Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility: Insights from Indian Ethos

Abstract

We are living in an era where our civilization is plagued by the global environmental crisis which has imposed a serious threat on our planet and the future of our civilization. We are surrounded by threats of global climate change, depletion of natural resources, loss of biodiversity, and evils of pollution on one hand and ever-increasing poverty, widening gap between have and have-not’s, unemployment, ill-health, and lack of education on the other. Even though CSR and sustainability are a coinage of the western management thinkers, a careful analysis will show that these concepts were in existence in India for centuries. These concepts were rooted in the cultural soil of our country. The practice of social responsibility and sustainability is engrained in the Indian value system, references of which can be found in the Vedas. CSR is rooted in the concept of trivarga. The ancient tradition of daan (charity), which prevailed in Indian society from a very ancient time and what we recognize as CSR, can be seen as an extension of this tradition. The spirit of the Indian Classical Wisdom which looks upon the entire universe as a single largest family including all the living beings of the world can be achieved if CSR can be aligned with Sustainability and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) because the main objective behind developing and implementing sustainability goals is securing economic development for all, social equity and justice for all, and environmental protection. This paper, therefore, would like to study the organic link existing between CSR, its alignment with sustainability, and our Indian ancient classical wisdom.