A vibrant and sound civil society is essential for the
existence and growth of democracy.
The civil society is “an ecosystem of organized and
organic social and cultural relations existing in the space between the state,
business and family, which builds on indigenous and external knowledge, values,
traditions, and principles to foster collaboration and the achievement of
specific goals by and among 1 citizen and other stakeholders”. The
United Nations and the World Bank have recognized civil
society as the third sector in society along with government and business. The
primary reason for the emergence of civil society was modernization and
industrialization witnessed in the late 18 and 19 centuries.
The concept of civil society was first used to identify a
space where social relations were based on the free association of individuals,
rather than a fixed hierarchy of legal institutions.
According to several scholars such as Georg Hegel and
Karl Marx, civil society was one arena that included society and even economics
but not the state. Today, civil society includes all the voluntary organizations
and informal networks which provide a platform for individual engagement in
public activities.
These activities are different from government workings
because the former is voluntary. Also, unlike the private market mechanism,
such activities aim at social welfare and the public good.
The term civil society encompasses several organizations
such as labour unions, professional associations, chambers of commerce,
religion-based organizations, students groups, cultural societies, sports clubs,
informal community groups, groups of animal rights activists, and
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), to name a few.
Non-Governmental Organizations: A General
Understanding
The term non-governmental organization (NGO) became a
part of common parlance only with the establishment of the United Nations in
1945. However, this is not to say that NGOs had not existed in the history of
mankind.
The history is replete with examples of NGOs that had
played an active role in providing services and fulfilling the needs of people
such as humanitarian associations that had flourished along the Chinese rivers
in the 13th century.
The Society for the Recovery of the Drowned in the
Amsterdam in the 17th century
or the anti-slavery groups established in the Atlantic World in the late 18th
and early 19th centuries.
Even the predecessor of the United Nations, the League of Nations had referred
to such bodies as 'private organizations'.
Today, the horizons of the term NGO have been broadened
to include different labels such as 'non-profit organization' in American
politics and 'voluntary or charity organization' in the European culture. There
is no one accepted definition of an NGO.
Three Characteristics of an NGO
Three major features characterize an NGO. The first
characteristic is that an NGO is formed voluntarily; the second feature is the
independence of NGO from political control, and the third attribute is its
not-for-profit and not self-serving nature.
Today, NGOs have been identified as critical to the
effective functioning of democracy because of their advocacy and monitoring
functions in the areas of development, environment, human rights and
humanitarian action.
Non-Governmental Organizations in India Historically, the
existence of NGOs in India has been based on concepts of daana (giving) and Seva
(service).
During the British period, the number of NGOs grew
significantly and most of them worked to promote social welfare and education.
During the second half of the 19th century, the rising tide of nationalism
emphasized 'self-help' as a major objective of all sociopolitical movements.
Thus, several organizations were formed during this
period such as the Friend-in need Society (1858), Prathana Samaj (1864), Satya
Shodhak Samaj (1873), Arya Samaj (1875), the National Council for Women in
India (1875), and the Indian National Conference (1887).
In 1860, the British government passed the Societies
Registration Act to grant legal status to the growing number of NGOs in India.
The secular
voluntary sector in India was further strengthened with the establishment of
'Servants of India' in 1905. In the early 20th century, Mahatma
Gandhi popularized the idea of 3 'voluntary actions' and 'social responsibility
for the development of India and its people.
After independence, the first five-year plan recognized
the importance of NGOs in social and economic development. In 1953, the Central
Social Welfare Board was set up to encourage social welfare activities and
promote people's participation programs through NGOs.
The financial support provided by the Central Social
Welfare Board resulted in the growth of professional NGOs in India. The
decentralization in the late 1950s was accompanied by the birth of several
farmers unions and agricultural cooperatives, and thus networking among various
NGOs became common.
In response to this networking, the Association for
Voluntary Agencies for Rural Development (AVARD) was established in 1958. This
was one of the first attempts in India to bring together various NGOs under one
roof.
Beginning of establishment of NGO’s
The two consecutive draughts of 1965-66 and 1966-67
marked the entry of international NGOs in India. Subsequently, many of these
international NGOs set up their permanent local operations in India. At the
same time, many local NGOs in India began to receive foreign funding.
During the 1970s, many foreign-trained Indians joined
NGOs which resulted in the professionalization of the NGO sector in India. This
was also the time when many welfares and empowerment oriented organizations emerged
that focused on development, civil liberties, education, environment, health
and livelihood.
In the 1980s, the NGOs were recognized as development
partners of the state and they were required to work at the grassroots level,
advocate and mobilize the marginalized for the protection of their rights.
However, the structural adjustment programmes of the
1990s and the bilateral and multilateral funding chanelled through the
government to NGOs made it difficult for the latter to respond effectively to
social and economic exploitation at the grassroots level.
Since the
beginning of the 21 century, the government has taken several initiatives to
improve the working of NGOs.
For instance, it has established various institutions to
promote the funding of NGOs such as Khadi and Village Industries Cooperatives,
Central Social Welfare Board, National Wasteland Development Board and Council
for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART).
In May 2007, the government also passed the National Policy
on the Voluntary Sector as a preliminary step in developing a new working
relationship between the government and NGOs.
This policy has recognized the important role played by
NGOs in finding novel solutions to problems of poverty, deprivation, discrimination
and exclusion through awareness-raising, social mobilization, service delivery,
training, research, and advocacy.
Other initiatives undertaken by the government include
simplification of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, the introduction
of training modules for government employees on constructive relations with
NGOs, identification of national collaborative programs to be implemented in
partnership with NGOs, and recognition of excellence in governance among NGOs
by publicizing best practices.
Challenges to Participation of
Non-Governmental Organizations in Indian Democracy
Today, there are more than three million NGOs in India.
However, unlike the NGOs of western countries, most of the Indian NGOs are
small and heavily dependent upon volunteers. Most of the NGOs lack financial
resources due to their voluntary and not-for-profit nature.
As a result, they do not have adequate staff to carry out
their functions. According to a survey conducted by Society for Participatory
Research in Asia (PRIA), about seventy-four percent of NGOs in India have one
or no 5 paid staff.
Due to the financial constraints, the NGOs are mainly
dependent upon the government for funding. Such reliance on government funding
has raised questions on their autonomy and many view them as mere implementers
of public sector projects.
Also, the NGO sector in India lacks transparency and
credibility. Over the years, the government has blacklisted numerous NGOs for
fund misappropriation and their relationships with extremists groups.
For instance, in 2003, the Indian Home Ministry
blacklisted more than 800 NGOs in the north-eastern region of the country for
links with extremist groups. Moreover, there have been cases where NGOs have
been used as conduits for money laundering.
Thus, the lack of transparency in the working of NGOs
discourages people from donating funds for charitable purposes or participating
actively in their activities. Apart from these challenges, the NGOs also face
the problem of leadership crisis.
Often, the individuals join NGOs to further their
political interests of joining higher decision making bodies in the country.
Sometimes, the NGOs find it hard to recruit trained professionals as the former
do not have the finances to pay appropriate salaries to them.
Further, the absence of coordination between NGOs
existing at local, state and national levels has resulted in various problems
such as overlapping, duplication and non-coordination. Lack of coordination
makes it impossible for NGOs to offer a united resistance against the
oppressive policies of the government.
Conclusion
The presence of NGOs is essential for the effective
functioning of any democracy. Indian democracy has a vibrant NGO sector as is
evident from the number of NGOs that exist in India. These NGOs work in many
areas such as development, environment, human rights, humanitarian action,
poverty, education and health.
However, the NGOs in Indian democracy have been unable to
play their advocacy and monitoring roles successfully due to several challenges
that they face in their everyday functioning. There is no doubt that the
governments have taken various initiatives to support NGOs in meeting their
objectives.
But further steps need to be taken by the government to make NGOs more transparent, accountable and effective. One of the principal ways in which the government can achieve these objectives is by liberalizing the rules and regulations of grants-in-aid and granting more funds to NGOs.
Written By - Chavi Goel
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