Civil society” is a very loaded term. First of all, it implies that all those that are not part of it, are somehow uncivil, or possibly not part of society. Secondly, the use of the term implies that those covered by the term — and, truthfully, usually using it about themselves — have some particular worthiness that makes them able to more efficiently determine society’s direction than other members of the duly constituted electorate. (Most of whom have never heard of the term “civil society”.) This idea, that of particular worthiness, is the lie that has supported a thousand corrupt and self-serving oligarchies down the ages, and should never be trotted out without being refuted — especially when it is being used in the patently ridiculous manner in which it is currently being used, to support a frenzied campaign, created out of nothing, for Kiran Bedi as Chief Information Commissioner.

Of course, some will say that a group as varied as the one making a noise for Bedi — which includes, at last count, Aamir Khan the actor, Ramdev the yoga entrepreneur, activists Anand Kejriwal and Anna Hazare, and CEO-turned-intellectual Narayana Murthy — must be on to something. And surely they are representative? Mistaking variation for representation, however, is a mistake no first-year statistics or political science student would make. And, indeed, even could they somehow claim to be representative, it is also true that any workable democracy would require the executive to make decisions about appointments that are not subject to veto by self-appointed “representatives of the people.”

... contd.