Question

What is the relevance of civil society organisations today?

Answer 1

1. Civil society is the name given to the arena which lies beyond the private domain of the family, but outside the domain of both state and market.
2. Civil society is a non-state and non-market part of the public domain in which individuals get together voluntarily to create institutions and organisations.
3. It is a sphere of active citizenship: individuals take up social issues, try to influence the state or make demands on it, pursue their collective interests or seek support for a variety of causes.
4. It consists of voluntary institutions formed by a group of citizens. It includes political parties; media institutions, trade unions, NGOs, religious organisations and other kinds of collective entities.
5. The main criteria for inclusion in civil society are that the organisation should not be state controlled, and it should not be purely profit making entity.
6. Examples :- Doordarshan is not a civil society entity though private television channels are. The Indian people had an encounter with authoritarian rule during ‘Emergency’ enforced between June 1975 and 1977. Forced sterilisation programs; censorship on media and government officials; civil liberties revoked.

Civil Society Today :-

• Today the activists of civil society organizations have a wide range of issues including advocacy and lobbying activity with national and international agencies as well as active participation in various movements.
• The issues taken jip range from tribal struggles for land rights; devolution of urban governance; campaigns against rape and violence against women, primary education reform, etc.
• Media, also, has started to play an important role in the civil society initiatives.
• Example :- The Right to Information. Beginning with agitation in rural Rajasthan for the release of information on government funds spent on village development, this effort grew into a nation-wide campaign. Despite opposition from the bureaucracy. Government was forced to respond to the campaign and pass a new law formally acknowledging citizens’ right to information.