Corporate social responsibility for sustainable development of coal mines in Odisha

The purpose of this paper is to probe into the implications of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on Corporate Sustainability (CS) and Sustainable Development (SD) of a Company. Over the past decade CSR, CS and SD, have been widely discussed in academic literature. A large number of articles have been published which have guided government programs and policies worldwide, and become key objectives for decision-makers. Moreover, in recent years, many corporations have been leading the climb toward sustainability, incorporating this new challenge into their strategies. Nonetheless, the call for a radical “shift” in our production and consumption paradigm has become even more urgent and critical because actual progress toward achieving SD has been very limited. Therefore, the question is why, despite the remarkable efforts of both the political and business worlds, is the global performance of SD still so disappointing? A corporate win-win strategy successfully leads to an efficient and sustainable firm according to the managerial paradigm. This does not necessarily imply that the corporation is contributing to SD at a macro level. It is in this context the research problem has been built. To what extent Mahanadi Coal Fields Limited (MCL), a Navaratna Company in Odisha seems to be CS- or CSR-oriented (according to the managerial theory)? Does it contribute to the sustainable development of MCL? These are some of the queries which the paper attempts to ponder.