NGOs in India
Overview
NGO stands for Non-Governmental Organization. Although NGOs differ widely in function and scale, they can be broadly characterized as organizations of a non-profit, non-criminal and non-violent nature not working under the direct control of governments or to achieve office, albeit often supported through government funding, on issues such as human rights, conservation of the environment and resources, family planning and education.
The term ‘NGO’ was coined and defined in 1945 in Article 71 of the United Nations Charter out of a need to formalize the relationship between the newly formed United Nations and private organizations. Under Article 71 of the Charter, “non-governmental organizations could have suitable arrangements of consultation” with the UN Economic and Social Council, ECOSOC.
It is important to note that ‘NGO’ is mere nomenclature. Several national and international organizations with form and functions resembling those of NGOs existed before the institution of the UN. These organizations simply called themselves ‘associations’, ‘organizations’ or ‘unions’.
Activities and Goals
NGO activities may be operational; this refers to activities undertaken in order to drive small-scale change by mobilizing funds, materials, and volunteers for localized programs such as disaster relief.
NGO activities can also be related to campaigning; this term encompasses lobbying, press coverage, and activism undertaken by NGOs to generate awareness and acceptance to issues such as women rights.
Depending on the functions and goals of NGOs, they may be termed as ‘charitable’, ‘service’, ‘participatory’ or ‘empowering’.
Charitable NGOs are operational non-profits that seek to look after the needs of the disadvantaged sections through funds and materials collected via charity.
Service NGOs extend free-of-cost programs and facilities concerning family planning, education, health, among others.
Participatory NGOs are ones which enlist the participation of the beneficiaries of whatever it is that they are working towards. People are called on to provide labour, funds or material for bringing about positive change in the society.
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Empowering NGOs strive to spread awareness among people about the ways in which they can achieve greater control over their lives vis the socio-economic and political factors that govern them.
The Indian context
Non-profit organizations in India can be registered as trusts, societies, or non-profit companies. An estimated 10 million NGOs operate today, roughly a third of which operate in India. A 2015 survey done by the Central Bureau of Investigation under orders from the Supreme Court of India revealed that around 3.1 million NGOs operated in India at the time excluding the states of Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana. This put the number of NGOs at approximately twice the number of police officers, more than twice the number of schools and more than 250 times the number of government hospitals in the country.
Uttar Pradesh tops the list with nearly 5.48 lakh NGOs, followed by Maharashtra which has 5.18 lakh NGOs. Kerala comes third with 3.7 lakh NGOs, followed by West Bengal with 2.34 lakh NGOs. Of the 82,250 NGOs in the Union Territories, Delhi alone has more than 76,000 NGOs.
We take a look at the objectives and functioning of two NGOs whose unfaltering efforts for the upliftment of Indian society have summoned a wave of positive change in the country.
Case Study: The Akshay Patra Foundation
Looking out of a window, one day in Mayapur, a village near Calcutta, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada saw a group of children fighting with stray dogs over scraps of food. From this simple, yet heart-breaking incident was born a determination that no child within a radius of ten miles from our centre should go hungry.
The Akshay Patra Foundation is a non-profit organization that arranges mid-day meals in schools across the country. With the motto, “No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger”, it served its first mid-day meals to 1,500 students in government schools in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
Akshay Patra partnered with the Government of India to serve lunches across government and government-aided schools in order to promote enrollment of students and empowerment of women. One of its many objectives is the demolition of caste barriers through socialization among students during lunch breaks.
Today, Akshaya Patra has 40 kitchens spread across 12 states in India, a result of the successful partnership with the Government of India, various State Governments and generous supporters.
It hasn’t been all plain sailing for the non-profit. There were shortages of vessels to pack the food in and vehicles in which to transport the meals to their destinations. One of the biggest challenges was the formulation of recipes that catered to local tastes; students would not eat food that they didn’t like or weren’t used to eating. The start may have been tumultuous but the foundation has come to shoulder the behemoth responsibility of feeding over 1.76 million children and has served more than 3 billion meals in its lifetime, having been commemorated by the President on their 2 billionth meal.
The Foundation recognizes the pivotal role of technology in solving the problem of hunger on a large scale. It has devised a number of innovative and cost-effective tools including ones that employ gravity-assisted movement of grains and industrial steam to cook food. The foundation also improvised a papad-making machine into a roti-making machine with a capacity to make 60,000 rotis per hour. Through pioneering innovation, Akshaya Patra has built the world’s largest kitchen in Hubli-Dharwad with a capacity to feed a total of 250,000 children per day.
Case Study: Lakshyam
Over 4 million people in Delhi live in temporary shacks in congested slums that do not have access to clean water, hygiene and security. For the children in these slums fighting to survive, basic education is a dream: they are often required to supplement the family earnings by working from an early age.
Lakshyam is a Delhi based non-profit that was established by a group of social entrepreneurs in the year 2012 to help further the cause of female empowerment and holistic child development and education.
We share a common dream — a world where every child is showered with love and is given opportunities for their bright future; a world where no child’s innocence is marred by the horrors of child labour, and a world where women’s wellbeing is paid attention to and they’re empowered to sustain themselves and their family.
The organization tailors models of development suited to the needs of the community.
- Lakshyam’s premier programme, ‘Butterfly’, is aimed at providing basic education to disadvantaged children through comprehensive learning methods. Children are taught subjects such as Hindi, English and Mathematics to bridge the gaps in their formal education, as well as hygiene and discipline.
Ranging from menstrual sanitation to child healthcare, every aspect is meticulously taken care of. Recreational activities such as dance competitions, painting, magic shows, puppet shows etc play a major role in child welfare at Lakshyam.
- ‘Toy Library’ aims at supplementing the child’s growth through educational toys, games and books in an environment that cultivates and encourages the child’s imagination and creativity.
- ‘Rooh’ is a three-tier program engineered to counter-act centuries of oppression faced by women by empowering them through education, vocational and professional training and self-employment.
Lakshyam is collaborating with NSS, IIT Roorkee, in the humane ‘Employment Generation’ initiative in which cloth bags are made by village women and sold in the local markets, helping them to establish financial and social autonomy.
The members of Lakshyam know that it is a Herculean task to save every underprivileged person in the world but they believe they can do it through sheer hard work and determination. For their work and endeavours in transforming the lives of countless people by giving them the precious gifts of knowledge, self-esteem and good health, Lakshyam and its members were honoured with the “Young Social Achiever Award”, the “Naari Gaurav Samman” and the “Bharat Jyoti Award”.
The road ahead
The number of NGOs has increased manifold over the last decade. NGOs have come to acquire a pivotal role in the decision-making process. Corporates are increasingly diverting funds for setting up public relation cells to work with non-profits. Nevertheless, this unprecedented growth has created new challenges for NGOs, revolving around their credibility, transparency and structure.
The foremost stumbling block for non-profits is the availability of funds for carrying on their operations. Budget constraints negatively affect capacity building in NGOs. While the term ‘NGO’ implies little to no governmental interference, most NGOs, in reality, depend heavily on governments for funding.
There have also been controversies over the transparency in the handling of financial matters by NGOs from time to time. In the Indian context, the majority of NGOs fail to submit balance sheets and expenditure records on time. Monetary considerations dilute the commitment towards non-profitness and more often than not introduce political obligations into the working of NGOs.
Small and emerging NGOs often focus only on short term operations and fail to attract skilled and willing workers. Lack of proper networking affects the impact of their operations and dilutes their public image. Thus, there is a need for efficient management and planning within NGOs.
References and Suggested Reading
NGO Wiki | NGOs by Peter Willets | NGO Facts | Statistics on Indian NGOs | NGOs in India | The Akshay Patra Foundation | Akshay Patra Wiki | Lakshyam | Redefining Roles of NGOs
This article was contributed by Arkesh Mishra, Bismitha Guha, Devang Dwivedi, Merensow Pongen, Parnika Goyal, Pritha Howladar and Shubham Johri.
