{"id":70065,"date":"2026-03-25T18:38:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T13:08:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=70065"},"modified":"2026-03-25T18:40:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T13:10:18","slug":"environmental-csr-judicial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/25-03-2026\/environmental-csr-judicial","title":{"rendered":"The Judicial Push for Environmental CSR"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Economy; Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>By invoking <strong>Article 51A (g),<\/strong> the judiciary underscored that the <strong>right to conduct business <\/strong>is inseparably linked to the<strong> responsibility to restore the planet.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Corporate social responsibility (CSR<\/strong><strong>)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>CSR is a<strong> business model<\/strong> that encourages companies to operate in ways that enhance society and the environment while still being accountable to their stakeholders and the public.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>CSR includes four categories: <\/strong>environmental impacts, ethical responsibility, philanthropic endeavors, and financial responsibilities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>CSR in India: <\/strong>Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 provides that certain companies must mandatorily contribute a certain amount towards CSR activities.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Board of Directors<\/strong> of every company for which the CSR provisions apply must ensure that the company spends in every financial year at least 2% of its average net profits made during the immediately preceding three financial years.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It plays a critical role in balancing profit-making with social accountability.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It ensures that businesses contribute positively to society while pursuing economic goals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p><strong>Article 51A(g)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Article 51A(g)<\/strong> is a fundamental duty (Environment Protection).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It was added by the<strong> 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act<\/strong> and falls <strong>under Part IVA of the Constitution.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It mandates every citizen to protect and improve the natural environment, including forests, rivers, lakes, and wildlife.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Courts have linked Article 51A(g) with Article 21, expanding the right to a clean and healthy environment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Gaps in CSR Funding in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Human-centric Bias in CSR:<\/strong> Corporate Social Responsibility spending is heavily skewed towards social sectors education (38%), healthcare (22%), and rural development (10%) while the environment receives only 7\u20139%.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Perception of Environmental Issues:<\/strong> Corporations often treat environmental problems as long-term or distant threats, prioritising immediate social needs instead.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Low Corporate Contribution to Restoration:<\/strong> Under the Bonn Challenge, private companies contributed only ~2% of India\u2019s restored 9.8 million hectares indicating a major restoration gap.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Preference for \u201cQuick Wins\u201d: <\/strong>Companies favour awareness campaigns, renewable energy projects.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>These are visible, short-term, and easy to report, unlike long-term restoration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Recommendations<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Shift to Ecosystem Recovery Approach: <\/strong>Judicial push calls for moving from compliance based CSR to a holistic ecosystem restoration strategy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Redefining Corporate Accountability:<\/strong> Replace conventional auditing with time-bound restoration targets and ecological impact assessments.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Outcome-based Indicators:<\/strong> Success should be measured through tangible ecosystem services such as soil carbon sequestration, water retention, biodiversity recovery.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Focus on Degraded Landscapes:<\/strong> Prioritise remote and degraded forest lands that lack adequate resources and attention.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Institutional Collaboration:<\/strong> Build partnerships among forest departments, universities, NGOs, joint Forest Management Committees to create scientifically supervised restoration units.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Innovative Financing Mechanisms:<\/strong> Establish restoration trusts or funds to ensure long-term funding continuity for large-scale projects.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>CSR in India reflects a short-term, visibility-driven approach, while environmental restoration which is critical for long-term sustainability remains underfunded, complex, and neglected.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/ccidist-ws\/th\/th_international\/issues\/177234\/OPS\/GVVFNPI1S.1+G2IFORMOL.1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> By invoking Article 51A (g), the judiciary underscored that the right to conduct business is inseparably linked to the responsibility to restore the planet. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> Corporate social responsibility (CSR) <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> CSR is a business model that encourages companies to operate in ways that enhance society and the environment while still being accountable to their stakeholders and the public. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> CSR includes four categories: environmental impacts, ethical responsibility, philanthropic endeavors, and financial responsibilities. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> CSR in India: Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 provides that certain companies must mandatorily contribute a certain amount towards CSR activities. <\/li>\n<p><a href=\" https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/25-03-2026\/environmental-csr-judicial \" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70065"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70068,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70065\/revisions\/70068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}