Social Justice

Civil Society is seen as a conglomeration of associations formed voluntarily where citizens freely pursue collective identities and interests. According to the World Bank: “Civil society refers to a wide array of organizations: community groups, non-governmental organizations [NGOs], labour unions, indigenous groups, charitable organizations, faith-based organizations, professional associations, and foundations. New actors in the civil society ecosystem include social movements, online activists, bloggers and others. All the new initiatives of the government require the participation and awareness of people and there is no better organisation than the civil society to achieve this objective.

Success Of Civil Society Organization

1. The civil society movements like the Chipko, Apiko movements of the past for the protection of trees to the present day Aravali Bachao and Narmada Bachao Abhiyan raised awareness about environment-related issues.
2. CSIs are the biodiversity reserves for preserving a vast variety of ideas and beliefs. They are incubators for innovative approaches to resolving problems which neither the state nor the market has been able to crack—such as guarding civil liberties, or the lack of basic services to the majority.
3. Filing of Public Interest Litigations on matters relevant to the common public by organizations like Common Cause Delhi and Consumer Education and Research Centre, the Association for Democratic Reforms.
4. Anti-corruption movements and the changes in the outlook of people in India regarding this serious issue of corruption have impacts on the political structure of India. Although corruption has not died down completely the awareness due to the civil society movement has affected the corrupt structure greatly.
5. From causes like protection of freedom of expression or be it for the fight of LGBT community against the decriminalisation under section -377 of IPC or be it the fight of women against instant triple talaq there is present the active contribution and wholehearted support of civil society.
6. Civil society movements have played an immense role in bringing numerous governance reforms. Civil society movements can be credited for bringing a novel form of accountability measures like Jan Sunwai, RTI act, Citizen charter campaign by an organization like PRAJA.
7. Role of Swacchagrahis has a visible impact in changing the behaviour of people to stop open defecation practices in rural areas. Similarly, Swachha iconic places and Swachhata Pakwada are instances of roles of civil society in bringing out transformation in society.

Issues In Civil Societies Functioning

1. The success of civil society organization in tackling instances like eradication of manual scavenging and other social and caste-based disabilities has been lacklustre.
2. Civil society organizations are accused of lack of coordination among themselves. For example, civil societies working on Dalit issues will not work on Dalit women issues and there is no cooperation and utilization of expertise in other related areas of the same cause.
3. Civil society groups are often seen as “self- appointed do-gooders‟, not accountable to any constituency other than their donors. Many are seen as corrupt, or at least venal, and as personal fiefdoms of charismatic founders who continue in leadership positions long after their passion for the cause has died.
4. In recent years civil society organizations are seeing their working spaces being reduced due to repressive state actions. In 2016 Govt had to impose a ban on many NGOs including NAZ foundation for alleged violation of FCRA as per CBI report.
5. The lack of transparency in civil society organizations has also hurt their image and created a negative perception regarding them among the public. This has created issues of trust between them and the public they wish to serve.

To Improve Their Effectiveness, Following Steps May Be Adopted

1. Civil society organizations have to improve their internal governing and accountability standards in terms of their source of funding, working etc. This will help negate their negative image and build trust.
2. The accusations against civil societies are that they work in those areas where they can earn a name or those which are ‘fancy’. This needs to be changed.
3. Rather than working in silos, CSOs has to cooperate among themselves while working towards a common goal.
4. The regulatory framework for these organizations must be improved. State regulation more often than not will result in curbing the voices of those CSOs which are against the government. The ideal way of regulation is to create a self-regulatory body by CSOs themselves like the Advertising Standards Council of India.

Civil society groups have put pressure on erring governments to reform corrupt practices. They have also provided monitoring mechanisms to track corruption by educating members of the public and associating them in anti-corruption efforts. They have helped generate demand for reducing corruption and introducing systemic reforms. On the whole, these civil society engagements are path-breaking initiatives that have emerged out of an urge to serve the needs of the common man and have involved a great deal of educating people and mobilizing them.