Corporate Social Responsibility: Should It Be Mandatory?

India, has become the first country to make Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spending mandatory through a law. New amendments to the Companies Act have been approved by parliament to make make it impossible for companies to escape CSR. The government also plans to include a specific penal provision in the Companies Act in case of non-compliance with CSR which could include a three-year jail term for officials in companies that fail to spend funds in any given year. Will this make corporate India wake up to its wider social responsibility towards narrowing down widening inequality or is the CSR law another utopian ideal being hijacked by political interference?