Mobilising for Democracy: Civil Society Mediation and Access to Policy in India

Abstract

This chapter discusses the mediating role played by civil society actors in creating an interface between citizens and the state that enables citizens to access state policy using the right to information provided under the Right to Information Act (RTI) of 2005. The two cases presented here are about the use of the RTI by poor citizens, specifically women, to access information about various state-sponsored programmes related to subsidised food, livelihood and wages, water supply, education, loans, pensions and the like. Access to the RTI thus unlocks information about a plethora of development and welfare programmes the state has instituted for the poor. In mobilising women for rights and information, civil society brings women to interface and interact with the state. Civil society in this case comes into picture and prominence because, while the state makes pro-poor policies, it does little to ensure that poor citizens effectively access these policies.