Civil society: the biggest pillar of democracy

A photo essay that uses archival photographs to narrate collective efforts of people across India in the post-independence era, in fights for dignity, constitutional values, human rights, and a more humane society.

By Aastha Maggu

Published on : November 18, 2022

Civil society: the biggest pillar of democracy

The state in India tends to claim the vanguard’s role in facilitating radical social change through legal and administrative means. However, it is often the various oppressed social groups fighting for their rights that have demonstrated to the state, and the society at large, that there is nothing sectional about fighting for one’s rights. That the struggles for the rights of each one of us, are about ensuring the rights of every one of us. In this photo essay we try and tell the story of the India of a million mutinies, where claiming one’s human and constitutional rights often becomes a revolutionary act. The archival images of this piece narrate many collective efforts of people across India in the post-independence era, in fights for not only rights, but also for dignity and constitutional values, and for realizing the vision of a more humane society.

Bhoodan Movement

Place Unknown, 1951 – Vinoba Bhave
Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org