The Socially Responsible Company

What’s the idea of a socially responsible company? I often come across this term and it makes me to think that it is a unique characteristic to have and adds a lot to a company’s USP. After all everyone in the society will like to see such organizations who in addition to being an excellent service provider to its customers also make contributions back to the common people.
So that puts us (the common people) in a really nice position isn’t it? Government, whom we elect through the democratic process can do whatever little it can (Lets say at least 50% of the work it promises) and the rest will be taken care by these ‘Socially Responsible’ companies. So we end being served and all our aspirations and expectations are met.
A lot of companies (I don’t want to name them) have already started to make an impact through school programs, traffic congestion solutions, helping out NGO’s. But according to me they are not doing enough.
To begin with, I feel the social responsibility they talk about should be a self less service. I am afraid, its not. It does not take a nuclear scientist to see that the work they are doing is ultimately intended to create a better image in front of their potential customers. The idea is to be socially responsible in such a way which will enhance business proposition.
If business organizations had to walk the same path along with social responsibility then it would be a catastrophe for them. From the Indian perspective, a lot of IT companies have resulted in a population imbalance because of the huge influx of people to a particular city in the country. Had they realized the need to be socially responsible, they would have gone with the plan of diversifying their business centers long back thereby bringing social harmony, stability to even the backward regions. Obviously how on earth that can be possible if they were to make higher profit returns?
Take for example a certain Bangalore based IT company which takes pride of its role on its association with a certain society of physically challenged children. If we look deep into this role, we see that the society’s children have contributed hugely to the making of its identity during its inception. The company’s contribution in return has no where been in the same scale.
The point which I am trying to emphasize on is the fact that being socially responsible is about contributing to the society which will make a lasting impression for its growth in the future. It’s something like nurturing and planting a new seed rather than trying to water a branch of an already grown tree and then trying to advertise that.
Some examples of a socially responsible work which can be undertaken by organizations are:

1) Sponsoring a group of children from say class V to their bachelor degree. It should include their education expenditure as well as their meals during their stay at school. It should include one to one contact with each of them and their parents. Merely working with them for one month and leaving them after that won’t serve the purpose.
2) Nominating someone from the company who will directly be responsible for the immediate block, constituency where the office campus belongs and will be communication with the political leader in charge of the same.
3) Start forming small teams who would like to volunteer to go to any specific place in their city and promote a clean drive, plant trees.
4) During elections the company should encourage and help its employees to take active participation in voting.
5) Above all, there is a need for every organization to identify certain sets of value which distinctively identifies its immediate society.