Civil Society and Anti-Corruption Movement in India - A Critical Appraisal of India Against Corruption, 2011

Of the two biggest institutional reforms undertaken globally since World War II, anti-corruption movement is one prominent reform and another is democratisation movement. Of these two reforms, democratisation movement is partially successful whereas anti-corruption movement has failed in most of the countries. Although anti-corruption movement is a failure, this movement has made it clear that corruption in any form is not good for the health of the society and it should not be tolerated. In India also, there was a historical anti-corruption movement against corruption in 2011 in the name of India against corruption. This movement is historical in at least two senses. First, such a massive movement against corruption happened first time in Independent India. Second, Indian civil society played a key and decisive role in the success of this movement. Its main aim was to bring all political masters and civil servants under the ambit of an ombudsman system called Lokpal. Although the movement was a limited success and dissipated after some time, it has displayed the power of civil society in steering policy making in the desired direction. Governments at the national and state level have understood the gravity of the issue and tried to address the corruption menace to ease the growing unrest among the masses. The aim of this paper is to contextualise anti-corruption movement in India and to critically examine as to how the movement unfolded and mobilised civil society, pressurised Central Government to come to terms with the civil society and finally what it achieved. The paper also discusses relationship of civil society vis-a-vis State.