SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN INDIA: A CRITIQUE

Corporate Social Responsibility (hereinafter referred to as CSR) holds the profit striving corporate entities accountable towards contemporary social needs. One such area that needs consideration from both Government, as well as corporate entities, is environmental protection and development. Though the corporate sector in India has been contributing in bits and pieces towards environmental protection, by and large, there has been a lack of policy approach in contributing towards sustainable development by the corporate entities. The scenario seems to have changed a bit in the last few years, especially post statutory mandate of CSR under the Companies Act, 2013.This research paper is an attempt to analyze the statutory mandate of CSR u/s 135 of the Companies Act and subsequent amendments to it. It also contains a critical overview of Sustainable CSR activities by the corporate sector in India.