Published on 15 December 2020 Niranjan Nampoothiri There is increasing evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the shrinking of civic space around the world. Several leaders responded to the health crisis and reduced civic freedoms, clamped down on dissent, and made politically motivated arrests. At first glance, it looks like State-society relations have shifted with States taking more power, particularly in more authoritarian States. However, societies across the world have also witnessed the rise of mass protests during the pandemic which suggests that civil society has sought to hold States accountable despite restrictions. Credit: Kaizenify, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons One example is the farmers’ protest in India in response to the government’s hasty enactment of three laws relating to the deregulation of agriculture and were strongly opposed by opposition parties and farmer unions. The protestors demanded the withdrawal of these laws which removed the guaranteed Minimum Support Price for crops. It illustrates how the pandemic has helped the authorities use the health crisis to hastily pass laws and impose further crackdown on any dissent from protestors.