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Centre for Civil Society

Centre for Civil Society advances social change through public policy. Our work in education, livelihood, and policy training promotes choice and accountability across the private and public sectors. To translate policy into practice, we engage with policy and opinion leaders through research, pilot projects and advocacy. We are India’s leading liberal think tank, ranked 50 worldwide by the annual study conducted by the Think Tanks and Civil Society Program at the University of Pennsylvania.

CCS envisions a world where each individual leads a life of choice in personal, economic and political spheres and every institution is accountable. We successfully campaigned for livelihood freedom for street entrepreneurs, resulting in the passing of the Street Vendors (Regulation and Protection of Livelihood Act in March 2014. Our School Choice Campaign popularised the instrument of school vouchers in education, increasing choice and access to quality education for all.

Currently, our focus is on reshaping the school education policy landscape - shifting the focus to learning outcomes, expanding choice in education and advocating deregulation for private sector; amplifying the voice of budget private schools which are catering to the poor sections of society but face closure in the face of the RTE; enhancing choice and accountability through the CCS skill voucher model in government skilling programs; promoting livelihood freedom by facilitating effective implementation of the Street Vendors Act and creating future leaders through policy trainings and courses who will be champions of liberty in their fields going forward.

What is Civil Society

Civil society is an evolving network of associations and institutions of family and community, of production and trade, and of piety and compassion. Individuals enter into these relationships as much by consent as by obligation but never under coercion. Civil society is premised on individual freedom and responsibility, and on limited and accountable government. It protects the individual from the intrusive state, and connects the individual to the larger social and economic order. Civil society is what keeps individualism from becoming atomistic and communitarianism from becoming collectivist. Political society, on the other hand, is distinguished by its legalised power of coercion. Its primary purpose should be to protect, and not to undermine, civil society by upholding individual rights and the rule of law.

The "principle of subsidiarity" demarcates the proper arenas for civil and political society, and for local, state, and central government within the political society. The principle suggests that the state should undertake those tasks that people cannot undertake for themselves through voluntary associations of civil society.

The focus on civil society enables one to work from both directions; it provides a "mortar" program of building or rebuilding the institutions of civil society and a "hammer" program of readjusting the size and scope of the political society. Both programs are equally critical and must be pursued simultaneously. Weeds of the political society must be uprooted and seeds of a civil society must be shown.

Relationship Between Civil & Political Society

The "principle of subsidiarity" demarcates the proper arenas for civil and political society, and for local, state, and central government within the political society. The principle suggests that the state should undertake those tasks that people cannot undertake for themselves through voluntary associations of civil society. The functions thus assigned to the state must be entrusted first to local governments. The functions that local governments cannot perform should be given to state governments and only those that state governments are unable to undertake should be delegated to the central government. The rampant growth of the political society—the institutions of government—since independence has hindered the flourishing of civil society in India. It is only by rethinking and reconfiguring the political society that India will be able to achieve economic prosperity, social peace and cohesion, and genuine political democracy. The focus on civil society enables one to work from both directions; it provides a ‘mortar’ program of building or rebuilding the institutions of civil society and a ‘hammer’ program of readjusting the size and scope of the political society. Both programs are equally critical and must be pursued simultaneously. Weeds of the political society must be uprooted and seeds of a civil society must be sown.

For further information visit www.ccs.in