt. Ltd (PGCIL) have signed an MOU on 31^st October, 2017 for initiating a project on “Assessing the Impacts of Power-Lines on Avian Species in the Arid Plains of Western Gujarat” under the CSR initiative of PGCIL. This is the first ever project taken up by WII seeking partnership with corporate sector under the CSR umbrella. The project will be completed in two years with a financial assistance of with corporate sector under the CSR umbrella. The project will be completed in two years with a financial assistance of Rs.90,00,000/- from PGCIL. The key objectives of the project are:

1.  To assess the electrocution and collision risk to birds due to existing power-lines and wind farms, identify problematic configurations and generate comprehensive data on mortality of avifauna  

2. To identify sensitive bird habitats along existing and proposed power-line and wind farm corridors in Western Gujarat.

Dr. R Suresh Kumar and Dr. Anju Baroth would coordinate this project.