Civil Society as an overseer in Digital Governance

Abstract

Digital technology is increasingly transforming governance, reconfiguring how the state delivers services, governs society and engages with citizens. The rise of the digital public infrastructure and platform-based governance in India has maximised efficiency, access, but also raised concerns around surveillance, accountability, privacy and exclusion. As such, policy making becomes more and more based on data-driven and automatic setup. Democratic oversight is under increasing strain. This article investigates the oversight role of civil society in India’s digital policy architecture. It considers how civil society organisations, the media and civilian networked practices mediating through litigation, policy advocacy, research and public participation in order to understand digital power. The paper assesses the impact of these interventions on rights protection, transparency and policy making, as it diagnoses institutional, political and resource obstacles that dull their effectiveness. It argues that the requirement of accountability in e-governance is not only technical regulation but constant ongoing independent and participatory rule of civil society based on democracy and social justice.