Day 21 – Q 3.Why have NGOs been controversial in India? How should NGOs be regulated? Discuss.
3. Why have NGOs been controversial in India? How should NGOs be regulated? Discuss.
भारत में गैर सरकारी संगठन विवादास्पद क्यों हैं? गैर सरकारी संगठनों को कैसे विनियमित किया जाना चाहिए? चर्चा करें।
Approach:
- Introduction
- Why have NGOs been controversial in India?
- How should NGOs be regulated.
- Conclusion
Introduction:
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is a non-profit, citizen-based group that functions independently of government. NGOs are organized on local, national and international levels to serve specific social or political purposes.
In India, NGOs can be registered under a plethora of Acts such as the Indian Societies Registration Act, 1860, Religious Endowments Act,1863, Indian Trusts Act, etc.
Why have NGOs been controversial in India?
- Stopping grants to NGOs who fail to file their income-expenditure statements. The court asked if it should pass an order to that effect.
- While there exists plethora of NGOs in India, only a handful of NGOs linked to politicians, bureaucrats or other high-profile individuals get hefty government funds.
- NGOs can receive foreign funds if they are registered with the Home Ministry under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA). Without this, no NGO can receive cash or anything of value higher than Rs 25,000.
Many FCRA-registered NGOs have been warned by the government for not filing mandatory contribution reports. - As per CBI report fewer than 10 per cent of NGOs in 20 states have filed balance sheets with the authorities.
- An IB report in past has alleged that several foreign-funded NGOs were stalling India’s economic growth by their obstructionist activism. The report accused Greenpeace of attempting to destabilize India’s energy mix in collusion with a US-based anti-coal lobbying group.
Challenge:
India has possibly the largest number of active NGOs in the world, but no specific number is available. A study commissioned by the government put the number of NGOs in 2009 at 33 lakh. That was one NGO for fewer than 400 Indians, and many times the number of primary schools and primary health centres.
Several NGOs have been complaining of undue or targeted harassment by the government under the IT Act and FCRA.
Regulation of NGOs: A high-power committee, headed by S. Vijay Kumar, has recommended several steps to ensure the “light regulation” of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) so as to reduce their harassment.
- The committee recommended that the registration procedures be modernised so as to facilitate the seamless operation of the applicable provisions of the IT (Income Tax) Act and FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) with respect to NGOs, without the need for cumbersome and intrusive processes.
- Less physical interface Steps must be taken to “reduce the need for a physical interface between NGOs and public officials acting under the IT Act and the FCRA, along with reduction in mutual distrust and scope for misuse.
- A nodal body to oversee the various interfaces between NGOs and the government, and the NITI Aayog be vested with the power.
- A separate law for voluntary agencies engaged in activities of a charitable or “public good” nature to enable more effective and efficient regulation of the sector.
- An overarching legislation with best practices that would replace various State-level and existing Central laws. Details of NGOs should be available as searchable database information.
Conclusion:
Regulation of NGOs is very much required but it should be ‘light’ and consistent with the fundamental rights, so as to give effect to the objects for which voluntarism is being promoted. The new framework should enable a “national uniformity” of approach following the principle of “cooperative federalism”.
Best answer: Ankita Jeph
