ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY: SIGNIFICANCE, CHALLENGES, WAY FORWARD

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Picture Courtesy:  THE HINDU

Context

Civil society provide a check on state power and promote social issues, but it faces challenges like regulatory crackdowns, funding constraints, which make reform essential for its future strength. 

What is Civil Society?

Civil society comprises of voluntary organizations and associations, nonprofits (NGOs), community groups, advocacy organizations, social movements, unions, and faith-based groups.

They acts as a bridge between the public and government, promote citizen interests and encourage collective action.

Role and Significance of Civil Society in India

Advocacy and Policy Reform: Amplify marginalized voices and advocate policy change. For example, grassroots movements by organizations like Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) pushed for the Right to Information Act (2005).

• Civil society has influenced laws on education (Right to Education Act), food security (National Food Security Act), and anti-corruption (Lokpal Act) through research, campaigns, and legal action.

Service Delivery and Innovation: Fill gaps in public services, especially in remote or underserved areas.

• They provide healthcare, education, sanitation, and disaster relief. For example, Goonj mobilized relief supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Organizations like the Akshaya Patra Foundation implement mid-day meal programs, feeding over 2.25 million school children daily (in 16 states).  

Watchdog and Accountability: Monitor government and corporate actions, promoting transparency and good governance.

• Groups like the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) expose election finance details and improve electoral laws. Their data-driven campaigns helped lead the Supreme Court to scrap opaque electoral bonds in 2024.
• Civil society conducts social audits (e.g. of MGNREGA schemes) and anti-corruption drives, holding officials accountable.

Community Mobilization and Empowerment: Organizes citizens to claim rights and resources.

• Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) organized 3.2 million informal women workers across country, promoted labor and social security benefits for them.
• Kudumbashree empowers women and alleviates poverty through community action, enterprise development, and micro-finance.  

Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Many NGOs develop new solutions to social problems. Pratham’s ASER program for improving basic education, Barefoot College create sustainable local enterprises.  

Environmental and Human Rights Advocacy: Highlight issues like pollution, wildlife protection, labor rights, moving society toward more ethical and equitable policies.

• Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) research on air pollution and climate change guided stricter vehicle emission norms in 2023.
• The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) defended privacy by challenging Aadhaar-based attendance systems.

Promoting Civic Engagement: Encourage participatory democracy. For example, Rajasthan’s MKSS movement institutionalized social audits, making villagers stakeholders in public spending.

• Groups like PRS Legislative Research help citizens understand laws and invite public input.
• CSOs by encouraging protests, petitions, and public forums, deepens citizen engagement in governance.

Constitutional and Legal Framework for civil society

Constitutional Rights: Article 19 guarantees freedoms vital for CSOs: (a) speech and expression, (b) assembly peacefully, and (c) association. These rights allow citizens to form NGOs and protest.

• Preamble’s goals of justice, liberty, equality and dignity and Directive Principles (like Article 51A’s call to “develop the scientific temper” and “harmonious relations”) provide a constitutional ground for social activism.

Statutory Framework: Civil society organizations register under various laws (Societies Registration Act, Indian Trusts Act, Section 8 of Companies Act).

• They must comply with tax laws (Income Tax Act, 80G), labor laws (for staff), and more.
• The 2013 Companies Act mandated 2% CSR spending by large firms, channeling corporate funds to CSOs.
• The Right to Education Act (2009) and other sectoral laws encourage NGO participation in delivering public services.

Foreign Funding Regulation: Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) regulates external funds. Its 2020 amendments; banning CSOs from re-granting foreign money to other NGOs and capping spending on administration to 20%.

• These changes greatly impact NGO funding models, as thousands of organizations lost FCRA registration, limiting their ability to receive grants.

Challenges Faced by Civil Society in India

Funding Restrictions: After liberalization, NGOs relied heavily on foreign aid. The 2020 FCRA amendments curtailed foreign funds (e.g. banning sub-grants and cutting admin budgets).

• 20,693 NGOs licences have been cancelled in the last decade. (Source: The Hindu)
• Many struggle as domestic philanthropy has not filled the gap.
• Unpredictable cashflow forces cutbacks or closures of the work/initiative.

Regulatory Burden: NGOs must register and report under multiple laws (FCRA, tax rules, etc.). This red tape (with long delays) diverts resources to paperwork.

Civic Space Restrictions: Critics says that Laws (like Unlawful Activities Prevention Act or sedition laws) are frequently used to harass activists. Cases (e.g. closure of Oxfam India, Amnesty International India, and World Vision India) highlight pressure on CSOs.

Digital Divide: A survey found 95% of CSOs rely on the internet, but 78% lack basic digital tools. (Source: Connect Humanity survey)

• Small NGOs and rural groups face poor connectivity and low IT skills, this digital divide limits outreach and efficiency in a rapidly digitalizing society.

Accountability and Public Trust: Scandals in NGOs (e.g. misuse of fund in Bihar Srijan scam) have led to general suspicion. Some citizens distrust NGO motives, seeing them as foreign-funded or elitist.

• CSOs must maintain strong transparency and ethical standards to uphold credibility.

Volunteer and Talent Shortage: Many NGOs rely on volunteers. Yet retention is tough – volunteers often lack long-term commitment or professional skills, undermines program continuity.

• Attracting skilled staff is also hard, as salaries in NGOs are low.

Internal Coordination: Groups working on the same issue duplicate efforts instead of collaborating. Building coalitions requires time and resources, and sometimes ideological differences hinder unity.

Urban and Elitist Bias: Many CSOs are concentrated in urban areas and are run by educated, middle-class professionals, creating a disconnect from the grassroots realities they aim to address.

Lack of Internal Democracy and Transparency: Opaque governance structures, with power concentrated in the hands of a few founders, leading to a lack of internal democracy and accountability.

Foreign Agenda Allegations: Heavy reliance of some CSOs on foreign funding has led to accusations that they are pushing agendas of foreign donors.

Way Forward to strengthen Civil society

Simplify Regulations: Introduce single-window clearances and digitalization for registrations and compliance. For example, MHA’s move to allow online FCRA filings need to be extended to all NGO paperwork to ease compliance.

• Adopt a risk-based approach: well-established CSOs with good track records face lighter oversight.
• Clear timeframes for approvals and acknowledgments would reduce bureaucratic delays.

Encourage Funding Diversity: Motivate domestic philanthropy and CSR, provide higher tax deductions (e.g. increasing 80G limits for donors) and a national CSR–CSO matchmaking platform.

• Companies Act (CSR provision) and Budget schemes can be leveraged to fund social initiatives systematically.
• Maintain transparent reporting standards to ensure accountability of philanthropic funds.

Build Capacity: Launch a national capacity-building program for NGOs.

• Public–private partnerships could fund training in digital literacy, management, financial planning, and impact assessment.
• Government can collaborate with universities and firms to offer online/offline modules. For example, the National Education Policy’s emphasis on vocational skills could be extended to CSO leadership and volunteer training.

Promote Collaboration: Regular conferences can encourage knowledge-sharing. Encourage issue-based CSOs to reduces duplication and amplifies impact.

• International experience shows that dialogue fora between government and CSOs build trust and innovative solutions.
• Success of the Pulse Polio campaign, and the ground-level work in the Swachh Bharat Mission were impossible without CSO collaboration.  

Institutionalize CSO Participation: Formalize civil society’s role in policy making. For example, CSOs seats on relevant advisory boards and committees.

• The NITI Aayog’s moves to consult NGOs on development goals can be expanded across ministries.   

Promote Digital Engagement: A “Digital CSO Initiative” could provide grants or subsidized tech (software tools, cloud services) and expert mentoring.

• Integrating civil society into the government’s Digital India plan would ensure disadvantaged NGOs also benefit from connectivity and e-governance tools.

Sustainability through Social Enterprise: Provide low-interest loans or seed funding for NGO-run enterprises to reduce donor dependence.

• Training in marketing and business planning would help NGOs earn their own funds from micro-enterprises or fee services, creating a self-sustaining base for their work.

International and Multi-Stakeholder Support: Learn from global initiatives. Aligning with global covenants (like the UN Partnership for SDGs) can attract technical and financial support for strengthening civil society.

Each of these steps requires joint effort by government, CSOs, and society. Governments must see CSOs as partners in development, not adversaries. At the same time, NGOs should adopt higher accountability and self-regulation to maintain credibility.  

Source: THEHINDU