The Curious Case of Pm Cares Fund : Corporate Social Responsibility and the Suppression of Civil Society in India
In 2013, India became the first country in the world to make corporate expenditure mandatory on CSR-related activities. An amendment to the Companies Act in 2013 made it mandatory for companies with a net worth of over INR 5 billion, or net profit of INR 50 million or more, to spend 2% of their net profits spanning 3 years, as a part of CSR compliances in the areas of education, poverty alleviation, combating hunger and gender inequality. In the same year, the CEO of the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs asserted that civil society and corporate institutions must work in tandem to further the CSR agenda. However, as soon as civil society started entering the political sphere and criticizing the governmental policies, they were met with a crackdown, and a trend wherein the corporate and state worked in tandem was seen instead. This has been seen in the pandemic. Civil society continues to do the groundwork despite a severe crunch in corporate funding while civil space continues to be repressed. According to an India Today report, NGOs outperformed state governments in 13 states in providing humanitarian relief in the form of free meals. In Gujarat, 93% of the people surveyed were fed by NGOs. NGOs also provided people with shelter in addition to providing meals. Despite this groundwork, the attack on social activists continues to take place, and a nexus of the state and corporate is visible, wherein civil society has been sidelined and even suppressed. This paper analyses how civil society has been sidelined despite its contributions to the pandemic, while big companies fulfill their obligations by donating to the PM cares fund instead. It analyses the structure and organization of the fund, and also analyses how businesses have faced 'soft coercion' into donating towards the fund
Year of publication: |
2021
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Authors: | Chakravarty, Panya ; Bose, Sumedha |
Publisher: |
[S.l.] : SSRN |
Subject: | Indien | India | Corporate Social Responsibility | Corporate social responsibility |
Saved in:
freely available
Extent: | 1 Online-Ressource (20 p) |
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Type of publication: | Book / Working Paper |
Language: | English |
Notes: | In: International Journal of Social Science and Economic Research Nach Informationen von SSRN wurde die ursprüngliche Fassung des Dokuments March 24, 2020 erstellt |
Other identifiers: | 10.2139/ssrn.3833361 [DOI] |
Source: | ECONIS - Online Catalogue of the ZBW |
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10014088757
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