(PYQ Mock Answer: Public administration) Civil Society Organisation

Q. Civil Society supplements and complements the State. However, its capacity and role depend upon the will of the State. Comment. (15 Marks )

Answer:

Voluntary organisations of the people that is not a part of the state or the market, but exist to promote the interest of the citizens in general or specific section of citizens can be called as civil society organisations. The capacity and role of the civil society is dependent on the will of the state. 

In policy formulation, if the government chooses Group model of public policy making then there is greater scope for the participation of various pressure groups and interest groups in shaping the policies of the government. But if the government prefers the elite mass model of public policy making, then the role of civil society in this aspect is severely curtailed. 

Similarly in Public policy implementation, if the government adopts a bureaucracy centric implementation model then the civil society has no role in the process of public policy implementation. However if the government adopts citizen centric public policy implementation model like Coalition of actors model, then there is a lot of scope for participation of the civil society in the public policy implementation. For example, Swachch Bharat Mission, Mid day meal scheme etc. allowed scope for participation of civil society in the implementation process. 

Similarly in evaluation process, if the government provides no scope for social audit, then Civil society is deprived of the opportunity to evaluate government programs/schemes as well.

Hence the role of civil society is dependent upon the nature of model chosen for public policy formulation, implementation and evaluation. The model chosen by the state rests upon the will of the state, hence we can conclude that the capacity and role of the civil society depend upon the will of the State.

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