Articles chiefly on Vedic themes and Indic philosophy; most previously published.

Social responsibility of business is not new to India. With regard to CSR, the country depicts one of the richest traditions of the world. Involvement of business people in the community as well as in social development has a glorious history in India. The term corporate social responsibility (CSR) might have originated from Western discourses but prior to it the idea of philanthropy in India has evolved from its own ethos and cultural values. Philanthropic activities undertaken by rich business titans (...) and the Gandhian trusteeship model are prominent distinctions of Indian CSR. But with the advent of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, the popularly called LPG policy during the early 1990s led to a fundamental shift from the philanthropy-based model to a multi-stakeholder perspective. During this phase, companies changed their approach and became responsible for all the stakeholders. The stakeholders include environment, community, customers, shareholders, suppliers and employees. In contemporary time, CSR has undergone a drastic change but some of the traditional features are still prevalent. The current paper has made an attempt to comprehend CSR practices in the context of Indian businesses in the early days, and major CSR initiatives during this time as well as during the post-independent period. Subsequently, CSR in the post-globalisation era with a focus on the Companies Act has been examined. Despite many unique characteristics, the paper critiques the practice of CSR by Indian companies in the current scenario. (shrink)

On the key concept of Maya, principle of unifying contradiction between Brahman and the world, cause and the effect, the subject and the object, according to Vedanta school in Hindu philosophy; a study.

There was a growing realization that Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are overarching, ambitious, complex, and less impactful. Consequently, the 193 member countries of the United Nations (UN) came out with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a well-thought-out global development agenda in the year 2015. By involving the private sectors in the designing of SDGs, UN has rightly identified their potentials in offering solutions to the most relevant sustainability challenges. SDGs came into force in January 2016 across the globe when corporate (...) social responsibility (CSR) was already legalized in India. There has been a whooping investment of approximately Rs. 15,000 crores by nearly 20,000 companies every year under CSR in the country. However, it is argued that the contributions to SDGs are not substantial. Based on review of relevant literature, the current paper makes a modest attempt to explore the connections between CSR and SDGs in contemporary India. Further, it critically examines how CSR in India contributes to SDGs. The paper also analyses the underlying reasons for the inadequate engagement of CSR with SDGs. Despite CSR practices in India having linkage with the SDGs, the outcomes are not as per the expectation as a number of firms operate with less involvement and strategic efforts. (shrink)

On eastern and western aesthetics and contributions of Aristotle.