Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-21T13:13:42.086Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Decade of the UNGPs in India: Progressive Policy Shifts, Contested Implementation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2021

Vasanthi SRINIVASAN Open the ORCID record for Vasanthi SRINIVASAN [Opens in a new window]  and
Parvathy VENKATACHALAM
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The decade of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) coincides with India’s National Voluntary Guidelines on businesses’ social, environmental, and economic responsibilities (NVGs) and the National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct (NGRBC) – an updated version of the NVGs. Human rights are one of the core principles in both guidelines and they draw upon the ‘Protect–Respect–Remedy’ framework of the UNGPs. The NVGs and NGRBC go beyond the UNGPs by requiring organizations not only to respect human rights, but also to promote them in their spheres of influence. Several factors, however, derailed the implementation of this progressive policy shift. This article explores the challenges in implementation and calls for the multiple actors involved to work together and shape a collaborative action plan for effective implementation of the NGRBC in the next decade. The authors reiterate the need for alternative lenses to frame the responsible business agenda within developing countries through positive obligations.

Keywords

guidelinesIndiapolicyresponsible businessUNGPs
Type
Scholarly Articles – Special Issue on “BHR Landscape after 10 years of the UNGPs: An Assessment”
Information
Business and Human Rights Journal , Volume 6 , Issue 2: Special Issue: BHR Landscape after 10 years of the UNGPs: An Assessment , June 2021 , pp. 279 - 292
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Conflicts of interest: The authors declare none.

*

Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, India.

Funding: The authors received no financial support for this research.

References

1 United Nations Development Programme, ‘Human Development Report 2019: Beyond Income, Beyond Averages, Beyond Today: Empowered Lives. Resilient Nations. Inequalities in Human Development in the 21st Century’ (New York: United Nations Development Programme, 2019), http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr2019.pdf (accessed 15 April 2021).

2 The Centre for Economic and Business Research, ‘World Economic League Table 2021’, https://cebr.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/WELT-2021-final-23.12.pdf (accessed 8 April 2021).

3 Kothari, Miloon, ‘India’s Contribution to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights’ (2018) 17 Journal of the National Human Rights Commission India 65 Google Scholar.

4 Anjali Dhingra, ‘Strict Liability Means “No Fault Liability” Whereas Time has Proven it to be “No Liability”’, i-pleaders (7 June 2019), https://blog.ipleaders.in/no-fault-liability/ (accessed 13 April 2021).

5 Partners in Change, ‘Annual Report 2008–09’ (New Delhi: Partners in Change, 2009)Google Scholar.

6 Ministry of Corporate Affairs, ‘National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct’ (New Delhi: Ministry of Corporate Affairs, 2019), http://www.mca.gov.in/Ministry/pdf/NationalGuildeline_15032019.pdf (accessed 4 November 2020)

7 National Human Rights Commission, ‘Constitution of NHRC Core Group on Business, Environment and Human Rights’, https://NHRI.nic.in/about-us/core-groups (accessed 8 April 2021).

8 Oxfam India, ‘Making Growth Inclusive-2018: Analyzing Policies, Disclosures, and Mechanisms of Top 100 Companies’ (New Delhi: Oxfam India; Corporate Responsibility Watch, 2018), https://www.oxfamindia.org/sites/default/files/Finding_Making%20Growth%20Inclusive%202018%20INSIDE_20%20Feb%2018_printable%20file%20_%202.pdf (accessed 13 April 2021).

9 Agarwal, Namit, ‘Measuring Business Responsibility Disclosures of Indian Companies: A Data-Driven Approach to Influence Action’ (2018) 3:1 Business and Human Rights Journal 123 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10 Oxfam India, note 8, 7.

11 Chittoor, Raveendra and Aulakh, Preet S, ‘Organizational Landscape in India: Historical Development, Multiplicity of Forms and Implications for Practice and Research’ (2015) 48:5 Long Range Planning 291 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

12 Deloitte, ‘From the Family to the Firm: A View Through the Indian Prism’ (Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Private Limited, 2013), https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/in/Documents/human-capital/in-hc-from-the-family-to-the-firm-noexp.pdf (accessed 6 April 2021).

13 International Labour Organization, ‘COVID-19 in India: Labour Market Measures Taken by the Central and State Governments’, https://www.ilo.org/newdelhi/whatwedo/publications/WCMS_741923/lang--en/index.htm (accessed 22 December 2020).

14 Dennis G Arnold and Joseph R Bongiovi, ‘Precarious, Informalizing, and Flexible Work: Transforming Concepts and Understandings’ (2013) 57:3 American Behavioral Scientist 289.

15 Santosh Mehrotra, ‘From Informal to Formal: A Meta-Analysis of What Triggers the Conversion in Asia’ (2019), https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/---ifp_skills/documents/publication/wcms_734546.pdf (accessed 13 April 2021).

16 Kanbur, Ravi, ‘Conceptualizing Informality: Regulation and Enforcement’ (2009) 52:1 The Indian Journal of Labour Economics 33 Google Scholar.

17 Venkatesan, Rashmi, ‘The UN Framework on Business and Human Rights: A Workers’ Rights Critique’ (2019) 157:3 Journal of Business Ethics 635 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

18 Nathan, Dev and Kumar, Abhishek, ‘Knowledge, Education and Labour Practices in India’ (2016) 51:36 Economic and Political Weekly 37 Google Scholar.

19 Anamitra Roychowdhury, ‘Will the Recent Changes in Labour Laws usher in “Acche Din” for the Working Class?’ Mainstream Weekly (12 April 2015), https://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article5588.html (accessed 8 April 2021).

20 Mezzadri, Alessandra, Sweatshop Regimes in the Indian Garment Industry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017)Google Scholar.

21 Mehrotra, note 15, 9.

22 Wettstein, Florian, ‘CSR and the Debate on Business and Human Rights: Bridging the Great Divide’ (2012) 22:4 Business Ethics Quarterly 739 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

23 Deva, Surya, ‘Socially Responsible Business in India: Has the Elephant Finally Woken up to the Tunes of International Trends?’ (2012) 41:4 Common Law World Review 299 Google Scholar.

24 Agarwal, note 9, 7.

25 Wettstein, Florian, ‘The History of “Business and Human Rights” and its Relationship with Corporate Social Responsibility’, in Surya Deva and David Birchall (eds.), Research Handbook on Human Rights and Business (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2020)Google Scholar.

26 Matten, Dirk and Moon, Jeremy, ‘“Implicit” and “Explicit” CSR: A Conceptual Framework for a Comparative Understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility’ (2008) 33:2 Academy of Management Review 404 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

27 Karam, Charlotte M and Jamali, Dima, ‘A Cross-Cultural and Feminist Perspective on CSR in Developing Countries: Uncovering Latent Power Dynamics’ (2017) 142:3 Journal of Business Ethics 461 Google Scholar.

28 Majumdar, Arjya B, ‘India’s Journey with Corporate Social Responsibility – What Next?’ (2015) 33:2 Journal of Law and Commerce 165 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

29 Mohan, Anupama, ‘Corporate Citizenship: Perspectives from India’ (2001) 2 Journal of Corporate Citizenship 107CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

30 Ghosh, Subratesh, ‘Trusteeship in Industry: Gandhiji’s Dream and Contemporary Reality’ (1989) 25:1 Indian Journal of Industrial Relations 35Google Scholar.

31 Balakrishnan, Jaydeep, Malhotra, Ayesha and Falkenberg, Loren, ‘Multi-Level Corporate Responsibility: A Comparison of Gandhi’s Trusteeship with Stakeholder and Stewardship Frameworks’ (2017) 141:1 Journal of Business Ethics 133 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

32 Deva, note 23, 11.

33 Rajendra S Sisodia, ‘Doing Business in the Age of Conscious Capitalism’ (2009) 1:2 Journal of Indian Business Research 188 Google Scholar.

34 Wettstein, note 22, 10.

35 Faiz Ahmed Faiz, ‘Subh-e-Azadi, An Anguished Evocation of the Pain of Partition’, Penguin Features Special (15 August 2017), https://penguin.co.in/subh-e-azadi-an-anguished-evocation-of-the-pain-of-partition/ (accessed 13 April 2021).