Assignment – 9

Name – ABINASH DAS

Institution – P. G. Department of law, Utkal University

Designation – LL.M. Student

(Q.1) The civil society has of late become an important non-

state actor in public policy and governance in India. Illustrate

“Civil society is a democratizing force of public action with an unquestionable intent

towards common good. It comprises of organizations and individual actors that are not
agencies of the government and not motivated by profit”.

Non-state actors refer to a wide range of development actors - other than government. In
practice, it means that participation is open to all kind of actors, such as the private sector,
community-based organisations, women's groups, human rights associations, non-
governmental organisations (NGOs), religious organisations, farmers' cooperatives, trade
unions, universities and research institutes, the media, etc. Also included are informal groups
such as grassroots organisations, informal private sector associations, etc. Non-state actors
have come to play an important role in the process of governance in India. Today, non-state
actors are actively engaged in community mobilisation, economic development and societal
transformation. They play different roles like capacity building, asset creation, representation,
lobbying, advocacy, service delivery etc. Essentially, they are instruments of people's action
and the means of protecting and promoting vital rights of citizens. They aid the process of
good governance in several ways such as:

a. Policy Formulation and Advocacy: Influencing the decisions of legislators, other

elected representatives, and public administrators.
b. Watchdog role: Play a crucial role in evaluating the policies and actions of the
Government.
c. Welfare Service Delivery: Can provide the necessary institutional basis for service
delivery.
d. Reform and Social Change: Serve as an instrument for reform and social change.
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e. They have played an instrumental role in the enactment of crucial legislations like the
Right to Information Act, the National Food Security Act, Right to Education,
MNREGA etc.

At the same time, their contribution to the governance domain is limited by lack of funds,
inadequate trained personnel, lack of culture of volunteering etc. Multiplicity of laws and
regulations add to their problems. This prevents the non-state actors from reaching their full
potential in enforcing good governance. Considering that India has over 2 million registered
NGOs, the scope and extent of their contribution has been below par. For far from being a
single and a onetime act, public policymaking is an interactive and dynamic process. It
involves a gamut of actions and inactions by many groups, with varied interests, at varied
stages in a network, through whom decisions flow, policy agendas get set, policies get
shaped, programmes are formulated, implemented and evaluated. Though not all actors and
interests have equal power, or equal chance to influence policymaking, the process remains
dynamic, with its shifts and slides.

Impact of ‘Opening up’policymaking to non-State actors – Re-conceptualisation of

governance

If one examines the policymaking process in India, from the post-Independence period until
late 80s, policymaking centered around the State as the ‘maker’ of policy, with limited
participation from non-State actors. The State, in its maximalist avatar, sought to resolve
societal problems by adopting a top-down, rational approach to policymaking, relying on its
institutions to perform this function. One of the major institutional innovations of the
scientific or the technocratic mode of policymaking was the Planning Commission. Such
institutions depended on experts, mostly economists, and the focus of policymaking remained
more on policy implementation and public administration, and less on policy scrutiny. This
model worked as long as there prevailed political consensus on the role of the State, and
centralized planning as the strategy for development. However, once this political consensus
broke down with the onset of globalization and liberalization, two processes unfolded. One,
the role of the State began to change and get more complex, and two, there began far greater
scrutiny of public policy from the ground. Attention shifted to questions of appropriate
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policies and structures, processes for policy formulation, improving the competence of
policymakers and evaluating policy outcomes.

The change in the role of the State was characterised by changes—from ‘doing to ensuring’,
from provision of public goods and redistribution to seeking collaborations with nonState
actors to ‘do’public issues. This directly impacted ‘opening up’policymaking to non-State
actors, for it entailed re-conceptualisation of governance—from a centralised, hierarchical
and top-down traditional model of ‘government’, to a more collaborative, horizontal
structure, and a non-hierarchical setting, that had to be now based on networking, negotiation
and lobbying. This was based on a model of partnerships or networked governance wherein
the relationship between government and non-government, comprising market and civil
society, became the core thrust inthe making of policies and delivery of public goods. Hence,
this shift from ‘government’to ‘governance as a network’ played a significant role in
‘opening up’ policymaking to partnerships, influences from non-State actors, including
influences of global institutions.

(Q.2) Do you think the civil society in India has really made an
impact on public policy and governance. Evaluate ?

“If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will
be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost.” – Aristotle

I. Introduction:

Civil society means the entire range of organized groups and institutions that are independent
of the state, voluntary, and at least to some extent self-generating and self-reliant. This
includes non-governmental organizations, independent mass media, think tanks, universities,
and social and religious groups. Civil society derives its strength from the Gandhian tradition
of volunteerism, but today, it expresses itself in many different forms of activism. In
independent India, the initial role played by the voluntary organizations started by Gandhi
and his disciples was to fill in the gaps left by the government in the development process.
The volunteers organized handloom weavers in village to form cooperatives through which
they could market their products directly in the cities, and thus get a better price. Similar
cooperatives were later set up in areas like marketing of dairy products and fish. In almost all
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these cases, the volunteers helped in other areas of development – running literacy classes for
adults at night.

II. Why do we need civil society in India – ‘Impact on public policy and governance’
a. Democracy is founded on a self-reflective choice and on institutional arrangements
which secure the equal sharing of political, economic and social power. These are just
necessary conditions for democracy. The sufficient condition so that democracy will
not degenerate into some kind of “demago-cracy”, where the demos is manipulated by
a new breed of professional politicians, is crucially determined by the citizens’ level
of democratic consciousness. Democracy is the one type of government that cannot
exist without the approval and input of the people. This is because its main
characteristic is choice – without active political choices being made by the citizens
living in a democracy, a democracy does not really exist. India is a representative
rather than a participatory democracy. Once the elections are over, the politicians who
run the federal and state governments do not really need to go back to the electorate
for every major decision – there is not tradition of referendums in India, as there is a
Switzerland or Denmark. So, in the five years between one election and another, the
civil society are often the only means available to the citizens to voice their opinions
on any decision taken by a government.
b. A strong and vigilant civil society can be a check on corruption and form the basis for
countervailing. A free media has a crucial role in the prevention, monitoring and
control of corruption. Voter education, electoral reforms and periodical highlighting
of the performance of elected representatives should be high priority items in civil
society’s agenda. In a large developing country like India, there are numerous gaps
left by the government in the development process. These are the gaps that civil
societies try to fill in modern India. Civil Society Supplements the government effort
to provide health care to citizens, and by raising awareness in society about issues like
child and maternal malnutrition. A number of NGO’s like Childline India Foundation,
World Vision, Arambh India have played important role in raising awareness on child
sexual abuse. In the last 20 years, a very large number of NGOs in India have been
active in the area of environmental protection. The NGOs have often been helped by
the judiciary whenever the government of the day has proved. The engagement of
civil society and the media in educating citizens about the evils of corruption, raising
their awareness levels and securing their participation by giving them a ‘voice’ . Civil
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society can influence policy and project formulation through membership of

committees and submission of memoranda.
c. Civil society contributes to good governance by being a Watchdog — against
violation of human rights and governance deficit, Advocate -- of the weaker sections’
point of view, Agitator — on behalf of aggrieved citizens, Educator — of citizens on
their rights, entitlements and responsibilities and the government about the pulse of
the people, Service provider — to areas and people not reached by official efforts or
as government’s agent, Mobiliser — of public opinion for or against a programme or
policy. Some of the stellar achievement of the civil society includes -- Right to
Information Act, Consumer Protection Act, Citizens Charters, Whistleblower
protection, e-governance, Democratic Decentralisation, Public Interest Litigation, etc.
d. Civil society groups may establish ties to political parties and the state, but they must
retain their independence, and they do not seek political power for themselves. The
first and most basic role of civil society is to limit and control the power of the state.
Civil society actors should watch how state officials use their powers. They should
raise public concern about any abuse of power. They should lobby for access to
information, including freedom of information laws, and rules and institutions to
control corruption. They should expose the corrupt conduct of public officials and
lobby for good governance reforms. Even where anti-corruption laws and bodies
exist, they cannot function effectively without the active support and participation of
civil society. Civil society empowers the citizens about their rights and duties and the
necessity of them. It also encourages the traditionally excluded groups such as
women, dalits and minorities to utilize their rights and the access to power.
e. One function of civil society is to promote political participation. NGOs can do this
by educating people about their rights and obligations as democratic citizens, and
encouraging them to listen to election campaigns and vote in elections. NGOs can
also help develop citizens’ skills to work with one another to solve common
problems, to debate public issues, and express their views. Civil society organizations
can help to develop the other values of democratic life: tolerance, moderation,
compromise, and respect for opposing points of view. Without this deeper culture of
accommodation, democracy cannot be stable. These values have to be cultivated in
young people and adults through various programs that practice participation and
debate. Civil society also can help to develop programs for democratic civic education
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in the schools as well. Governance is defined as the process of decision-making and

the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented).
f. Good governance is efficient decision making that proves beneficial for a majority of
the people while having minimum or zero detrimental consequences. The
implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act,
SarvaSikshaAbhiyan, creation of Self Help Groups with NABARD, and many more
programmes exhibit the cooperation of civil society and the Government of India. The
most significant impact of this is the financial push that civil society organisations
receive from the Government to carry out the programmes as compared to earlier
when funding was borne by Civil Society organizations them-selves.