ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses factor's shaping India's nascent engagement with civil society organisations (CSO) in its official development cooperation partnerships. It focuses on universities, think tanks, and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) concerned with rights-based advocacy, welfare provision, and humanitarian assistance. In the 2000s, many international NGOs federated to produce Indian chapters of transnational networks, thus strengthening Indian voices in the national and international development community. Collaboration on South-South cooperation (SSC) issues among think tanks and advocacy organisations across the global South has evolved in interesting and innovative ways. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the wider foreign policy establishment comprise the part of government least open to dialogue and cooperation with nonstate actors. Activist organisations such as National Alliance of Peoples Movements (NAPM) and Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF) have extended activities of foreign critique to Indian MNCs operating overseas. Indian activist organisations, Kalpvriksha challenge the premise that agribusiness and other forms of investment-led economic growth will automatically improve citizen welfare.
