GS Paper 2
Syllabus: Development Processes and the Development Industry – the Role of NGOs
Source: TH
Context: The ability of civil society organisations (CSO) or movements to shape policy and public discourse in India has shrunk drastically.
CSOs:
- These are non-State, not-for-profit, voluntary entities formed by people in the social sphere that are separate from the State and the market.
- They represent a wide range of interests and ties and can include community-based organisations as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Why and how CSOs in India are curbed?
- Seen as the new frontier for war, and foreign interference and vilified as disruptive to India’s development trajectory and therefore anti-national.
- Imposing financial and structural constraints by
- Cancelling FCRA clearances,
- Revoking licences,
- Imposing retrospective taxes, and
- Pressuring private companies and philanthropists to redirect funding.
- Activists, journalists, academics and students have been targeted by the state’s governing instruments and non-state actors (spreading violence and abuse – online and offline).
Impact of these restrictions on CSOs:
- Existential threats are faced by civil society actors as their constitutional and civic freedoms are curtailed.
- Migrate to safer avenues/ limit the scope of their work/ re-align with the govt.
- This a grave threat to the system’s integrity because civil society is an indispensable safety valve (fixing accountability) for tensions in a polity.
- Unable to speak truth/amplify the voices of the most vulnerable, enrich policies/legislation through constructive feedback.
- Unable to further the collective good – not in the national interest.
- Young activists could be inducted into political parties → could create an institutionalised moral force within the parties → balance electoral compulsions with ethical/human rights considerations.
New trends:
- The emergence of govt-backed CSOs: Termed as ‘New Civil Society for New India’, such CSOs are the principal beneficiary of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds, and have access to and influence over select departments in governments.
- Implications:
- A profound influence on the welfare activities, human rights and freedoms shaped by the CSO’s ideological imperatives, altering the civil society landscape in India.
- All other CSOs/movements are slowly being circumscribed.
Challenges faced by CSOs:
- Less flexible in reorienting their normative and operational methodologies.
- Still clinging to outdated tactics. For example, protests at Jantar Mantar undoubtedly bring activists together but they do less to shape the thinking or action of governments.
- Similarly, articles/papers, and speeches at think tanks/conferences/symposiums do not affect governments into any substantive course correction.
- Even lobbying legislators to raise issues is ineffective as the political parties do not let Parliament function.
- Fails to blend socio-cultural values with welfare/constructive work or calls to protect constitutional values.
- Consequently, they are unable to guide mass consciousness.
Way forward for progressive civil society in India:
- Realignment is needed by finding structural solutions to structural problems.
- Learning from the Gandhian constructive movement, which complemented the Congress system – an electoral and governance machine.
- CSOs will need to urgently collaborate with other progressive stakeholders.
- Private philanthropies and companies need to realise that they are the only lifeline for progressive CSOs today.
Conclusion: The inaction today will directly contribute to the extinction of civil society – the fifth pillar of Indian democracy. Therefore, by devising new methods of principled coalition we can safeguard and eventually further the constitutional idea of India.
Insta Links:
Role of Civil society organisations
Mains Links:
Can civil society and Non-Government Organisations present an alternative model of public service delivery to benefit the common citizen? Discuss the challenges of this alternative method. (UPSC 2021)
