Increasing chasm between civil society and government in India

 I had recently  an opportunity to participate in a conference in New Delhi  on education .It was organised by a prestigious  civil society organisation .What struck me , after going through the list of speakers and the participants that there was no one from government of India or any of the state governments .On inquiry , I was told that  despite invitations , no  delegate  from any of the central or state governments  cared to attend this otherwise very sincere and meaningful effort.

                      There is no doubt that India is a low trust society , and no one trusts any one .The situation is more serious when it comes to trusting government  representatives.On the other side , government representatives also have very  little trust in civil society .And as the above  conference revealed to me  , this  chasm between the civil society and the government is increasing .This has alarmed even me , who has seen and experienced this increasing   distance between the civil society and the government, over the past three decades or so.This does not augur well for our country , which needs better governance  from the government , with new ideas and support from  the civil society organisations.It is not an easy  goal , but it has to be reached.