CIVIL SOCIETY (KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER)

• Civil society has been broadly defined as the “area outside the family, market and state” – World Economic Forum
• Civil society as “all forms of social action carried out by individuals or groups who are neither connected to, nor managed by, the State”- European Union
• “Civil society is the voluntary expression of the interests and  aspirations of citizens organised and united by common interests, goals, values or traditions and mobilised into collective action” – African Development Bank

• The Roman word societas civilis was the root word of it having a synonymity with a good society.
• It was Hegel, the German philosopher who has coined the term civil society and the meaning of it that we understand today.
• In a civil society people voluntarily come together to achieve the desired objective of welfare of the society or to raise the problems of people before the state.
• Basically, the voids of the state can be rightly filled by civil society.

• NGOs, CSOs and non-profit organisations that have an organised structure or activity and are typically registered entities and groups 
• Online groups and activities including social media communities that can be “organised” but do not necessarily have physical, legal or financial structures
• Social movements of collective action and/or identity, which can be online or physical 
• Religious leaders, faith communities, and faith-based organisations
• Labour unions and labour organisations representing workers 
• Social entrepreneurs employing innovative and/or market-oriented approaches for social and environmental outcomes
• Grassroots associations and activities at local level
• Cooperatives owned and democratically controlled by their members
• Youth clubs
• Independent radio, television, print and electronic media
• Neighbourhood or community-based coalitions
• Academic and research institutions
• Organisations of indigenous peoples

Civil society roles include:

• service provider (for example, running primary schools and providing basic community health care services)
• advocate/campaigner (for example, lobbying governments or business on issues including indigenous rights or the environment)
• watchdog (for example, monitoring government compliance with human rights treaties)
• building active citizenship (for example, motivating civic engagement at the local level and engagement with local, regional and national governance)participating in global governance processes (for example, civil society organisations serve on the advisory board of the World Bank’s Climate Investment Funds).

• Civil society derives its strength from the Gandhian tradition of volunteerism, but today, it expresses itself in many different forms of activism. 
• Though the term NGO became popular in India only in the 1980s, the voluntary sector has an  older tradition a large developing country like India, there are numerous gaps left by the government  in the development process – sometimes by intention, sometimes due to lack of funds, sometimes  due to lack of awareness. These are the gaps that many NGOs try to fill in modern India.
• 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.
• 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.
• Involvement of civil society in the Swachha Bharat Mission has made it a huge success. Role of Swacchagrahis has a visible impact in changing the behaviour of people to stop open defecation practices in rural areas.
• Likewise, the various NGOs working for the conservation of nature and biodiversity which are quite essential for a healthy, clean and biologically sound India.
• The civil society movements like the Chipko, Apiko movements of the past for the protection of tree to the present day Aravali Bachao and Narmada Bachao Abhiyan try to achieve a similar objective in sync with the idea of new India.
• The rights of the minority, depressed class along with individual rights of freedom, liberty are protected duly by civil society. Further, civil society has a great role in stopping the majoritarian tendencies and protecting the spirit of diversity in India.