BharatNotes What is Civil Society and NGOs?
Civil society is the arena of voluntary, non-state and non-profit collective action — the "third sector" sitting between the state (first sector) and the market (second sector). Citizens organise within it to advance shared social, cultural and civic ends without coercion or the profit motive. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) are the registered, structured vehicles of this action, ranging from grassroots service-delivery bodies to national advocacy networks. In India the term "civil society" is often used interchangeably with "NGO" or "voluntary organisation (VO)".
Key Features and Legal Forms
Civil society organisations typically share five traits: voluntary membership, independence from the state, a non-profit orientation, self-governance, and a public-benefit focus. In India, NGOs adopt one of three legal structures.
| Legal form | Governing statute | Suited for |
|---|---|---|
| Trust | Indian Trusts Act, 1882 (or state trust laws) | Small charities, simple structure |
| Society | Societies Registration Act, 1860 (min. 7 members) | Democratically managed, community/educational work |
| Section 8 Company | Companies Act, 2013 | Larger, compliance-heavy national/international operations |
The state's framework for partnership is the National Policy on the Voluntary Sector, 2007 (drafted with the then Planning Commission), which sought to create an enabling environment while protecting the autonomy of voluntary organisations.
Significance
Civil society deepens democracy by giving voice to citizens, holding the state accountable, and delivering welfare where governmental reach is thin. NGOs work in health, education, environment, disaster relief, gender justice and rights advocacy, and act as a bridge between marginalised communities and policy. They generate civic awareness, pilot innovations later scaled by government, and serve as watchdogs through Right to Information activism and public-interest litigation.
Regulation and Current Status
NGOs receiving foreign funds are regulated under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (FCRA), administered by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The FCRA (Amendment) Act, 2020 (in force 29 September 2020) tightened this regime: it cut the cap on using foreign contributions for administrative expenses from 50% to 20%, barred sub-granting of foreign funds between FCRA-registered bodies, made Aadhaar of office-bearers mandatory, and required all foreign contributions to be received in a designated "FCRA Account" at the State Bank of India, New Delhi Main Branch. The FCRA (Amendment) Rules, 2024 took effect on 1 January 2025.
For domestic visibility, NITI Aayog runs the NGO-Darpan portal (with the National Informatics Centre), a central repository on which voluntary organisations enrol; it listed roughly 1.87 lakh registered NGOs (as of 2023 data). On foreign funding, official figures indicate a large pool of FCRA-registered associations of which only a minority hold active registration, the rest having lapsed, expired or been cancelled.
UPSC Angle
The exam-relevant tension is between civil society as a partner in development and democracy, and state concerns over transparency, accountability and the regulation of foreign funds — the "shrinking civic space" debate. Aspirants should be able to balance both sides, cite the FCRA-2020 changes accurately, and connect NGOs to allied actors such as self-help groups, pressure groups and social movements.
