NGO boom in India not a welcome sign

The first-ever exercise to map registered NGOs has disclosed that India has at least 3.1 million of these – more than double the number of schools in the country, 250 times the number of government hospitals, and one NGO for 400 people as against one policeman for 709 people. When there are so many of these, there is an unhealthy race for money and attention.

These NGOs raise Rs 4,000 million – Rs 8,000 million in funding annually and most goes into maintaining the staff. NGOs form the no profit sector and are usually associated with selfless and committed work for the welfare of people. But sadly, not all NGOs are necessarily formed for altruistic reasons, because in some cases forming an NGO makes good economic sense, to the founder. Many NGOs are painfully mired in corruption and misappropriation of funds.

Civil society as a whole, and NGOs as a major part of it, has successfully campaigned to make human rights discourse and environmental issues a part of mainstream political agendas. They have also been instrumental in highlighting issues such as gender-based and religiously-driven segregation and discrimination, besides creating public awareness on health, education and sanitation.

But most importantly, they have been leading public opinion on the need to hold public representatives and government officials accountable, and on demanding transparency and rule of law in government postings, awards of public sector contracts, and the allocation and disbursal of public money.

NGOs working in the humanitarian and development sectors won official approval in the 1980s and 90s, but there are signs now that these are losing favour. The sector stands accused by some of complacency and self-interest, and of being ineffectual and irrelevant on the other. My involvement with the NGO sector for almost four decades has been a story of disillusionment. I have seen so many NGOs existing only in eye-popping websites and fancy brochures.

There is often a total lack of professionalism and transparency, exploitation of staff which is underpaid and much of the grant money is often siphoned off to the personal coffers of NGO promoters. The Indian laws that govern NGOs are very weak and since most NGOs have political affiliations, political parties have a vested interest in not arming them with stronger teeth.

The two laws that govern them were framed over a century ago by the British, when social and political ethics were of the highest order and the administration of laws was very stringent. These two legal regulations are: Societies Registration Act, 1860 and The Indian Trusts Act, 1882

With a mammoth size of the NGO sector, it is impossible for the State to effectively monitor and supervise these. The corporatised NGOs are subject to stringent supervision by the RBI, whereas the ordinary NGOs, which account for 90%, operate almost without any supervision.

Critics are quick to point out that NGOs don’t practise what they preach, avoid accountability and transparency and are quite averse to any form of regulation which they feel could be intrusive to their autonomy. Financial management and accounting is one area where they will fiercely resist external scrutiny. Absence of accountability sometimes leads NGOs to fund projects, which end up achieving results directly opposed to what they had originally aimed for.

The burgeoning NGO sector is thus not a welcome sign. It signals continuing manifestation of corruption and embezzlement of precious grants and donor funds meant for the poor and marginalized sections of society. These groups still languish even when huge funds continue to be deployed in the system for their welfare.

By Moin Qazi