The Multiple Faces of Civil Society in India

"The concept of civil society in India, (even as an attempt to establish civility) which gained public attention in the 1980s, was essentially seen as the opposite of despotism. Since then, it seems that it is not the ‘State’ but the ‘Society’ that has emerged as the driving wheel of the political history of India. Why has this shift occurred in the late 1980s in Indian political scenario? The particular line of thinking that the author intends to pursue in this paper is shared by some other social scientists who have tried to define what is new in the new social movements: they are “the main route to shifting political action in civil society from the current condition of mainly isolated, local initiatives, easily ignored by the power structure and vulnerable to manipulation and co-option. The document explores the various socio-economic factors, which were mainly the contributing factors for the civil societal intervention in the mid 1970s in India. The author also presents a case study, which makes a modest attempt to critically appraise the role of civil society in contemporary governance debate in India, in general, by studying the Mazdoor Kiasn Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), Rajasthan, in particular."

2008

Civil society has become one of the key parts of the reference framework for governance, seeking to replace traditional public action in which representative democracy is combined with bureaucratic implementation. The success of the civil-society myth contrasts with and consequently manifests itself in the problems of political and social legitimacy and representation. This book assesses the shift in the meaning and application of civil society, from citizen protests to its incorporation into public action. It examines the diversity of interpretations and uses of civil society in different political contexts and seeks to understand the reasons for its surfacing and its multiple forms in political discourse. The authors critically analyse and compare how different types of regimes in countries such as Italy, France and the UK, Poland and Czechoslovakia, South Africa, China, India and Chile have incorporated or otherwise responded to the new discourse. Analysing the surfacing and uses of civil society, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, analysts, policy-makers, non-profit think tanks and organisations interested in comparative international studies on the third sector.

Studies in Indian Politics, 2014

It is often assumed that civil society’s influence on governance can only be complementary to the state and that it must be exercised through conciliatory approaches. But contrary to that assumption, a study of civil society organizations in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh shows that the civil society may attempt to influence governance process through multiple strategies. These include conciliatory approaches, adversarial approaches and a combination of both, depending on the issue or policy on which the influence is sought to be exercised. This article illustrates this by taking the examples of two intermediary NGOs: one from Karnataka and the other from Andhra Pradesh. The question this article raises is: in the context of globalization and the supposedly prominent role of civil society, how effective are they? This article argues that they still happen to be subsidiary partners in the paradigm of ‘governance-through-networks’. By and large, public policy still happens to be influen...

Non-Governmental Organisations, by conviction and nature, are expected to take up development programmes, uninhibited by factors which normally plague governmental organisations - bureaucracy, conservative attitudes and procedures. However, NGOs have not fared well in many situations. In Andhra Pradesh, in the context of more than a decade of NGO-led development work, and subsequent usurpation of the terminology and methodology of NGOs by the State government, in the early years of 2000, there is now a need to look afresh at the institution of NGOs and their positioning in AP, with a view to understand the necessity of this institution. But this is not to blackwash of the NGO sector in general. NGO sector in India has done yeoman service of the cause of people, in different places and in different contexts. Today, NGO sector is in a position to strengthen democratic structure of India, and can be considered as one of the important pillars of democracy in India. The attempt here is to demystify the NGO sector, in order to enable broader public discussion on the work of this sector.

Routledge, 2018

This chapter explores government–civil society relations in contemporary India. First it argues that though this relationship is often conceptualised in dichotomous terms, as either collaborative or competitive, the picture in India is far more complex. The state operates at multiple spheres (local, provincial, national, international) which then provides numerous points of contacts for civil society organisations. Added to these are the distinctions in the objectives, ideology and interests of CSOs. We thereby find wide variations in CSOs’ relationships with the government. For instance, some CSOs may choose to simultaneously collaborate with the local government but may compete withprovincial or national government. Others may totally collaborate. Yet others may adopt an oppositional approach, while there can be CSOs who may build a pragmatic partnership with the state while keeping a critical distance from it. Second, civil society is often framed in positive terms where existence of dense associational life per se is correlated with the fostering of democracy. However, the cases presented here speak of the darker ‘antidemocratic’ side of civil society alongside struggles of CSOs to expand democratic space. The chapter thereby advances the argument that such a correlation is not necessarily there. Rather, we contend that the vagueness in defining civil society as value neutral has turned it into a conceptual ‘rubber band’ that can be stretched in any direction to accommodate the more emancipatory as well as the xenophobic tendencies of civil society. However, the value of civil society lies in its ability to guard against threats to civility, justice and a democratic way of life. Hence the argument here stresses the need to do away with the ambiguity in the civil society ethos and evaluate CSOs by the values and political vision they promote for strengthening democracy.

Asian Journal of Social Science, 2014

The concept of civil society in India, even as an attempt to establish civility which gained public attention in the 1980s, was essentially seen as the opposite of despotism. Since then, it seems that it is not the ‘State’ but the ‘Society’ that has emerged as the driving wheel of the political history of India. Why has this shift occurred in the late 1980s in Indian political scenario? As M. P. Singh has put it “the tragedy of the Indian state is that it has become over-loaded even before it has started to provide welfare to its citizens and it has lapsed into ungoverned ability even before it ever started to govern properly. This was further deteriorated by the then political elites; those who were the victims of their own misunderstanding, not only of the Indian tradition but also of independent India’s model of development.”1 These scenarios will be unpacked in a section to follow. Let us for the time being note that for over two decades now, there has been a deluge of writings on various civil society initiatives in India. My general contention is that we can identify the growth of civil society in the Indian context, by looking at the various modes of social movements/non-party political formations, processes/grassroots - movements/mass based organizations as social-action groups. Let me at this point provide two definitions of civil society, which will help us mainly to substantiate the wider arguments of this paper.

Choice Reviews Online, 2011