UPSC Mains 2022 GS Paper 4 Q6b: model answer
In contemporary world, corporate sector's contribution in generating wealth and employment is increasing. In doing so, they are bringing in unprecedented onslaught on the climate, environmental sustainability and living conditions of human beings. In this background, do you find that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is efficient and sufficient enough to fulfil the social roles and responsibilities needed in the corporate world for which the CSR is mandated? Critically examine.
What the question wants
Critically examine whether CSR is efficient and sufficient for companies to meet their social and environmental responsibilities, given rising corporate harm to climate and living conditions.
How to structure it
What CSR achieves, its gaps, what else is needed.
- CSR framework
- Efficient?
- Sufficient?
- Beyond CSR
How to think it through
Section 135 Companies Act 2013 (2%); cumulative CSR spend over ₹1.8 lakh crore FY15–FY23 (approx). Efficiency: concentrated in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat; education/health dominate; environment smaller share; weak impact assessment (impact assessment mandatory for ₹10 crore+ projects since 2021 amendment). Sufficiency: CSR is outside core operations; 2% of profit cannot offset emissions; need ESG/BRSR Core (SEBI 2023), polluter pays, carbon market (CCTS 2023), stricter enforcement, stakeholder capitalism. Verdict: necessary, not sufficient.
Model answer
A company can spend crores on a school under CSR and still release untreated effluent into the river that feeds the same village. That paradox is the heart of this question.
The CSR framework
- Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 requires large companies to spend 2% of average net profits on social causes.
Is it efficient?
- Uneven geography: money flows to industrial states, not the poorest districts.
- Sector skew: environment gets a small share.
- Impact: much spending is measured as money spent, not change achieved; impact assessment is now required only for large projects.
Is it sufficient?
- No. CSR sits outside the core business. Two per cent of profit cannot offset the damage of polluting operations or high emissions.
What else is needed
- Responsible core business: cleaner processes and fair labour practices.
- ESG disclosure: SEBI's BRSR Core brings assurance on key environmental and social data for top listed firms.
- Carbon markets: India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (2023).
Verdict
- CSR is useful but neither efficient enough nor sufficient; responsibility must move from the charity budget into the business model.
CSR is the change in a company's pocket; responsibility is how it earns the rest.
Draw: A small circle 'CSR' inside a big circle 'core business conduct'; arrows show most impact comes from the big circle.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
CSR, Section 135, 2% mandate, regional skew, sector skew, impact assessment, greenwashing, core business, ESG, SEBI BRSR Core, polluter pays, Carbon Credit Trading Scheme 2023, stakeholder capitalism.
Where most answers lose marks
- Praising CSR spending figures without examining efficiency and sufficiency.
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Fresh examples from current affairs
Supreme Court: no prior approval under Section 17A needed to probe a bribe demand
In a judgment of 16 October 2026, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices S.V.N. Bhatti and N.V. Anjaria held that investigating a bribe demand by a public servant does not need prior approval under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Asking for a bribe, the court said, is not part of discharging official duties.
UPSC angle: Prelims: Sections 7, 7A, 17A and 19 of the PC Act. · Mains GS-II/GS-IV: honest officers versus accountability.
19 Oct 2026Learn the concept
Question text as printed in the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) question paper. The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.
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