It’s everyone’s India
Civil society plays a creative and important role in India. More NGOs exist today than ever before. A good many of them improve the lives of ordinary people in a way the government does not. These are dramatic stories and deserve to be told. More importantly, the strategies and ideas that agents of change use need to be recorded and analysed. Experience needs to be passed on from NGO to NGO, activist to activist.
It is also important that society at large has a better understanding of disaggregate processes of change. Activists either live in the cocoons of their own efforts or talk in a language that no one else can understand. Terrible are the disconnections that result from the inability to communicate. Doctors, lawyers, parliamentarians, students, businessmen, bankers, stock brokers, financial analysts may want to know what change leaders are up to, but have no coherent link for being in touch. Such a link is necessary for putting an end to mindless suspicions. It is also needed for creating transparency and accountability. Those who want to build a better world should be ready to face scrutiny.
A democracy thrives on the free flow of ideas from a range of individuals who may not be working within structured organisations but could be merely going about their daily lives. From the death penalty to consumer rights, so much needs to be thought through. It is necessary that ideas and opinions circulate. There are so many layers to every issue and there is real danger in the dominance of a few voices.
The big media has its own role to play. It has its own priorities. We like to believe that much more biodiversity is required in the media. Skills and new technologies make it possible to create small businesses that serve information needs. Our magazine, Civil Society, is one such endeavour.
Umesh Anand
Publisher