SPEAKING ALOUD
[ Arun Maira, Harivansh , Shankar Venkateswaran, Riaz Quadir, Harmala Gupta, Kabir Mustafi. ]
In the March issue of Civil Society we reported the findings of an opinion poll conducted by GFK Mode on perceptions about social sector organisations. The government and judiciary were also rated. Here we print a collection of viewson the poll’s findings. Over to HARMALA GUPTA
RECENTLY, while having a discussion with a doctor
from Bangladesh, I was surprised to hear from him
that the acronym NGO has a very negative connotation
in Bangladesh. I was surprised because Bangladesh
has NGOs that are often held up as models worthy of
emulation elsewhere. Obviously, things look quite different
from the inside.
On further reflection, I realised that the phenomenal
growth of NGOs in Bangladesh has occurred because of a
lack of governance. Successive governments have not
even tried to meet the needs and aspirations of the ordinary person for a better
life. Therefore, rather than representing a symbol of
success, NGOs, at least for middle class Bangladeshis,
have come to signify all that is wrong with their country.
The fact that NGOs may have an image problem is,
therefore, not as important an issue as their omnipresence
and all pervasiveness. So for me, the finding that
only 23 per cent of the young are “very satisfied” with the
performance of the central government and only 21 per
cent with the judiciary is a much more significant and
ominous fact than what they may think of NGOs.
It is not NGOs that need an image lift and greater credibility
but rather the government and the judiciary. At best,
NGOs can act as advocates and play a watchdog role and
offer supplementary support and services. They cannot
and should not become a substitute for good governance.
By their very nature, NGOs are susceptible to influence
and manipulation both from within and from outside and
will always have a credibility problem. They are dependent
on donations for survival and may be run by
unscrupulous people who are far from democratic and honest in their manner of functioning. Currently, in India, we have no independent
agency that monitors NGOs and can take punitive action against them
for misuse of funds or for violations of the Societies or Trusts Acts under which
they are registered. While NGOs are answerable to no one, democratic governments
and their institutions on the other hand are.
_______________________
It is not NGOs that
need an image lift
and greater
credibility but rather
the government and
the judiciary. At best,
NGOs can act as
advocates and play a
watchdog role.
_______________________
|
There is a need, therefore, while appreciating their contribution, not to expect too much from NGOs. It is the responsibility of the government, the elected representatives of the day and the judiciary to do their job and to be more effective in meeting the needs of those who elected them and those they govern. They cannot be let off the hook. They often try to do this by talking of private and NGO partnerships. These can be tricky and need to be assessed carefully. In the health sector, for example, we have a situation where private interests, and these often show themselves as charitable societies, have been given prime land at throw away prices and have set up hospitals that cater only to the rich and influential. |
What India needs desperately is greater investment in
setting up health facilities of standard quality all over the
country from the Panchayat level upwards. This cannot be
left to private interests for whom the profit motive is
uppermost. Health is a public service which the government
must perform. Perhaps one way of ensuring this is
for NGOs to play their advocate role and insist that all
elected representatives, bureaucrats, members of the judiciary
and their families be entitled to receive treatment
only in government dispensaries and hospitals.
This single act, I am confident, will not only energise
the image of NGOs among the young but will revolutionise
health care in this country.
(Harmala Gupta is president of CanSupport.)
