By,

Vishwas.R.Bhat
MBA,II year
What is civil society
 Civil society organisations include a plethora of
pressure groups, non-governmental organisations,
charities, religious groups, and other actors that are
neither business nor government organisations, but
which are involved in the promotion of certain
interests, causes, and/or goals,
 Political idea, autonomous sphere , difficult to define
Organizationally:
NGOs
 large to small to grassroots organizations
 Networks
 Individuals
Characterized by ‘mission’ objective, but can
incorporate multiple types of models and structures.
What characterizes civil society
 High degree of mission orientation
 Often high degree of idealism
 Struggle to sustain efforts
 Often high economic dependency on other
stakeholders
In India civil society has…
 Vacillating relationship with the state.
 Substantial degree of state control.
 Difficult relationship with the Corporate sector.
 Good relationship with society and the media at large.
Diversity in CSO characteristics
Type
Scope Community Group
Individual Campaign group
Grass-roots Business
Local association
Regional Religious group
National
Transnational CSOs Trade union
Technical body
Global

Activities Structure
Policy research Informal
Market research Formal
Academic research
Co-operative
Information
Provision Focus Professional
Boycott co- Natural Entrepreneurial
ordination environment Network
Protests and demos Social issues
Poverty alleviation
Human rights
Animal welfare
© Oxford University Press,
2005. All rights reserved.
Civil Society as the ‘third sector’

State sector Market sector

Government Business

Civil society sector

Including NGOs,
pressure groups,
charities, unions, etc
NGO’s
 A non-governmental organization (NGO) is a
legally constituted organization created by natural or
legal persons with no participation or representation
of any government. In the cases in which NGOs are
funded totally or partially by governments, the NGO
maintains its non-governmental status insofar as it
excludes government representatives from
membership in the organization.
 NGOs perform multifarious jobs for the development
of the people and society.
 They are non-profit voluntary groups organized at the
local, national or international level.
 They work on capacity building programmes,
concentrate on social research, or provide significant
networking opportunities.
 NGOs are not directly involved in the structure of the
government but at the same time they cannot work
without the support or help from the government.
 NGOs bring up issues and concerns of the people to
the government and policy makers.
 INDIA is estimated to have between 1 million and 2
million NGOs.
 In India there are several types of NGOs performing a
particular job or jobs.
 The sectors have been wide spread across the country
especially in rural and remote areas.
 NGOs cover areas that include welfare of street
children, women and old people, youth, slum dwellers,
child labourers, sex workers, and landless workers.
 . Some of the important NGOs in India are India Red
Cross Society, Child Relief and You (CRY), CARE and
National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child
Development (NIPCCD).