The CSR Dilemma: Illusion Of Responsibility Or Roadmap To Inclusive Growth?
- IJLLR Journal
- Oct 3
- 2 min read
Pratyaksh Sharma, Delhi Metropolitan Education, Noida
ABSTRACT
As global socio-economic inequalities increase and are at an all-time high, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has emerged as a legal and ethical tool which can be potentially used to implement inclusive growth among the masses who are ostracized, ignored and looked down upon since time immemorial. While giving back to the society a part of which the company has earned through their hard work and grit has been a voluntary choice for long, CSR is increasingly being integrated into national legal systems, most notable examples of which are India under section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013, France’s Duty of Vigilance Law and Germany’s Supply Chain Due Diligence Act among others holding big companies accountable for their social and environmental contributions. What this paper lay emphasis on is to critically examine CSR’s evolution from a moral obligation to a legal mandate and explore its effectiveness and efficiency in tackling and reducing structural and social inequalities across various jurisdictions.
This research focuses on frameworks such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines, and the mandates which are aligned with Sustainability Development Goals (SDG’s) along with that shedding light on an important question i.e. ‘whether or not CSR laws have moved past performative compliance to generate transformative change’. It further talks about how these CSR initiatives can either increase or decrease the current power imbalance that exists in the society, depending on how they are designed and more importantly how they are implemented. In many countries, CSR tends to focus on mere surface level philanthropy without addressing the deeper issues like caste, class, and income-based exclusion. In sharp contrast to this if we look at the more progressive CSR models which are guided by the spirit of inclusivity which have started to take shape in advanced economies, reflecting a positive shift towards long term and community-based engagement. This paper also covers how the evils of the society like poverty and discrimination that have been common in the society since a very long time can be effectively tackled through targeted CSR practices aiming towards health, education and local entrepreneurship, especially when directed with the help of data, transparency, and other participatory frameworks.
Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Legal Mandate, UN Guiding Principles, OECD Guidelines, Philanthropy, Inclusivity.
