(a) Examine the relevance of corporate social responsibility in a world marked by increasing environmental crises. (10…

(a) Corporate social responsibility in an age of environmental crisis

CSR links business with ecological accountability. Elkington's "triple bottom line" (people, planet, profit) and Carroll's pyramid moved CSR from philanthropy to responsibility for environmental harm. In India, Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013 requires qualifying companies to spend 2% of average net profit on activities in Schedule VII, which includes environmental sustainability, conservation and agroforestry, and SEBI's Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting covers the top listed firms.

Its relevance rises with climate change, pollution and resource depletion, which Beck's "risk society" shows industrial production itself creates, and which markets alone do not correct. Corporate capital, technology and supply chains can support renewable energy, water conservation and afforestation.

But evidence is mixed. CSR often becomes greenwashing, cosmetic compliance and carbon offsets that leave extraction untouched; projects are frequently top-down, with little community participation. CSR is relevant only when it moves beyond tokenism to changing core operations, with independent audit and local participation.

(b) Civil society and the deepening of democracy

Civil society is the associational space between family and state, made up of voluntary associations, movements and media. It deepens democracy by making the state accountable, enabling participation between elections, and building trust. Putnam showed that dense civic networks create social capital that improves institutional performance, and Habermas saw the public sphere as a site of deliberation that checks state power.

Indian examples show this. The Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) pioneered social audits and public hearings, which led to the Right to Information Act 2005; the Narmada Bachao Andolan raised the rights of the displaced; and citizen groups litigate on rights and elections. These widen citizenship from voting to participation and give voice to marginal groups.

There are cautions. Donor-funded NGO-isation can depoliticise movements, elite associations can capture the space, and the state can curb foreign funding and dissent. Civil society deepens democracy when it stays independent, inclusive and rights-based, and does not become merely a delivery arm of government.

(c) Functions of religion in a pluralistic society

In a society with many faiths, religion performs integrative, regulative and divisive functions. Durkheim saw it as source of the collective conscience and solidarity; in a plural setting it gives each community its identity, rites of passage, moral norms, and sources of welfare and charity. Berger argued that pluralism breaks the single "sacred canopy", so religions compete and coexist in an open market of meanings, and believers must choose. Eisenstadt's "multiple modernities" shows religious traditions contributing moral resources to public life without disappearing.

India offers both faces. Bhakti and Sufi traditions, shared shrines and festivals, and the ideal of sarva dharma sambhava fostered tolerance. When identities are politicised, religion becomes a marker of boundaries that fuels communalism, as in riots and mobilisation around temples and mosques. The outcome depends on state neutrality, law and the strength of intergroup civic ties.

(d) David Morgan on family practices

David Morgan (Family Connections, 1996; Rethinking Family Practices, 2011) shifted attention from the family as a fixed structure, as in Parsons and Murdock, to "family practices": what people do to constitute family, such as caring, sharing meals and keeping in touch. "Family" becomes an adjective or verb ("doing family") defined by everyday, relational and reflexive activity, drawing on Bourdieu and Giddens.

Strengths. It captures diversity, including lone-parent, step, cohabiting, same-sex and transnational families, which it does not treat as deviant, and it shows that family life is actively made. It connects to research on care and gender.

Weaknesses. Critics say it overstates agency and underplays structure: property law, caste endogamy, dowry, patriarchal division of domestic labour and social policy still constrain what families can do. Because almost any practice can count as "family", it risks losing analytical boundaries, and it is less able to explain inequality between families. Morgan's approach is best combined with structural analysis.

(e) Women's education and patriarchal discrimination

Education raises women's agency, information and bargaining power. Sen's capability approach and human-capital arguments support this. NFHS-5 shows that more educated women marry later, have fewer children, better health outcomes and greater say in household decisions, and Savitribai Phule's and Pandita Ramabai's efforts were premised on this.

Yet education alone does not end patriarchy. Female labour-force participation has risen in the PLFS (about 41.7% in 2023-24), but largely through self-employment and unpaid family work, and educated women face higher unemployment than men, reflecting occupational segregation and the burden of unpaid care work. Dowry continues among educated families and sometimes rises with a bride's schooling, and son preference persists. Safety, mobility and control over marriage remain restricted.

Education is therefore a necessary catalyst, but it must be supported by jobs, property rights (Hindu Succession Amendment 2005), safe public spaces and change in norms.