Democratic Renewal and Civil Society

PRIA hosted a seminar on Democratic Renewal and Civil Society on February 15, 2016 which was attended, among others, by representatives of civil society organizations and donor agencies working in India.

The seminar focused on shrinking civil spaces in today’s context. It also highlighted the changing role of civil society organizations due to sudden dominance/emergence of new actors such as media houses and large corporations/ business houses in the development sector space. The seminar stressed how limiting civic spaces was an area of concern for all in a democratic set up. 

Dr Christina Schwabenland, Director of Centre for Leadership Innovation at University of Bedfordshire, UK was the main speaker for this seminar. She has long-standing research experience on analyzing ‘relations between democratic engagement and internal dynamics of civil society'. She based her discussion on her experiences of working on this theme, raising questions on the role of civil society organizations for democratic renewal in today’s context. She highlighted the dominating role of corporations and multinationals in negotiating with governments on policy matters resulting in despair amongst ordinary people in their own abilities to affect social change.

Dr Suhas Chakma, Director, Asian Centre for Human Rights, New Delhi highlighted the point of media taking over activism on social issues since liberalization in India.  He spoke about the role of private foundations since the government mandated law on corporate social responsibility became effective.

Dr. Rajesh Tandon, President, PRIA highlighted the degeneration of institutions of public service delivery, e.g., primary schools and banks. He expressed that we need to look at civic spaces because restriction on civic space is a bigger challenge than restrictions on civil society organisations.