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Book Chapter: Role of Civil Society in Bangladesh: Challenges and Prospects,

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DOI: 10.1007/978-981-15-2393-9

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Edited by
Md. Nurul Momen · Rajendra Baikady
Cheng Sheng Li · Basavaraj M.

Building
Sustainable
Communities
Civil Society Response
in South Asia
 Contents xxiii
Contents
1 Introduction: Civil Society in the Era of Globalization—
Emerging Concerns as a Social Welfare Provider 1
Md. Nurul Momen, Rajendra Baikady, Cheng Sheng-Li,
and M. Basavaraj

Part I Changing South Asian Society and Developmental

Challenges 15

2 Role of Civil Society Organization in the Inclusion of

People with Deafblindness in South Asia: A Case Study
on Sense International India 29
Akhil Paul, Atul Jaiswal, Uttam Kumar, and Parag Namdeo

3 Samurdhi Programme as a Poverty Alleviation Strategy:

An Evaluation Study Based on Sri Bodhi Gramma
Village in Gampaha District in Sri Lanka 47
R. Lalitha S. Fernando, H. O. C. Gunasekara,
and H. K. S. Gunasekara
xix

4 Vulnerability of the Charland Dwellers to Climate

Change: Various Adaptation Practices in Bangladesh 75
Mahfuzul Haque

Part II The State Civil Society Organization and Social

Welfare 87

5 Media and NGOs: Strategic Effective Governance 99

Akbaruddin Ahmad, Rashidul Islam, and Touhid Alam

6 Role of Civil Society in Democratic Consolidation

Process in Bangladesh 115
Mostafijur Rahman

7 Civil Society and Political Change: Globalization

and Transforming Relations in South Asia 141
Anju Lis Kurian and C. Vinodan
xxii Contents
8 Democratic Practice and Good Governance in Nepal 151
Girdhari Dahal

9 Taxonomy of State-CSOs Relations in India 171

Binod Kumar

10 The Civil Struggle to Access Airwaves: Study on SARU

Community Radio Initiative in Sri Lanka 191
M. C. Rasmin and W. A. D. P. Wanigasundera

Part III Civil Society Initiatives for Women Welfare 211

11 Civil Society as the Guardian of Women’s Human

Rights in India 223
Bharti Chhibber

12 Role of Civil Society Organisations in Women

Empowerment: A Study of SKDRDP, India 241
Naveen Naik Karje and Anjali Kulkarni

13 Role and Contribution of Non-Governmental

Organizations in Women Empowerment: A Case
Study of the All Pakistan Women’s Association 263
Nasreen Aslam Shah

14 Civil Society’s Contribution to Women Empowerment:

Bangladesh Perspective 285
Tania Afrin Tonny and Jewel Ahmed

15 Women Empowerment: Impact Assessment of Select

Interventions by Various Third Sector Organizations
in India 301
K. N. Veena, Shashidhar Channappa, and V. J. Byra Reddy

Part IV Building Sustainable Communities: Civil Society

Response 315

16 Social Audit: A Tool to Access Social Justice 327

 Contents xxiii
Nitin Dhaktode

17 Social System Breakdown of Bangladesh Due

to Rohingya Crisis: In Search for Possible Solution 345
Md. Zahir Ahmed

18 Impact of Organic Farming on Sustainable Livelihood

of Farmers 361
Ramesha Naika, C. Sivapragasam, and
Sri Krishan Sudheer Patoju

19 Managerial Efficacy of Jagratha Samithi cum Family

Empowerment Forum: A Case Study of Panancherry
Panchayat 377
Neena Joseph

20 People with Disabilities: The Role of Social Workers

for Rehabilitation in Bangladesh 403
Isahaque Ali, Azlinda Azman, Paramjit Singh Jamir Singh,
Zulkarnain A. Hatta, Ndungi Wa Mungai,
Muhammud Shariful Islam, and Tahmina Akhtar

21 Poverty and Social Inequality: Bangladesh Experience 425

M. Rezaul Islam, Niaz Ahmed Khan, Adi Fahrudin,
Md. Rabiul Islam, and A. K. M. Monirul Islam

Part V Contemporary South Asian Civil Society: Issues,

Challenges and Concerns 453

22 Civil Society and Governance in South Asia: Issues

and Challenges 465
Abhishek Pratap Singh

23 Role of Civil Society in Bangladesh: Challenges and

Prospects 481
Md. Awal Hossain Mollah

24 Proactive Functions of CSOs in Post War Situations:

Importance of Having Branded CSOs (Learnings
xxii Contents
from Sri Lanka) 497
Jeganathan Thatparan

25 Scaling Up NGO Impact on Development in South Asia 503

Firdous Ahmad Dar
26 Making Sense of Civil Society: The Experience of
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nepal 521
Debasish Nandy

27 Civil Society, Political Stability and Peace-Building

in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka: A Comparative Study 547
Z. R. M. Abdullah Kaiser

Part VI Child Welfare in South Asia 571

28 Child Welfare Practices in Organizational and

Institutional Context of Bangladesh 585
Isahaque Ali, Azlinda Azman, Paramjit Singh Jamir Singh,
Zulkarnain A. Hatta, Muhammud Shariful Islam, and
Tahmina Akhtar

29 Trafficking of Children: Social Work Strategies

in Prevention and Reintegration 611
Lakshmana Govindappa

30 Efforts Towards Education: Looking into

Non-Government Support for Non-Formal Education
in Bangladesh 631
Gazi Arafat Uz Zaman Markony

Part VII Towards Achieving 2030 Agenda: Issues,

Challenges and Concerns 657

31 Popular Participation in Environmental Governance in

Non-Western Societies: Procedure and Application 673
A. K. M. Mahmudul Haque
xxiv Contents

32 Bridging Gender Gap in Bhutan: CSOs’ Response

to Gender Disparity 701
Pema Rinzin

33 Forest Rights Act 2006, Customary Laws,

and Sustainable Community Development:
Study on Lodha Tribe of West Bengal, India 717
Koustab Majumdar and Dipankar Chatterjee

34 Ensuring Safety for Women at Public Space:

Need and Approaches 733
M. Nagaraj Naik

35 We Are Stressed of Nuclear Power Plant: 2014 and 2017 747

Ghouse Basha Ahameed Mustafa and Prince Annadurai

36 Hajj and Umrah Management in Bangladesh:

Issues, Challenges and Human Rights Perspective 781
Isahaque Ali, Azlinda Azman, Paramjit Singh Jamir Singh,
Mahathir Yahaya, Zulkarnain A. Hatta, and Muhammud
Shariful Islam

37 Conclusion: The Modern Welfare States–Civil Society

Organization and the Welfare Challenges—Global
and Local Debates 803
Md. Nurul Momen, Rajendra Baikady, Cheng Sheng-Li, and
M. Basavaraj

Index 821
xxii Contents

23
Role of Civil Society in Bangladesh:
Challenges and Prospects
Md. Awal Hossain Mollah

Introduction
There are verities of opinions on the origin and development of the
concept of civil society. However, the thinking goes back many centuries
in Western thinking with its roots of Ancient Greece Roy (2015: 32). The
idea of civil society is considered as a modern concept since the eigh-
teenth century (at the time of political thinkers Thomas Paine to George
Hegel) and the notion of civil society is used as a separate domain par-
allel to the states (Carothers 1999). It is one of the vital instruments of
social life that is voluntary, self-generating, self-supporting, autonomous
from the state and bound by a legal or shared set of rules. This chapter
highlights the role of civil society in various aspects of the governance of
Bangladesh. It is found that there are lots of challenges that have been
facing civil society in Bangladesh since its independence but their contri-
bution to development and governance is enormous. In recent days, the
respect and concentration of government and political parties to the civil

Md. A. H. Mollah (*)

Department of Public Administration, University of Rajshahi,
Rajshahi, Bangladesh

© The Author(s) 2020 481

Md. N. Momen et al. (eds.), Building Sustainable Communities,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2393-9_23
482 Md. A. H. Mollah

society organizations (CSOs) are increasing. This is a light of hope for the
democratic values of Bangladesh.

Civil Society: A Conceptual Voyage

The term civil society is a much talked and articulated word, and originates
from Aristotle’s expression ‘koinōnía politikḗ’, which means a network
described by a mutual understanding and shared values based on civil
law (Nezhina 2017). The idea of civil society is usually defined as space
and buffer between the state and market where individuals publicly
debate with political and national issues related to the interest of com-
mon people (Walzer 1995). There are numerous varieties in the defini-
tion of civil society and there is no universally accepted definition.
According to Veneklasen, “Civil society is a sphere of social interaction
between the household (family) and the state which is manifested in the
norms of community cooperative, structures of voluntary association
and networks of public communication norms are values of trust, reci-
procity, tolerance, and inclusion, which are critical to cooperation and
community problem solving, structure of association refers to the full
range of informal and formal organization through which citizens
pursue common interests” (Veneklasen 2003). Civil society, according to
Harry Blair (2000), “comprises the collective of those social organi-
zations that enjoy autonomy from the state, and have as one important
goal, among others, to influence the state, one behalf of their mem-
bers”. Connor has also expressed a similar view, “civil society is composed
of autonomous associations which develop a dense, diverse and plural-
istic network. As it develops, civil society will consist of a range of local
groups, specialized organizations and linkages between them to amplify
the corrective voices of civil society as a partner in governance and the
market” (Connor 1999). The World Bank defined from a different
viewpoint, according to the bank, “Civil Society Organizations (hereafter
CSOs) refers to a wide of arrays of organizations: community groups,
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), labor unions, indigenous
groups, charitable organizations, faith-based organizations, professional
associations, and foundations” (The World Bank 2010). Some cardinal
 23 Role of Civil Society in Bangladesh: Challenges and Prospects 483

features of civil societies have been identified by reviewing various

definitions:

1. Separated from but buffer between the state and the market;
2. Formed by the people who have common needs, interests and values
like tolerance, inclusion, cooperation and equality;
3. Non-political and non-bureaucratic;
4. Non-governmental and non-profit organization but work for the
wellbeing of common people; and finally,
5. Develop by an autonomous process that cannot easily be controlled
from outside.

Thus, we can say, civil society encompasses all non-political, non-

bureaucratic, non-military, non-governmental and non-profit organiza-
tions and institutions that manifest interest and will of citizens; individuals
and organizations in a society which are independent of the control of the
government. It criticizes constructively against any public interest activi-
ties of the government. Strong civil society is pivotal for accountability
and transparency, democracy, sound law and order situations, welfare
or sustainable development, democratic leadership and the absence of
arbitrariness, which are the core elements of good governance.
For better understanding, Hye (2000) mentioned a profile of civil
society, which indicates various types of civil society’s organizations and
their activities which are worth mention (Table 23.1).
From the aforementioned profile, it is clear that members of civil soci-
ety are active in diverse and wide-ranging areas and ultimately contribute
to better governance. It is significant that in almost all countries, the
number of CSOs is increasing by the scope of activities. To the extent of
civil society expands, the government can withdraw into core areas of
competence and where lumpy investment is required (major public infra-
structure projects). Not only as a substitute for government in selected
areas but also for articulating demand by their members for services pro-
vided by government agencies, civil society can assume a crucial role. On
the other hand, in cases where some of the institutions in civil society
provide limited public goods (primary health care, primary education,
etc.) and consumer goods, they set a standard of quality and price-fixing
484 Md. A. H. Mollah

Table 23.1 Civil society profile

Organizations
of civil society Activities Out comes
1. Media (Press, 1. Public opinion forming, information Better
Radio, TV) dissemination Governance
2. Trade Union 2. Collective bargaining and awareness
3. Professional creation among members about their
Bodies rights and public policies relating to
4. Private them.
Voluntary 3. Maintaining high standard of the
Organization profession, protecting the rights of the
5. Sports and members, promotion of interests, etc.
cultural 4. Advocacy of social change in particular
bodies areas, provision of limited public goods
6. Social welfare to their clientele (credit, primary health,
organization adult literacy, etc.) manufacture and
distribution of consumer goods to
member of the public (milk processing,
fisheries, textile etc.) protection of the
rights of disadvantaged groups (e.g.
minorities, tribal people, destitute
women, street children, etc.).
5. Promotion of sports and culture through
the activities of their members.
6. Promotion of social welfare of members
or limited clientele in particular areas
through voluntary services of various
types.
Source: Hye, Hasnat Abdul (2000: 27)

against which performance of public sector agencies and private compa-

nies can be compared. Because of this, actual and potential role expan-
sion of civil society is an effective mechanism for the promotion of good
governance. In recent years, the role of civil society has been seen as con-
tributing to the accumulation of ‘social capital’, which is the community’s
capacity to participate in and benefit from development activities. Related
to the concepts of social capital is a useful idea that it functions through
and with government and markets, not in place of them. Thus, the appar-
ent competitive or substitute relation between civil society on the one
hand, and government and private sector on the other, dissolves into an
 23 Role of Civil Society in Bangladesh: Challenges and Prospects 485

interdependent network of synergistic development potentials. Good

governance thus can be promoted not only through the autonomous
emergence of civil society as a dynamic sector of development and change
but also based on active promotion by the government through public
policies and healthy competition with the private sector. Civil society as
a participant in the business of governance has to demonstrate many of
the same attributes applicable to the government and private sector.
Among these attributes, accountability (to the clientele/community),
transparency (to the greater public and the clientele), participation,
empowerment, efficiency, the fairness of price and fees charged (e.g.
interest rate for microcredit) may be mentioned (Hye 2000). On the
other hand, the role of mass media as civil society organizations has a
great impact on governance. It is now shaping the public opinion on
every single issue of our existence-national as well as international.
Finally, the expansion of civil society is a key component of political
liberalization, which promotes such civil rights as freedom of opinion,
speech, faith and assembly; and the right of life, security and the owner-
ship of property, which ultimately contributes to good governance.

Role of Civil Society in Bangladesh

The role of civil society is increasing through globalization; use of infor-
mation and communication technology (ICT); right to information;
political; and many other public interest activities of Asia, Africa and
Latin America (Fisher 1993; Brown and Korten 1989). From poverty
alleviation to good governance and human rights ensuring programmes
have been initiated by CSOs. Thus, civil society has been widely recog-
nized as the ‘third’ sector of a state. In Bangladesh, NGOs are contribut-
ing significantly to alleviate poverty through microcredit programmes.
Besides, many other CSOs are working for women empowerment,
human rights, better governance and democracy. The contributions of
civil society in some aspects of state management in the context of
Bangladesh have been analysed further.
486 Md. A. H. Mollah

Democratic Governance

In Bangladesh, many CSOs are working for democratic governance. For

example, Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Citizens for Good Governance),
known as SHUJAN, Janipap, Broti and Election Working Group (EWG)
are working for democratic governance. They work as election observers
to watch and evaluate the fairness and credibility of elections. The EWG
mentioned that in the recent election in Gazipur City Corporation held
on 26 June 2018, around half of (46%) poling centres found irregulari-
ties (EWG 2018). The CSOs also works for level playing field before the
election. They campaign for awaking people so that every person can
apply their voting right. The SHUJAN also arranged dialogue pro-
grammes among various political parties so that election can hold freely
and fairly based on consensus. Thus, CSOs are working as an important
agent for promoting good governance like transparency and accountabil-
ity of the government. However, the pathetic side is very few ruling party
or government never care and respect to the suggestions of CSOs. As a
result, the tenth parliamentary election held in 2014 was neither free nor
competitive or participatory. Only 39% reported by Election commis-
sion but 25% of votes were cast reported by election observers CSOs
(Mollah and Jahan 2018). Khan (2015) mentioned that after the dis-
puted elections on 5 January 2014, many governments, inclusive of the
United States, Canada, Germany and others, called for credible elections
to remedy the ongoing crisis.
Apart from these, CSOs always criticize government activities and policy
initiatives that are against the public interest. Some CSOs like Transparency
International Bangladesh (TIB), Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), peri-
odically disclose their reports publicly about the corruption of public sec-
tors and economic situation. Thus, CSOs are working on accountability,
transparency and various aspects of governance in Bangladesh.

Socio-Economic Development Through Microcredit

Thousands of NGOs are working in Bangladesh for socio-economic

development and women empowerment since independence. Here all
those NGOs are considered as part of CSOs that are working for not
 23 Role of Civil Society in Bangladesh: Challenges and Prospects 487

profit and wellbeing of society. By this time, Dr Yunis, the founder of

Grameen Bank, has been awarded Nobel Prize in peace and Dr Fazle
Hossain Abed, founder and chairman of BRAC, received several world-
renowned awards for contribution in poverty alleviation. These two
persons have been recognized worldwide for microcredit programmes to
alleviate poverty from rural areas of Bangladesh. This is now used as
a model throughout the world. Like these, many other NGOs (ASHA,
TMSS, MOUSUMI, NEJRA KORI, etc.) are working for socio-
economic development in Bangladesh. Though there are a lot of criti-
cisms against the microcredit programme, it has a great positive impact
which I have found in many known families who are living in villages of
Narail district in Bangladesh. In a study, Roy et al. (2017) mentioned
that nearly four million villagers borrowed microcredit from BRAC and
the number of Grameen Bank microcredit borrower was 8.64 million by
the year 2014. These microcredit borrowers have changed their fate by
using this money. Similarly, TMSS and other NGOs are also working on
poverty alleviation and economic development. Apart from microcredit,
these NGOs are contributing to the development of the social, education
and health sectors. For instance, private medical college and nursing
institutes of TMSS, BRAC University, BRAC schools for poor and vul-
nerable children have established institutes of NGOs in Bangladesh.

Rule of Law and Human Rights

Rule of law and human rights are the two basic ingredients of democracy
and good governance. In Bangladesh, some Human Rights defenders
organizations are working as part of CSOs for ensuring the rule of law
and human rights in Bangladesh. These organizations are very active
against any kind of rights-violating activities of government or any other
private parties or individuals. For instance, Bangladesh Mahila Parishad
(BMP), Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), Ain o Salish
Kendra (ASK), BRAC and Nijera Kori are working for promoting the
rule of law and human rights in Bangladesh. Besides, they are working
for combating corruption and misuse of public power like extrajudicial
killing by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and other law enforcement
agencies in the name of crossfire or encounter in Bangladesh. In a report,
488 Md. A. H. Mollah

ASK, one of the CSOs, mentioned that a total of 275 people have been
killed by law enforcers through open crossfire, shootout and gunfight
during 1 January to 30 June in 2018 (Daily Star 2018). The CSOs also
challenged the authorities’ failure to address extrajudicial punishments
imposed by shalishes in the name of fatwas, opinions that are supposed to
be issued by Islamic scholars (Mollah 2014). These private punishments
are significantly harmful to women’s and girls’ lives and health.

Public Interest and Protection of Environment

Public interest including sound environment is one of the requirements

of sound people, development and good governance. Some CSOs in
Bangladesh like BELA and BAPA are working to protect the environ-
ment, generate awareness, educate the actors and create values in the soci-
ety. The CSOs have filed around hundreds of public interest environmental
litigation (PIEL) cases and the judiciary delivered verdicts related to the
protection of environmental rights of citizens (Mollah 2014). In the case
of Dr. Mohiuddin Farooque v. Bangladesh and Others, the court declared,
“right to life includes right to fresh air and water in which one can expect
normal longevity of life”. Similarly, the High Court also directed the
concerned authority of the government to remove all the ternary farms
and industries from Hazari Berg (Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh) to Savar.
Some CSOs, for instance, the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas,
Mineral Resources, Power and Port (Lead by Anu Muhammad), are fighting
against the Rampal coal power plant project to save the Sundarban, the
largest mangrove forest in the world. According to them, the project will
destroy the ecosystem and adversely affect more than two million people
who depend on the Sundarban region, such as woodcutters, fishermen
and honey gatherers.

Policy Dialogue

Policy dialogue is one of the very crucial instruments of CSOs to make a

government transparent, accountable and participatory to common peo-
ple. In Bangladesh, some CSOs like TIB, CPD, and most of the TV
 23 Role of Civil Society in Bangladesh: Challenges and Prospects 489

channels have been playing this role for the past ten years or more. They
arrange programmes on contemporary issues of politics, economics and
governance in Bangladesh. Talk show on TV channels is very active in
Bangladesh. Every day most of the TV channels conduct talk show at
midnight and re-telecast the next day. For example, the Rohingya issue is
now burning and most prioritize talk shows in Bangladesh. In a talk
show, at least two experts may be politicians, retired bureaucrats, practi-
tioners, MPS, Ministers, journalists university teachers or members of
any other CSOs attened and present in a TV studio on a given topic and
critically analyse various issues. Therefore, it is a very important way of
disseminating information to the people and makes a solution to any
problem of state affairs. Media as a part of CSOs is playing a very signifi-
cant role in policy dialogue.
Apart from this, media disclose every incidence positive or negative to
the public by their reports print or electronic ways. Through media
reports, people can know every step good or bad of government. Thus,
CSOs have been ensuring transparency and accountability of government.
How far the rule of law, independence of the judiciary and human
rights are ensuring or violating is known by media. Therefore, media is
the nerve centre of communication and administration.
However, a pertinent question is augment—how far the media is inde-
pendent in Bangladesh? Since its independence, the government media
TV and radio channels are completely controlled by the government but
most of the private channels and newspapers are almost autonomous to
broadcast their news and reports. However, critics and owners of private
channels are still claiming and blaming that they are not completely free
from the intervention of government. Besides, it is noticed that most of
the think tank civil society members, daily newspapers and satellite TV
channels are polarized by the ideology of politics. They are influenced by
two mainstreamed politics—lefties (lead by AL allies) and rightists (lead
by BNP allies). Therefore, the civil society of Bangladesh is criticized by
the common people as they lost their fairness and neutrality. If we want
to evaluate the effectiveness of CSOs’ role, how far the opinions or sug-
gestions are accepted by the government or other political parties? For the
past 40 years, it has been witnessed that governments have never cared (or
little care) to follow their suggestions.
490 Md. A. H. Mollah

Most of the talkers of TV talk show have been used as a paid think
tank of political parties.

Movement for Changes

Some times CSOs are playing a key role to change society or state. In
Bangladesh, we have some realities like this. Before the independence of
the country, the intellectual, press and media, writers, journalists, poets
and novelists even students also play their role as civil society, for exam-
ple, at the time of language movement in 1948, mass movement 1969 for
self-autonomy and liberation war in 1971 against Pakistani ruler.
Recently, internet-based social media like Facebook is playing a revolu-
tionary role in changing the social and political environment in
Bangladesh. Facebook is using as a platform of all sorts of people, includ-
ing students, school teachers to university teachers, politicians, bureau-
crats, change-makers, environmentalists, players, poets, writers,
journalists, columnists, scientists and like these who are very active in
social media. We can mention an instance; on 29 July 2018, two college
students (Dia Khanam Meem and Abdul Karim Rajib) of Shaheed Ramiz
Uddin Cantonment School and College were killed in an accident by a
reckless bus driving on Dhaka Airport road (Dhaka Tribune, 29 July
2018). Millions of students were gathered instantly with placard, banner,
festoon and slogan through a Facebook message to protest road accidents.
Many university teachers, political leaders, some ministers and human
right activist and common people also joined with them. Their gathering
turned as a mass movement against road accidents, for optimum punish-
ment and a new law for road safety. The government compelled to accept
their demand within a week and took initiatives for road safety, and
approved a draft of Road Transport Act 2018 in cabinet meeting with a
maximum penalty of five years jail and a fine of Bangladeshi Taka (BDT)
500,000 ($5000) for driver involved in reckless driving (The Daily Star, 7
August 2018). The government also compensates two million Bangladeshi
Taka per victim. Along with these, five buses have been donated for the
students of the victims’ school and college mentioned earlier. Similarly,
Gonojagoran Mancho, a Facebook-based organization, is working
 23 Role of Civil Society in Bangladesh: Challenges and Prospects 491

pro-actively against any anti-public interest activities of public or private

individuals like violence against women (rape), extrajudicial torture,
punishment, killing, leakage of questions before the public exam and like
these. Thus, CSOs are working for social, political and policy changes.

Challenges and Prospect of Civil Society

in Bangladesh
Though CSOs (especially right-based) in South Asia including Bangladesh
are working very actively, they are facing a lot of challenges. A few can be
mentioned here.
Firstly, CSOs are not institutionalized for even years. Since indepen-
dence, Bangladesh started its’ journey as a democratic state but still suf-
fering from a lack of democratic practice. The scope of people’s
participation and participation of civil society in governance is limited. Ill
and chaotic politics dominated by political leadership damaged and
dwarfed these institutions. The fragility of democracy is rooted in the
politics of division and confrontation in Bangladesh, which is a major
impediment of development. CSOs can play a significant role in reshap-
ing these realities. They can contribute to improving the malpractice of
politics and democratic culture in the greater interest of society as they
more or less linked with a political ideology and philosophy (Shelley
2017). However, most of the CSOs are divided by political ideology and
expressed their views and opinions as a tail of political parties. The mem-
bers of CSOs are talking in various forums, meetings, sittings, seminars
and symposiums basically for gaining their interest, not for the public
interest. For instance, to get favour from ruling party or when the party
will come in power, they will get a position like a member of Election
Commission, Chairman of Human Rights Commission, Governor of
Bangladesh Bank or other.
Secondly, grass root people are still under the light of the spirit of
CSOs and they have little knowledge about CSOs and they do not have
adequate knowledge about the benefits that can be received from these
organizations.
492 Md. A. H. Mollah

Thirdly, the majority of the members of civil society are emerged and
playing a role as retired bureaucrats or military bureaucrats in Bangladesh.
As a result, their mission and vision are more or less for the interest of the
Elite class instead of common people. Therefore, the impact of the policy
outcomes of CSOs is reflected in Bangladeshi governance to ensure the
dominating class of society.
Finally, the CSOs who are solely working for the common people or
vulnerable sections of society like human rights defender organizations
and NGOs are facing numerous challenges to work independently.
Sometimes government arrested the activist like Adilur Rahman Khan,
secretary of Bangladeshi human rights organization Odhikar, and
Mahmudur Rahman, owner and editor of Amar Desh daily newspaper on
charges of ‘fabricating information’ about atrocities committed by state
security forces though those organizations rejected this claim (The
Guardian 2013). Also, it has been found that the organizations that are
working for violence against women, children and extrajudicial killing
are also pending for years to implement the verdict of the Supreme Court.
Thus, the CSOs are facing challenges in Bangladesh.
Apart from this, few organizations are very actively working for public
interest and promoting law and order situation in Bangladesh instead of
misuse and colourable exercise of government power. CSOs took a lot of
initiatives to protect human rights, protection of the environment, arbi-
trary arrest and detention, combating violence against women and chil-
dren, and extra-judicial killing. Each year they publish their annual
reports disclosing total incidences of female trafficking and acid attack on
women, extra-judicial punishment, killing, disappearance, torture in cus-
tody and other forms of violations of human rights. They also help vic-
tims with legal assistance through public interest litigation and
awareness-building programmes. A lot of NGOs are working as non-
profit organizations in Bangladesh and there is no scope to deny their
contribution to alleviating poverty and empowering women in
Bangladesh. Day by day, common people, media and even government
are awaking of the importance of CSOs. The government took several
initiatives for developing CSOs like NGO Affairs Bureau and created
essential laws and rules to institutionalize this sector.
 23 Role of Civil Society in Bangladesh: Challenges and Prospects 493

Apart from these, as part of CSOs, the intellectuals, poets, student

organizations and social media like Facebook activists are very active
against any kind of inhuman and violence against human rights. For
instance, the role of students was very crucial in the 1990s to fall of
autocratic government and restored democracy. In recent years,
Gonojagoran Mancho, a Facebook-based organization is working pro-
actively against any anti-public interest activities of public or private
individuals like violence against women (rape), extrajudicial torture,
punishment, killing and like these. Thus, the prospects of CSOs are
very bright in Bangladesh.

Conclusion
From the review of this chapter, it has been revealed that the CSO is
one of the vital instruments of development, poverty alleviation, advo-
cating policy change and contributing to democratic governance. The
CSOs in this study have been found as a form of combined and coop-
erative roles separate from the state, market and family. Besides, politi-
cal actors and ideology have influenced the civil society in Bangladesh.
It has been politicized and polarized by the political parties. Eventually,
the capacity of CSOs has been abridged to generate public trust, demo-
cratic norms and articulate public interest and monitor government
actions. Therefore, civil society is yet to emerge as a vigilante force to
uphold good governance and consolidate democracy. The CSOs are fac-
ing numerous problems and challenges in Bangladesh but there are
ample prospects too. For better governance, democracy and sustainable
economic development in Bangladesh there is no alternative to free and
fair civil society. Civil society and its prospects to contribute to demo-
cratic governance are determined by a blend of diverse factors like his-
tory, politics, social, culture, external influence and regulatory
framework. Therefore, all the CSOs should act as all kinds of influence
free independent non-profit organization. The strong voice of the
vibrant civil society is inseparable for ensuring democracy and good
governance. The role of civil society has a great impact on the
494 Md. A. H. Mollah

governance of Bangladesh. And it is expected to the political govern-

ment that they should have respect to the civil society and make sure
their participation as far as possible in public welfare-related policy
issues for ensuring good governance which mass people expect.

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