Why Should RTI Cover All The NGO ?

In a country with more than 3.3 million ngo when you realise that more than 42% of India’s children below the age of three are malnourished, you are left with nothing but a sense of grief. This data is almost twice the statistics of sub-Saharan African region of 28%. Per the World Bank estimates this figure to be 60 million children out of a global estimated total of 146 million. Although India’s economy grew 50% from 2001–2006, the child-malnutrition rate only dropped 1%. Malnutrition retards the social and cognitive development of a child, reducing the educational attainment and income as an adult. These irreversible damages result in lower productivity. Year by year we outshine the previous records of food grain production. Millions of tons of food grain is allowed to waste in open sky stores. I could never understand why is this not distributed to needy ones at the block and village level despite the same has been suggested by noted economist Prof. Amartya Sen. We offer huge subsidies but still we are poor. The system has huge holes than the leaking pots. Everyone is talking about LOKPAL, but will this AAM JANTA of india be able to fight against malnutrition with the help of Lokpal. It is more of a tool of sophisticated, white collar, so called higher class, elite, first class citizen of this country. When someone is hungry he only knows one god and that is Bread. People who are advocating for Strong and Independent Lokpal are not willing to bring transparency in NGO sector. A sector with more than 33 Lakhs registered bodies(NGO), highest in any single country in the world. As per the estimates every year more than Rs 80000 crore is (mis)USED by them in PUBLIC INTEREST. As if now, only those NGO receiving government fund are under RTI. While to inculcate the seeds of transparency and corruption free social service sector, RTI should cover every organisation that accepts public money as donations. If it is public money, why not public has a right to do an audit to check the utilisation of funds. Penetration of corruption in private and social service sector is hazardous and RTI covering all the NGOs is need of the hour to cotrol it.                                                                          By Lav Vashishtha, for AAM AADMI Movement

एक बेहतर एनजीओ प्रशासन के लिए प्रभावी सूचना का अधिकार अधिनियम की जरूरत

गैर सरकारी संगठन द्वारा प्राप्त अनुदान का अनुचित वितरण, अवैध गतिविधियों का सामाजिक उत्थान के नाम पर प्रदर्शन का एक सबूत है। उच्च मानव सूचकांक के साथ सात भारतीय राज्यों (कुल जनसंख्या का 32.5% के साथ) ने कुल विदेशी निधियों का 61.81% प्राप्त किया। इसके विपरीत आठ नीचे के विकासशील राज्यों (जिसमें कुल जनसंख्या का 54.73%) ने कुल विदेशी दान का केवल 32.03% प्राप्त किया। यह साबित करता है कि केवल अमीर राज्य विकास के लिए सीधे विदेशी धन प्राप्त करने के लिए अधिक सक्षम हैं।

अनियमितताओं का यहाँ अंत नहीं है. मुट्ठीभर बड़े और सक्षम गैर सरकारी संगठन ( 33 लाख कुल संगठन की तुलना में) गांव, ब्लॉक या जिला स्तर पर काम कर रहे गैर सरकारी संगठन के लिए निधि उपलब्ध कराते है। जमीनी एनजीओ, सरकार या विदेशी एजेंसी से प्रत्यक्ष धन प्राप्त नहीं करते हैं। और सीधे किसी भी आरटीआई के माध्यम से जानकारी प्रदान करने के लिए बाध्य नहीं हैं. गैर सरकारी संगठनों द्वारा अपनाई गई यह तकनीक इस सूचना अधिकार अधिनियम से बचाव का एक रास्ता है। कई RTI कार्यकर्ता सांसद निधि में जो अधिकतम 5 करोड़ रुपये सालाना है, गहरी रुचि लेते हैं। तो हम क्यों रुचि नहीं रखते हैं उन गैर सरकारी संगठन पर नियंत्रण रखने में जो प्रति संसद क्षेत्र सालाना 19 करोड़ रुपए से ज्यादा खर्च दिखाते हैं।

चिंता का विषय पिछले 10 वर्षों में पंजीकृत एनजीओ की संख्या में जबरदस्त वृद्धि है। 2006  में देश में पंजीकृत कंपनियों की कुल संख्या 732,169 थी जबकि अब देश में गैर - सरकारी संगठन 33 लाख से अधिक हैं। यदि समान रूप से वितरित करे तो हर गांव के हिस्से के 5 से अधिक गैर सरकारी संगठन उचित काम के माध्यम से हमारे समाज से चुनौतियों को खत्म कर देंगे।  हालांकि हम में से ज्यादातर सामाजिक कार्य की जमीनी वास्तविकताओं को जानते हैं।

अकेले दिल्ली में पंजीकृत 70,000 से अधिक गैर सरकारी संगठन (दिल्ली में पंजीकृत ट्रस्टों की संख्या शामिल नहीं है) है। आरटीआई अधिनियम के तहत सभी गैर सरकारी संगठन लाना मजबूत लोकतंत्र की जरूरत है। सामाजिक अंकेक्षण के लिए एक प्रभावी सूचना का अधिकार अधिनियम, गैर सरकारी संगठन के कल्याण गतिविधियों पर नजर रखने और सार्वजनिक धन के दुरुपयोग को नियंत्रित करेगा। योजना आयोग भी सभी गैर सरकारी संगठन के लिए सूचना का अधिकार प्रभावी बनाने का समर्थन कर रहा है। आने वाले दिनों में हम उसी के लिए मांग कर एक अधिक मजबूत आरटीआई अधिनियम का स्वागत करने की उम्मीद करते है।

(2011 भारत की जनगणना और अन्य सरकारी सूत्रों के अनुसार डाटा)                                                        By Lav Vashishtha for Aam Aadmi Movement.

Do we really need a better RTI act for NGO governance ?

The unfair distribution in the funding received by the NGO is also an evidence of illegitimate activities performed in the name of Social Upliftment. Seven Indian states with high human index ( with 32.5% of total population) received 61.81% of total foreign funds granted. On the contrary eight bottom performer/developing states (comprising 54.73% of total population) received only 32.03% of total foreign funds. Thus the development seems to be directly proportional to the foreign funds received and indicates that the most poor people are less capable of fetching higher foreign funds.

Irregularities don't end here. Handful of NGOs ( as compared to the national total of above 33 lakhs ) successful in receiving foreign funds release the same to NGO working at village, block or district level. As the grass-root NGO don't receive this fund directly from government or foreign agency are not bound to furnish any information asked via RTI regarding usage of funds and utility of their programmes. This may be perceived as a loophole in RTI act or a protective mechanism adopted by Mighty NGOs to technically save them from inappropriate utilisation of funds. Also, several agencies and activist take keen interest in the handling of MPLADS ( Member of Parliament Local Area Development Schemes) that may involve a maximum Rs 5 crores annually, then why are we not interested to keep a check on NGO as they spent more than 19 crores of fund per Parliamentary seat every year from foreign sources and several times of it from local sources ?

The concern rises with tremendous growth in the number of registered NGO in past 10 years. The total number of registered companies in the country as on 31/03/2006 was 732,169 while there are more than 33 lakh of NGOs in country now. If equally distributed, more than 5 NGO will serve every village and if fully functional, will eradicate most of the challenges before our society. Most of us know  the ground realities of social work happening at nano level.

Delhi alone has more than 70000 registered NGO ( this figure does not include the number of trusts registered in delhi ). The need to bring all the NGO under the RTI act will strengthen the democracy. An effective RTI act will endow the right for social audit, keep a check on welfare activities of NGO and will control the misuse of public funds. Planning commission also supported the demand to make RTI effective for all NGO irrespective of the source of donation ( whether government or public). In coming days the demand for the same will proliferate and we hope to welcome a more strengthened RTI act.

(Data per Census of India 2011 and other government sources )
By Lav Vashishtha, for AAM AADMI Movement

First official estimate: An NGO for every 400 people in India

First official estimate: An NGO for every 400 people in India - Indian Express

Per the news posted by Archna Shukla : New Delhi, Wed Jul 07 2010, 03:50 hrs in Indian express newspaper 

India has possibly the largest number of active non-government, not-for-profit organizations in the world. A recent study commissioned by the government put the number of such entities, accounted for till 2009, at 3.3 million. That is one NGO for less than 400 Indians, and many times the number of primary schools and primary health centres in India.

Even this staggering number may be less than the actual number of NGOs active in the country. This is because the study, commissioned in 2008, took into consideration only those entities which were registered under the Societies Registration Act,1860 or the Mumbai Public Trust Act and its variants in other states.

Such organisations can be registered under a plethora of Acts such as the Societies’ Act, 1860, Indian Trust Act, 1882, Public Trust Act, 1950, Indian Companies Act, 1956 (Section 25), Religious Endowment Act,1863, The Charitable and Religious Trust Act, 1920, the Mussalman Wakf Act, 1923, the Wakf Act, 1954, and Public Wakfs (Extension of Limitation Act) Act, 1959, etc.

According to the government study, the largest number of NGOs are registered in Maharashtra (4.8 lakh), followed by Andhra Pradesh (4.6 lakh), UP (4.3 lakh), Kerala (3.3 lakh), Karnataka (1.9 lakh), Gujarat (1.7 lakh), West Bengal (1.7 lakh), Tamil Nadu (1.4 lakh), Orissa (1.3 lakh) and Rajasthan (1 lakh). More than 80 per cent of registrations come from these 10 states.

While the government will begin studying the finances of the sector in the second phase of the survey, estimates from within the sector suggest that NGOs, or NPIs, raise anywhere between Rs 40,000 crore and Rs 80,000 crore in funding annually.

The government has been the biggest donor — Rs18,000 crore was set aside for the social sector in the XI Plan — followed by foreign contributors (according to the latest figures available, around Rs 9,700 crore was raised in 2007-08). Around Rs 1,600-2,000 crore was donated to established religious bodies such as the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams.

Individual donors are emerging as the biggest and most lucrative source of funds. According to an internal study by a leading foreign NGO headquartered in the UK, donations by individuals are expected to have grown from around Rs 2,200 crore in 2005 to Rs 8,100 crore by a conservative estimate, and to around Rs 21,000 crore by more liberal estimates.

The increase in the number of donors has coincided with a sharp increase in the number of new NGOs in the past decade. According to the government study, there were only 1.44 lakh registered societies till 1970. In the following three decades, the number rose to 1.79 lakh, 5.52 lakh, and 11.22 lakh. The maximum increase in the number of registrations happened after 2000.

Private sector companies, one of the biggest donors in the developed world, are, however, yet to wake up to the phenomenon of charity and philanthropy in India. Indian companies spend less than one per cent of their annual profits on such activities, against 1.5 per cent to over 2 per cent spent by their UK and the US-based counterparts, says the study by the international NGO.

“The government study included, these are all broad estimates. Nobody really knows the ground reality because this sector has grown very fast in the past many years. Besides, there have been no efforts to maintain an official database or even to encourage such entities to be transparent about their activities as well as fundings,” said Soumitro Ghosh, founder CEO, CSO Partners, a Chennai-based organization set up to encourage transparency in the functioning of the sector.

By Lav Vashishtha, for AAM AADMI Movement

एफसीआरए का गैर - सरकारी संगठनों पर नियंत्रण

वित्तीय वर्ष 2009-2010 में 10,337.59 करोड़ रुपये विदेशी अंशदान के रूप में भारतीय गैर सरकारी संगठनों के द्वारा प्राप्त किया गया था ।
133 संगठनों को 10 करोड़ से ऊपर, 179 अन्य एनजीओ 5-10 करोड़ रुपए की रेंज में जबकि 1594 एनजीओ 1-5 करोड़ रुपए की रेंज में धन प्राप्त करने में कामयाब रहे. एफसीआरए के तहत पंजीकृत अन्य 19,602 संगठनों ने 2009-2010 में एक करोड़ रुपये से कम धन प्राप्त किया ।
एक तुलनात्मक अध्ययन से पता चलता है कि 1991-92 में केवल 249 संगठनों को एक करोड़ से अधिक की विदेशी निधि प्राप्त है । यह संख्या वर्ष 1999-2000 में 684 संगठनों, जो आगे वर्ष 2009-10 में बढ़कर 1906 हुई ।
विदेशी धन में भारी वृद्धि आशा की एक किरण है कि आम आदमी को लाभान्वित किया जाएगा. लेकिन यह  भ्रष्टाचार को भी आमंत्रित करेगा, अगर ठीक से जाँच नहीं हो ।
एफसीआरए विदेशी कोष प्राप्त करने के परमिट केवल तब देता है  जब गैर सरकारी संगठन एफसी -3 प्रतिवर्ष प्रस्तुत करे ।  लेकिन केवल 60-70% गैर सरकारी संगठन नियमित FC-3 फ़ाइल करते है ।
एफसीआरए के लिए गैर सरकारी संगठन की यह प्रतिक्रिया, एनजीओ द्वारा बनाए रिकॉर्ड की एक आम आदमी द्वारा सामाजिक लेखा परीक्षा के निरीक्षण में कठिनाई के स्तर की एक झलक देता है ।      

By Lav Vashishtha, for AAM AADMI Movement

Control of FCRA over NGOs

                                      

In the fiscal year 2009-2010 Rs 10,337.59 Crore was received by Indian NGOs as foreign contribution. 

133 organisations received above 10 Crores, 179 others managed to raise funds worth 5-10 Crores while 1594 NGO received funds in the range of 1-5 Crores. Other 19602 organisations registered under FCRA (2009-10) got less than a crore.

A comparative study reveals that  in 1991-92, only 249 organisations received foreign funds above a crore. This number increased to 684 in 1999-2000 which further rose to 1906  by 2009-10.

The immense growth in the foreign funds brings a ray of hope that aam aadmi will be benefitted. But this also  invites the anomalies if not checked properly.

With the permission of receiving foreign money, FCRA requires that FC-3 must be filed by NGO even if no foreign contribution is received in a year. However only about 60-70% of NGOs registered under FCRA file FC-3 regularly. The balance 30-40% seems to be quite consistent in not filing their FC-3 in time.

Such response by NGOs to FCRA gives a glimpse of the level of difficulty faced by an AAM AADMI interested in social audit/inspection of records maintained by them (NGOs).

By Lav Vashishtha, for AAM AADMI Movement

The first two meetings of aam aadmi held at mayur vihar and Constitution club of india, delhi witnessed consistently increasing response. Aam aadmi respects voice of Aavaam & the support it received during second meeting on May 17, 2012 at Constitution Club. Serious discussions are on to facilitate the future plan of action in the best possible way.
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