Talk: Civil Society and State in India. By Nandini Deo, Associate Professor @ Indian Institute for Technology

One of the key characteristics of India’s democracy has been the existence of a robust civil society. This civil society sphere operates within regulatory frameworks created by the state. In this talk, Nandini Deo provides a history of state-civil society relations in order to assess the role civil society can play in Indian politics today. Recent developments in public policy are discussed such as the passage of CSR requirements that direct corporate funds to NGOs, the crackdown on Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) violations by trusts and NGOs, the turn from rights based language to universal welfare provision by the developmental state. How should we understand this moment? Is today’s policy making actually restricting space for civil society or merely channeling it in particular directions?