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STATUS OF THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR IN INDIA

A STUDY REPORT

VOLUNTARY ACTION NETWORK INDIA

BB-5, 1st Floor, Greater Kailash Enclave-IINew Delhi-110048

Phone: 011-29226632, 29228127Email: [email protected]

Website: www.vaniindia.org

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SL. No. Name Organisation State

1 A.Madhu Babu Sangeeta Rao Educational Society Andhra Pradesh

2 A.Sardar Basha Kalabandhu Kala Parishad Andhra Pradesh

3 A.V.Ramanaiah Development of Integrated Nurturing Asso-ciation to Kindle Awakening for Renaissance (DINAKAR)

Andhra Pradesh

4 Alok Mukhpadhyay) Chief Executive, Voluntary Health Associa-tion of India (VHAI)

New Delhi

5 Annie Ferrer Rural Development Trust( RDT) Andhra Pradesh

6 Anwar Premi Sir Syed Group of Schools (SSGS) West Bengal

7 Apoorva Oza Aga Khan Rural Support Programme India Gujarat

8 Ashok K. Bharti Chairman, National Confederation of Dalit Organisations (NACDOR)

New Delhi

9 Ashok Khosla Chairman, Development Alternatives New Delhi

10 B. Darwin Relief Organisation for Handicapped (ROH) Andhra Pradesh

11 Bhaskara Bharati Agro Industry Foundation for Rural Development

Andhra Pradesh

12 Binoy Archaya UNNATI Organization for Development Edu-cation

Gujarat

13 C. Narayan Reddy Relief Organisation for Handicapped (ROH) Andhra Pradesh

14 C.K.Gangully The Timbaktu Collective Andhra Pradesh

15 Chan Bhushan Center for Science and Environment New Delhi

16 D. Jayachandra Naidu RASS Balaji Bala Vikas Andhra Pradesh

17 D. Suvarna Pragati Rural Education Service Society Andhra Pradesh

18 Deepa Sonpal UNNATI Organization for Development Edu-cation

Gujarat

19 Dinesh Joshi Himalayan Study Circle for Environment Uttarakhand

List of Voluntary Organisations ConsultedThe research was carried out by VANI team, and inputs were taken directly from the following Voluntary Sector practitioners;

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Status of the Voluntary Sector in India : A Study Report

20 Farida Vahedi Secretary for External Affairs, National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of India

New Delhi

21 Geeta Sharma UNNATI Organization for Development Edu-cation

Gujarat

22 Gopal Chandra Purakit Sundarban Social Development Centre (SSDC), Sundarban Eye Hospital, Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre.

West Bengal

23 Harinesh Pandya Janpath Gujarat

24 Indrani Chakraborty JEEVIKA Development Society West Bengal

25 Jhanvi Tiwari DISHA Uttarakhand

26 Joe Madiath Gram Vikas Odhisha

27 K. Satya Narayana Shri Hanumantharaya Educational and Chari-table Society

Andhra Pradesh

28 K.GovindRaj Chowdary Society for Animal Initiative Andhra Pradesh

29 K.N. Tiwari DISHA Uttarakhand

30 Kula Swami Centre for Rural Action( CERA) Andhra Pradesh

31 Kusum SEAD Uttarakhand

32 Lakhbir Singh Adarsh Yuva Samiti, Haridwar Uttarakhand

33 M. Radhamma Shri Priyadarshini Mahila Mandali Andhra Pradesh

34 Mahendra Singh Kunwar HARC-Himalayan Action Research Centre, Dehradun

Uttarakhand

35 Mahesh Sanjeevani Uttarakhand

36 M S Swaminathan, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), Chair-man, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation

New Delhi

37 Manabendra Mandal Socio-Legal Aid Research & Training Centre (SLARTC), Action Against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children (ATSEC)

West Bengal

38 Md. Alamgir Forum of Communities United In Services (FOCUS)

West Bengal

39 Md. Jamil Forum of Communities United In Services (FOCUS)

West Bengal

40 Nafisa Barot UTTHAN Gujarat

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41 Naveen VRIKSH-SSS (Swayam Shiksha Samiti), Mus-sorrie

Uttarakhand

42 Nikhil Naskar Child In Need Institute (CINI), CINI YUVA and CINI CHETANA

West Bengal

43 Prasad Chacko Behavioural Science Centre Gujarat

44 Preeti Kirbat Astitva Uttarakhand

45 Prem Chand Voice Organisation for Integrated Commu-nity Emancipation(VOICE)

Andhra Pradesh

46 R.B. Saini VDS, Haridwar Uttarakhand

47 Rajendra singh Bisht Himalayan Gram Vikas Samiti Uttarakhand

48 Rajesh Bhat SWAPATH Gujarat

49 Rajesh Kapoor Cohesion Foundation Gujarat

50 Ram Krishna Janvikas Gujarat

51 Sachin Oza Development Support Centre Gujarat

52 Satyajit Das Church Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA) West Bengal

53 Sathyashree Goswami Independent Consultant New Delhi

Sehjo SinghManas RanjanNavin Narayan

ActionAid India New Delhi

54 Siddharth Negi Uttaranchal Youth and Rural Development Centre (UYRDC)

Uttarakhand

55 Sukumar Singh Mass Education Training Institute West Bengal

56 Sukumar Singh Primary Teachers Training Institute, Sunder-ban Nature Resort

West Bengal

57 Suresh Satapathy CASA Uttarakhand

58 V. Anjaneyulu Society For Social Transformation Andhra Pradesh

59 V.Lakkshmi pathi Rao Shri Hanumantharaya Educational and Chari-table Society

Andhra Pradesh

60 Vijay Kaushal VIKSAT Nehru Foundation for Development Gujarat

61 Y.Hanumantha Reddy Mahatma Gandhi Yuvajana Sangam(MGYS) Andhra Pradesh

62 Y.V.Mallareddy Accion Fraterna Ecology Centre Andhra Pradesh

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This research study is the culmination of numerous rounds of discussions among the various expert groups during VANI’s State, Regional and National meetings in the past two years on reiterating the identity of the Voluntary Sector in the wake of the current changing scenario of India. The list of people who came forward to make this study a reality, is endless. We would like to thank all those who contributed directly and indirectly.

We would also like to thank all the researchers and Voluntary Sector experts for their valuable commentaries put forward during VANI’s meetings to discuss the methodology of the study. We are grateful to the senior leaders of the sector for their insightful comments during the study presentation in the brainstorming meetings. The researchers at VANI are especially grateful to the Voluntary Sector practitioners in various parts of this country for sparing their valuable time for expressing their views which were used in this study.

We are especially thankful to ActionAid India team for their continuous enthusiastic support right from the start till the finalization of the report that involved numerous rounds of meaningful discussions.

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FOREWORD

The increasing role and influence of and the numbers in the Voluntary Sector in India, has led to conflicting perceptions, unrealistic expectations and mis-conceptions in the public. In addition, this has been used as an excuse for control by the government. Function wise, the Indian Voluntary Sector is known for its impartial analysis, quality and outreach of service and support, capacity building and research based advocacy. The sector has made significant impact in the lives of common citizens, especially in improving the quality of their lives. The Voluntary Sector works in close collaboration and partnership with government and other players to achieve its objective. Interestingly, in the last few decades the sector has grown in numbers on the one hand and ventured into new areas and tested new strategies, on the other. Such a growth has led to a decrease in understanding about the nature, scope, and functioning of this sector. Some people compare it with the ‘blind men and elephant phenomenon’. Various perceptions and theories are being floated around on this subject. Terms like ‘Non-government Organisations, Voluntary Sector, Not-for Profit, Third Sector, Non-State Actors, Civil Society Organisations, Non-Profit Organisations, etc are being used to define this sector. There is no definite estimate of how much employment is generated by this sector, as working in this sector is equated with passion .Here again terms like volunteers, activists, professionals, social workers, etc, is being used to define people working in the sector. Some people see this sector as the trouble maker or cause of disruption of growth, and for some it is a saviour, and supporter of human rights. Even the composition of the sector has changed in the last few years. A number of new types of entities are now being defined under the same category Such as private foundations, hospitals, schools, sports club, and resident welfare associations. Even there are many government run organisations registered as non-government organisations. Such a loose composition has resulted in increase in the total number of the organisations as well as entry of fly by night organisations in the same category. The study conducted by Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) estimated the figure to be around 1.5 million, with a turnover of Rs. 25,000 crores. These figures, although highly disputable, give birth to number of questions in the minds of common people and give excuse to the government to rein in the sector.

This complexity of the Voluntary Sector had been the topic of conversation during numerous interactions organised by VANI during the last few years. The clear message on the wall was to study and find out answers to some of these questions. The most significant input we got was during the CEO’s conclave organised by VANI in February 2012. It was in the same year that massive mobilisation for anti corruption took place in India and the role of Voluntary Sector was confused with civil society. The sector received not only income tax notices, but also FCRA notices were served to VOs attempting to raise contested issues. The General Assembly of VANI as well as organisations participating in National Convention urged the need to take up some study to begin the process of understanding the sector.

Interestingly, it is not only the nature and scope of the sector which creates a complex picture, but even no tested methodology is available to capture the sector. After having series of conversations with Action Aid, it was decided to undertake this study on an experiment basis. We know that this study will not provide an answer to all the questions, or bring forward the definite methodology wherein the Voluntary Sector, which is spread in almost all states in India working on all the subjects possible, could be understood.

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We would like to present this study to the Voluntary Sector with the expectation to get valuable inputs wherein a much reformed methodology could be developed. The methodology has to help everyone and has to be appropriate and economical as a tool to create an enabling environment for the growth and sustainability of the Voluntary Sector in India.

I would like to thank VANI team, especially Dr. Jyotsna Mohan Singh for coordinating and writing this report and Ms Conie Pamposa and VANI’s research team for being part of this study.

This study is not only aimed for the Voluntary Sector but also for the government, common people and legislature. It could be seen as the beginning of repositioning voluntary developing organisations in the changed world. We do hope that this study will give birth to many other initiatives from academicians, researchers and co-travellers to strengthen the Voluntary Sector.

Harsh Jaitli CEO-VANI

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AIDS : Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

AKRSP(I) : Aga Khan Rural Support Program India

APPS: Anantha Paryavanarana Parirakshana Samithi

ARWSP: Accelerated Rural Water Supply Program

ASCI: Administrative Staff College of India

AWC: Anganwadi Centre

BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa

BMHC: Burrows Memorial Christian Hospital

CAGR: Compounded Annual Growth Rate

CBO: Community based organization

CIA: Central Intelligence Agency

CSO: Civil Society Organization

CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility

DAC: Development Assistance Committee

DoSW: Department of Social Welfare

DPA: Development Partnership Administration

DTC: Direct Taxes Code

FCRA: Foreign Contribution Registration Act

FDI: Foreign Direct Investment

FGD: Focus group discussion

GDP: Gross Domestic Product

GO: Government Organization

GOI: Government of India

HDI: Human Development Index

HIV: Human Immunodeficiency Virus

ICDS: Integrated Child Development Scheme

IDD: Iron Deficiency Disorder

INGO: International Non-government organization

INSAF: Indian Social Action Forum

JHU: John Hopkins University

MGNREGS: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme

MP: Madhya Pradesh

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MSSR: Multi-state Societies Registration Bill, 2012

MWA: Ministry of Voluntary Affairs

NFD: Nehru Foundation for Development

NHI: National Host Institute

NIC: National Informatics Centre

NGO: Non-government organisations

NPO: Not-for-profit organization

OECD: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

PAT: Profit After Tax

PO: People’s organization

PRIA: Participatory Research in Asia

RMK: Rashtriya Mahila Kosh

RPCB: Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board

RTE: Right to Education Act 2009

RWH: Rain-Water Harvesting

SC: Scheduled Caste

SHI: State Host Institute

SHG: Self Help Groups

SHRC: State Health Resource Centre

SoER: State of Environment Report

SNA: System of National Accounts

SSA: Sarva Shiksa Abhiyan

ST: Scheduled Tribes

TBS: Tarun Bharat Singh

UEE: Universalization of Elementary Education

UKHFWS: Uttarakhand Health & Family Welfare Society

UN: United Nations

USAID: United States Agency for International Development

VANI: Voluntary Action Network India

VO: Voluntary Organization

VSS: Vana Samrakshana Samitis

WTO: World Trade Organization

WUA: Water Users’ Association

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TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------13

INTRODUCTION --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT: INDIAN VOS IN THE LAST 20 YEARS ------------------------------- 16

CHAPTER -2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------23

DEFINING VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS: QUESTIONS OF NOMENCLATURE AND IDENTITY -------------------- 23

ISSUE OF REPRESENTATION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 26

CHAPTER -3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------28

METHODOLOGY OF THE PRESENT STUDY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 28

THREE STRATEGIC APPROACHES AS A RESEARCH RUBRIC --------------------------------------------------------- 28

CHAPTER 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------32

CHALLENGES OF VOLUNTARY SECTOR ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 32

OUR INTERNAL CHALLENGES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 43

CHAPTER 5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------49

CONTRIBUTION OF THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 49

WATER AND SANITATION ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 49

HEALTH AND NUTRITION ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 56

EDUCATION -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 59

ENVIRONMENT ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 61

EMPOWERMENT (WOMEN, CHILDREN, TRIBES) --------------------------------------------------------------------- 65

LIVELIHOOD (FOCUS ON AGRICULTURE) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 68

CHAPTER 6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------71

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 71

APPENDIX ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 75

LIST OF ORGANISATIONS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 75

BIBLIOGRAPHY ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 82

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This study is an attempt to accurately portray and highlight the Indian Voluntary organizations as a Sector that has been engaged in various developmental works in the remotest locations of the

country for the upliftment of the downtrodden and marginalised. They can also rightfully take credit for supporting the successful implementation of various welfare plans and projects of the government.

Today the corporate sector too, through the corporate social responsibility (CSR) mechanism, has ventured into this field and has entered the field considered the exclusive domain of the voluntary organisations (VOs). However, since the business of corporate bodies is to make profit hence they are not expected to make a serious dent in the deprivations in matters of health, education, water& sanitation etc. Even, the government with its unmatchable prowess is unable to reach those who get left behind. Hence, it is the civil society groups that include non-government or voluntary organisations, media, faith based organisations, academia, that come forward to fill these gaps. Since these gaps, addressing multiple marginalities and vulnerabilities are complex and the rewards in terms of employment, power, status, money in addressing them is very little, hence it gets to be the job of civil society.

Voluntary Organisations are a part of a larger civil society and this study is an attempt to define the Voluntary Sector, its impact and the challenges faced by it in bringing in the desired change. At a micro level, the VOs have positively impacted the lives of the needy, while building a reputation for themselves. At the same time and at a more macro level, many indigenous organisations along with some international ones, have become highly professional, bringing a lot of credibility to the sector. Despite this, there has been much confusion and speculation in the minds of the media, government, and general civil society about the identity of the sector.

Chapter 1

Introduction

‘“In today’s world, where money and power are the main indicators of success and status in society determines whose voice gets heard, the everyday tribulations and livelihood problems of common people often go unnoticed. It is the job of civil society to redress this imbalance.”

Dr Ashok Khosla, Chairman, Development Alternatives, New Delhi

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This study proposes to clear the above mentioned confusions among the government officials, media, and the general community by providing an inside picture and highlight the contributions made by the sector in various areas. Though there have been attempts by organisations like PRIA and Central Statistical Organisations (CSO) to document the same, the challenge lay in the diversity of the sector across each state.

At VANI, the foremost objective was to select an appropriate methodology for this study. Following multiple rounds of meetings and discussions with Voluntary Sector experts and researchers / academicians, we decided upon three possible methodologies:

Using geographical demarcations to identify variation within the sector: zz India is a large democratic territory with 28 states and seven union territories with approximately 1.2 million VOs operational in the country. It is impossible to take each state and union territory to discuss the sectoral contribution. Because of the scope and scale of the nation and the sectors within it, diversity cannot be captured statistically. This is probably one of the reasons that even Civicus1, unlike its intervention in other countries, has not attempted any study on ‘Status of Civil Societies in India’. Although Civicus has already formulated a set of indicators to study the status, it would have been very complicated given the diversity of the country. Therefore, this method was not considered in the present study.

Using thematic contributions of the sector as a rubriczz : Voluntary Organisations have been working on almost all themes and on all issues like, health, education, sanitation, innovation, environment and livelihood. As it is difficult to study all the themes/issues to emphasize on the contribution of the sector as a whole, we have focused on the following primary themes of sectoral contribution:

Water & Sanitationz{

Health & Nutritionz{

Educationz{

Environmentz{

Empowerment (Women, Children, Tribes, Marginalized)z{

Livelihood (Agriculture)z{

Using strategic approaches to illuminate sectoral contributionzz : The sector has been working under following strategic, approaches towards social development:

Research and advocacyz{ : There are many organisations that are doing serious research on various issues like health, education, environment etc. and coming out with reports based on these researches. VOs evaluate need as well as government programs that are set up to address the needs of the Indian population. Findings of reports are used to lobby with the government of India at the policy level and to raise awareness among the larger civil society.

Service deliveryz{ : The service-extension perspective dominates most government and international donor support for NGOs/VOs. It assumes that the state is the primary architect

1 https://www.civicus.org

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of development policy and implementation, and that the delivery of services is the critical task for NGOs. This perspective emphasizes the capacities of NGOs to deliver relief in times of disaster, to reach out to poor and remote populations, and to deliver effective service at a relatively low cost. Support for NGOs/VOs from this perspective will focus on implementing projects and delivering services. Thus studies of NGOs/VOs involvement in World Bank projects, for example, indicate that NGOs/VOs have been used more in implementing roles than as advisers, organizers, or advocates2. However, since the last decade, VOs are considered as the cheap sub-contractor of government schemes, who apply to work in the implementation schemes through tenders on a comparatively cheaper rate.

Rights and entitlementz{ : The ‘Rights Based Approach’ (RBA) emerged as a new development paradigm in the late 1990s. Within less than a decade, this new approach swept through the websites, policy papers and official rhetoric of multilateral development assistance agencies, bilateral donors, and NGOs worldwide3’. It is believed that that RBA will empower marginalized groups, focus attention on social and economic inequality and boost both state and donor accountability4. RBA seeks to challenge the hegemonic forces of exploitation and strengthen peoples’ democracy on a foundation of social and ecological justice, sceptics, however, fear the emergence of yet another development fad5.

After discussion and brainstorming with experts from the sector (see methodology for elaboration), VANI concluded that it was untenable to use the geographical rubric to assess the contribution of the sector. Instead, this report uses a rubric of themes and strategic approaches. The present study superimposes thematic issues (Water, Sanitation, Education etc.) and strategic approaches (service delivery, research and advocacy, and rights based entitlement) to evaluate the contribution of the sector to India’s social development in the past 20 years.

The study has been divided into five sections:

The first chapter is the context setting and how the voluntary organisations have evolved in the past two decades since India’s economic liberalization.

The second chapter defines VOs and addresses the identity of the sector. In today’s scenario, when there are various players doing similar kind of works as the VOs, it is very important to understand the real VOs and how they are different from other bodies.

The third chapter identifies the research objectives and methodology of the study.

2 http://www.worlded.org/docs/Publications/idr/html/13-4.html

3 Kindornay,Ron,Carpenter,Rights-BasedApproachestoDevelopment:ImplicationsforNGOs,HumanRightsQuarterly,Volume34,Number2,May2012,pp.472-506,(Article),PublishedbyTheJohnsHopkinsUniversityPress,DOI:10.1353/hrq.2012.0036,http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/hrq/summary/v034/34.2.kindornay.html

4 See,e.g.,BrigitteI.Hamm,AHumanRightsApproachtoDevelopment,23Hum.Rts.Q.1005(2001);MacDarrow&AmparoTomas,Power,Capture,andConflict:ACallforHumanRightsAccountabilityinDevelopmentCooperation,27Hum.Rts.Q.471(2005);ValerieMiller,LisaVeneKlasen&CindyClark,Rights-basedDevelopment:LinkingRightsandParticipation-ChallengesinThinkingandAction,IDSBull,Jan.2005,at31(2005);PeterUvin,HumanRightsandDevelopment(2004).

5 See,e.g.,AndreaCornwall&CelestineNyamu-Musembi,Puttingthe“Rights-BasedApproach”toDevelopmentintoPerspective,25ThirdWorldQ.1415(2004);SarahBradshaw,IstheRightsFocustheRightFocus?NicaraguanResponsestotheRightsAgenda,27ThirdWorldQ.1329(2006).

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The fourth chapter analyzes the changes and challenges that have affected the sector in last two decades.

The fifth chapter outlines the contribution of the sector under the above mentioned themes/issues across the strategic components.

The sixth chapter concludes the entire study with recommendations showing future roadmap for the sector.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND CONTExT: INDIAN VOS IN THE LAST 20 YEARS

The RecenT evoluTion of The volunTaRy SecToR in india

The past two decades have witnessed dramatic growth in the number, nature, reach, influence and diversity of voluntary organisations. The processes of grassroot democratization as well as the privatising initiatives for economic liberalization have been the forces behind the growth. The voluntary or the civil society sector today is comprised of a very diverse group of institutions ranging from those who want to facilitate the development of the poor and the marginalized, to those who run economic and service delivery activities that privatise public institutions and services. This second set (privatised public institution and services), however, is contested by the practitioners of the Voluntary Sector and does not fall in the category of Voluntary Sector in the present study. It is principally because of those VOs, which have worked closely with the people and worked on their issues that VOs are the most trusted institution in the world. Ever since the Edelman Trust Barometer was initiated, it has always found NGOs to be the most trusted of the four major public institutions it studies: Media, Business, Government and NGOs. In India, where NGOs have faced charges of opaque funding and misuse of funds from foreign donors, the Edelman Trust Barometer still rates NGOs as the most trusted Institution. “Since 2009, trust in NGOs has surged in India to 68 percent among 35 to 64-year-olds,” the report reads. At the same time, trust in government trails business, media and NGOs as the least trusted institutions6.

In this context it is important to evaluate the growth of the sector in the last few decades. According to the report published by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India, there are 31,74,420 societies in the States and Union Territories7. The study, commissioned in 2008, took into consideration only those entities which were registered under Societies Registration Act 1860, Bombay Public Trust Act and companies registered under the Indian Companies Act (Section 25), 1956. This was mainly for the reason that majority of the NPIs are registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.

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

6 http://www.governancenow.com/views/think-tanks/ngos-most-trusted-institutions-survey

7 NationalAccountsDivision,CentralStatisticsOffice,MinistryofStatisticsandProgrammeImplementation,GOVERNMENTOFINDIA,March2012,FinalReportonNonProfit Institutions in IndiaAProfileandSatelliteAccounts intheframeworkofSystemofNationalAccounts(includingState-wiseComparisonofProfiles),Website-Website:www.mospi.gov.in

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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.

Figure-1 Distribution of Societies by Location8

The above figure shows that more number of organisations are located in the rural areas (18.63 Lakhs) than in the urban areas (13.10 Lakhs). This percentage share is highest in the State of Himachal Pradesh (93%) and lowest in the UTs of Chandigarh (5%) and Delhi (0%).

Table 1: Estimated Number of Non-Profit Organisations9

PRIA survey in 2005 with John Hopkins University (JHU), however, provided an entirely different result. It showed that there were more Voluntary Sector institutions in rural areas than in urban areas [PRIA

8 Ibid

9 SrivastavaandRajeshTandon,EconomicandPoliticalWeekly,Vol.40,No.19(May7-13,2005),pp.1948-1952Publishedby:EconomicandPoliticalWeeklyStableURL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/4416603

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2003]. Where 53 per cent of NPOs were rural, the proportion of such organisations in urban areas was 47 per cent. This pattern was prevalent in all major states of the country. The finding should be important for government policymakers and civil society activists. Secondly and this again comes as a contradiction to common perceptions, almost half the organisations (49.6 per cent) in the sector were not formally registered, though they had an institutional character. However, the proportion of unregistered institutions to total institutions varied considerably from state to state.

Figure-2 Percentage of Unregistered Organisations of Total10

The study has estimated the total number of institutions in the sector is 1.2 million or 12 lakh. The estimated size tallied well with estimates quoted by knowledgeable scholars and international agencies, but that is only a coincidence. These authors never articulated the basis of their estimates nor did they ever indicate or discuss the composition of the sector in terms of large and small institutions or rural-urban breakup, etc, which, in fact, are even more important variables for understanding the different dimensions of the sector’11.

So here one can see the discrepancy in estimating the numbers of VOs in India between the government of India data and PRIA study. There was a gap of hardly 3 years in between both the studies, but as discussed earlier, the basis of calculation of the numbers was different. The government considers the big private institutions and rich trusts and religious bodies as NGOs/NPO/VOs, whereas in the other study the voluntary organisations working genuinely for not-for-profit purposes, including the non-registered grassroot level organisations, were taken into consideration.

10 Ibid

11 Ibid

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Figure-3 Distribution of Societies registered under various purposes/functions12

Figure 3 shows the distribution of organisations according to various functions. It is visible that ‘Social Services’ account for 41%, which is the highest followed by the organisations working in the field of education and research (19%) and culture and recreation (12%). The lowest share is contributed by the organisations working in the field of law, advocacy and politics, and international activities.

If we look at the growth of the voluntary organisations, itis evident that the maximum growth has taken place during the last two decades. If one corroborates and corelates the data, one can see that there has been a tremendous growth

12 NationalAccountsDivision,CentralStatisticsOffice,MinistryofStatisticsandProgramImplementation,GOVERNMENTOFINDIA,March2012,FinalReportonNonProfit Institutions in IndiaAProfileandSatelliteAccounts intheframeworkofSystemofNationalAccounts(includingState-wiseComparisonofProfiles),Website-Website:www.mospi.gov.in

‘The majority of private institutions are run by two sets of entrepreneurial social groups – business people and politicians – who are in the game for one simple reason: higher education is a great business opportunity. According to RNCOS, the higher education sector will be worth US$22 billion this year.’

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in various private and educational institutions during this period and most of them are registered under the Societies Registration Act or Section 25 of Companies Act.

While India’s laws require private higher education institutions to be non-profit entities, nearly all are eager and impatient predators. It is estimated that five million Indians enter the 15-to-24 age group every year and many more of them are interested in obtaining a college degree today than in the past. Public institutions are in no position to meet what seems like an ever-growing demand for higher education. Not surprisingly, private institutions have proliferated across the country to meet the high demand for education, especially in professional streams such as engineering and management. Labeled “teaching factories” by its detractors, they charge high fees and often demand a lump sum in one name or another’13.

According to a report by the RNCOS, a market research and information analysis company, the market size of higher education in the country will rise at 15 per cent CAGR and will cross US$ 22 billion by 2013. The report also says that the annual student enrolment in higher education will witness a CAGR of 8.7 per cent during 2011-13. It further adds that various factors – availability of education loan, growing demand for skilled personnel and e-learning – can act as catalysts for the growth of higher education in India’14.

Figure-4 Distribution of societies registered in different periods of time15

13 http://www.asianscientist.com/academia/private-universities-in-india-2013/

14 IndianHigherEducationtoGrowat15PerCentCAGR,http://www.edu-leaders.com/content/indian-higher-education-grow-15-cent-cagr


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Most of the big education and health institutions, which are making big bucks and greater profits, are registered under the Societies Act. Government does not consider them as separate entities and they are treated equally as any small or medium sized VO that is providing voluntary services. It is time that the government realises this fact and considers these organisations as separate entities. This can be done through proper legislation made exclusively for not-for-profit organisations and be separated from all other types of organisations that stem from other profit making bodies.

Figure-5 Distribution of Source of Fund16

The activities of Non-Profit Institutions are being funded by various sources viz. (i) grants, (ii) donations and offerings, (iii) income/receipts from operations, (iv) other incomes/receipts n.e.c., (v) interest, dividend, rent etc. and (vi) membership subscriptions. The distribution of sources of funds is given in Figure 5. It may be seen that 53.5% of the funding for these societies comes from grants, while 16.4% is from donations and offerings, and 16.2% from income/receipts from operations. The remaining 13.8% comes from other sources viz. other incomes/receipts n.e.c., membership subscription, interest, dividend and rent etc.17.

16 Ibid

17 Ibid

22


18 Goswami,Tandon,Bandhopadhyay(2012),CivilSocietyinChangingIndia:EmergingRoles,RelationshipsandStrategies,www.pria.org

Itis clear from the above figure that most of the voluntary organisations are working on the issues that are crucial at both the global level and the national level and has linkages with the millennium development goals (eg. health, education, water and sanitation, and environmental issues). Those who have agenda matching with the donors get funds, but not all of them are lucky. In their case, they become donor driven and in order to sustain themselves, they may work on the donor’s agenda even if that does not match with their organisational vision. ‘Besides, a section of the unemployed youth in India is viewing the CSOs/NSOs as self-employment ventures and money-making machines. For example, in the post-Tsunami period enormous amount of funds gushed in the state of Tamil Nadu for service and relief delivery purpose. It prompted many people from other sectors and the youth to open CSOs with the purpose of grabbing such funds. This, in turn, increased the number of CSOs in Tamil Nadu to a considerable extent. Indeed, the mushrooming growth of CSOs/ NGOs in India with the increasing entry of opportunist people into the sector is becoming an appalling phenomenon’18.

23

There are various dimension of the sector. Because of the sector’s ability to absorb people from different fields, a large number of experts believe that there is a huge gap in distribution of

services to the mass population, by the relevant actors. Therefore the voluntary organizations reached such problem areas to address these gaps. The VOs, since their inception, have been involved in various peoples’ movements and in the last few years have seen a surge in such movements. Be it the anti-corruption movements, one billion rising, various forest right movement etc, the sector has played very crucial roles in awakening the general masses about the latest happenings in the country. This has led to people demanding accountability from the government on various issues.

SO THE IMPORTANT qUESTION IS- WHAT IS THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR?

In a large developing country like India, there are numerous gaps in the requirements and reach of development process of governmental programs and services –

sometimes due to zz ignorance,

sometimes due to lack ofzz willingness,

sometimes due to lack of zz awareness,

sometimes just due to zz reluctance or

sometimes due to zz non-availability of services

These are the gaps that the sector tries to bridge.

The social development sector has been defined by various names ‘non-governmental organisations’, ‘voluntary organisations’, ‘third sector’, ‘non-profit sector’, ‘independent sector’, civil society’, etc. ‘The current terminology describing activities and associations of this sector has several themes. In the Indian context, the most prevalent term used to describe initiatives of this kind as noted above is voluntary. `Voluntary initiatives’, `voluntary associations’, `voluntary agencies’, `voluntary organisations’, etc. describe a wide array of voluntary actions (which has the most prevalent usage in the Indian context). Predominantly, this usage describes grassroot level initiatives. It includes Community Based Organisations

Chapter 2

Defining Voluntary Organisations: questions of nomenclature

and identity

24


(CBOs) and People’s Organisations (POs), which may be very micro and local in their actions. It also includes individual initiatives that may not mature into an organised entity. Individual voluntary action is a significant part of the Indian terrain and has been so throughout history. A major impetus for the use of this terminology derives from the inspiration of Mahatma Gandhi. His call for constructive social work as a part of struggle for independence from British colonial role had a major impact in catalysing voluntary action in India, particularly in the early part of the 20th century’19.

Definitions are changing as civil society is recognized as encompassing far more than a mere ‘sector’ dominated by the NGO community. As new civil society actors blur the boundaries between sectors and experiment with new organisational forms, both online and off20, the civil society today includes an even wider and more vibrant range of organised and unorganised groups.

Broadly speaking civil society is commonly defined as “the area outside the family, market and state”, encompassing a spectrum of civil society actors and entities with a wide range of purposes, structures, degrees of organisation, membership and geographical coverage. While descriptions vary across institutions and countries, the ‘civil society ecosystem’ typically includes:

NGOs, non-profit organisations and CSOs that have an organised structure or activity and are z�

typically registered entities and groups.

Online groups and activities including social media communities that can be ‘organised’, but z�

do not necessarily have physical, legal or financial structures.

Social movements of collective action and/or identity, which can be online or physical. z�

Religious leaders, faith communities, and faith-based organisations.z�

Labour unions and labour organisations representing workers.z�

Social entrepreneurs employing innovative and/or market oriented approaches for social and z�

environmental outcomes.

Grassroot associations and activities at the local level.z�

Cooperatives owned and democratically controlled by their membersz� 21.

The World Bank has adopted a definition of civil society developed by a number of leading research centres: “the term civil society to refer to the wide array of non-governmental and not-for-profit organisations that have a presence in public life, expressing the interests and values of their members or others, based on ethical, cultural, political, scientific, religious or philanthropic considerations. CSOs therefore refer to a wide of array of organisations: community groups, NGOs, labour unions, indigenous groups, charitable organisations, faith-based organisations, professional associations, and foundations”. (http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/CSO/0,,contentMDK:20101499~menuPK:244752~pagePK:220503~piPK:220476~theSitePK:228717,00.html)

19 SocietyforParticipatoryResearchinAsia(PRIA)-September2000,DEFININGTHESECTORININDIA,Voluntary,CivilorNon-profit,AReportPreparedbyPRIAinCollaborationwiththeCentreforCivilSocietyStudies,JohnsHopkinsUniversity,USA

20 WorldEconomicForum,2013,TheFutureRoleofCivilSociety,WorldScenarioSeries

21 Ibid

25


According to the European Commission22, problems can arise because there is no commonly accepted - let alone legal – definition of the term ‘civil society organization’. It can nevertheless be used as shorthand to refer to a range of organisations which include: the labour-market players (i.e. trade unions and employers federations – the ‘social partners’23); organisations representing social and economic players, which are not social partners in the strict sense of the term (for instance, consumer organisations); NGOs, which bring people together in a common cause, such as environmental organisations, human rights organisations, charitable organisations, educational and training organisations, etc.; CBOs, i.e. organisations set up within society at the grassroot level, which pursue member-oriented objectives, e.g. youth organisations, family associations and all organisations through which citizens participate in local and municipal life; and religious communities24.

So ‘civil society organisations’ are the principal structures of society outside of government and public administration, including economic operators not generally considered to be ‘third sector’ or NGOs. The term has the benefit of being inclusive and demonstrates that the concept of these organisations is deeply rooted in the democratic traditions of the Member States of the Union25.

The CSO comprises the full range of formal and informal organisations within society. According to the African Development Bank’s official definition:

“Civil society encompasses a constellation of human and associational activities operating in the public sphere outside the market and the state. It is a voluntary expression of the interests and aspirations of citizens organised and united by common interests, goals, values or traditions, and mobilized into collective action either as beneficiaries or stakeholders of the development process. Though ‘Civil Society’ stands apart from state and market forces, it is not necessarily in basic contradiction to them, and it ultimately influences and is influenced by both.

‘Civil Society’ is the collective noun, while ‘civic groups’ are the individual organisations that constitute the sector. The myriad of civic organisations in civil society include, but are not limited to, NGOs, people’s and professional organisations, trade unions, co-operatives, consumer and human rights groups, women’s associations, youth clubs, independent radio, television, print and electronic media, neighborhood or community based coalitions, religious groups, academic and research institutions, grassroot movements and organisations of indigenous peoples.”26

The System of National Accounts (SNA) came up with this Handbook27 to respond to the growing interest that statisticians, policy makers and social scientists have in organisations that are neither market firms nor

22 The specific role of civil society organisations (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2002:0704:FIN:EN:PDF#_Toc46744741)

23 Becauseoftheirrepresentativeness,tradeunionsandemployers’organisationshaveaparticularrole.Forinstance,theECTreatyrequirestheCommissiontoconsultmanagementandlabourinpreparingproposals,inparticularinthesocialpolicyfield.Undercertainconditions,theycanreachbindingagreementsthataresubsequentlyturnedintoCommunitylaw(withinthesocialdialogue).

24 ThisdescriptiontiesinwiththeanalysisdevelopedbytheEconomicandSocialCommitteeinitsopinion‘TheroleandcontributionofcivilsocietyorganisationsinthebuildingofEurope’(OJC329,17November1999,p.30)

25 The specific role of civil society organisations (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2002:0704:FIN:EN:PDF#_Toc46744741)

26 http://www.afdb.org/en/consultations/closed-consultations/afdbs-civil-society-engagement-framework/

27 HandbookofNationalAccounting,2003,HandbookonNon-ProfitInstitutionsintheSystemofNationalAccounts,DepartmentofEconomicandSocialAffairsStatisticsDivision,UnitedNations,NewYork,Series-F.,No.91

26


state agencies nor part of the household sector. Such social institutions are variously referred to as “non-profit”, “voluntary”, “civil society” or “non-governmental” organisations and collectively as the “third”, “voluntary”, “non-profit” or “independent” sector. Types of organisations commonly included under these terms are sports and recreation clubs, art and cultural associations, private schools, research institutes, hospitals, charities, religious congregations and faith-based organisations, humanitarian assistance and relief organisations, advocacy groups and foundations and charitable trusts. Such non-profit institutions are currently covered by SNA; however, SNA does not group them into a single economic sector.

“Non-profit institutions are legal or social entities created for the purpose of producing goods and services whose status does not permit them to be a source of income, profit, or other financial gain for the units that establish, control or finance them. In practice their productive activities are bound to generate either surpluses or deficits, but any surpluses they happen to make cannot be appropriated by other institutional units.” That basis for defining NPIs, which focuses on the common characteristic that they do not distribute their profits, is a central feature of most definitions of “the non-profit sector” in law and social science literature.28

iSSue of RepReSenTaTion

The authors have limited their study to only those voluntary organisations that are working at the grassroot level and other small, medium and bigger organisations, community based organisations whose sole motive is providing not-for-profit services to the society. Therefore, in the present study, we have designated the term ‘voluntary organisations (VOs)’ for the organisations working with the above mentioned intention/motive.

Now the issue is the fact that the Government of India follows the definition provided by SNA29. According to this definition, the private schools, hospitals, sports associations, CSR foundations, which are big profit making bodies are also categorised as NPI or non-profit institutions. Therefore, it’s all the more important for us to emphasize what are the main features of real voluntary organisations, since they are the ones, who have been working at the grassroot levels for the cause ofupliftment of the downtrodden. Hence, through this report an effort has been made to list what we are NOT.

WhaT We aRe noT

We are NOT for profit.

We have NOT stemmed from the big business houses to fulfil corporate social responsibility.

We do NOT have political agenda although we fight for the rights of people.

28 Ibid


27


and WhaT We aRe?

Following international recommendations, PRIA defined an NPO as an entity that meets five criteria simultaneously, viz, it has an institutional identity, it is separate from the government, it is non- profit distributing, self-governing and it has been set up voluntarily.30

We have attempted to recreate the views of various experts on/about the sector.

Any organization that is non-government in nature is a NGO. However, it would be wise to call it ‘social organisations’ that would be non-political in nature and would represent various types of organisations which take up the issues of trade union, minority, dalits, or anything related to development issues . –. Ashok Bharti, NACDOR.

People, who are providing services working for development, working for social development without a profit motive, should be considered as representatives of the Voluntary Sector. If we call it the Voluntary Sector, then some expect people not to take salary, but then the kind of services we provide, are not-for-profit. The corporate funded trust or charity organisations, that are funding everybody should be called corporate run not for profit institutions and should be kept aside – Dr. Alok Mukhpadhyay, VHAI.

Organisations that are restricted to getting grants and engaged in not-for-profit purpose to fulfil the gap left by the government or other bodies. – Mr. K Sivakumar, Gandigram.

30 SrivastavaandRajeshTandon,EconomicandPoliticalWeekly,Vol.40,No.19(May7-13,2005),pp.1948-1952Publishedby:EconomicandPoliticalWeeklyStableURL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/4416603.

28

Voluntary Organisations are under multi-pronged attack from the Government as well as the corporates. While some of this is based on the role that they have played in grassroot democratization that

is challenging government and corporate irregularities, some of it is also based on the lack of better transparency and accountability mechanisms in the development sector itself.

Clubbing all kinds of organisations under the catchall phrase of NGOs is also a significant challenge. While there are large numbers of voluntary organisations that are formed around voluntary action in the spirit of democracy and humanitarianism, there is increasing number of corporate, semi-corporate and profit oriented agencies proliferating under the nomenclature of NGOs. There is a need to clearly demarcate the identity and the role of the voluntary development sector committed to the development, empowerment and democratization in the interest of the poor and the marginalized communities.

Looking at this, an effort was made to define the sector in the first place, which has already been dealt in the previous chapter. Now looking at the diversity of the country and variety of voluntary organisations operating in different parts of the country, it was another challenging task to capture the entire picture of the sector. Therefore, an attempt was made to segregate the study under three important focus areas of the voluntary organisations, namely:

THREE STRATEGIC APPROACHES AS A RESEARCH RUBRIC

1. policy foRmaTion (ReSeaRch & advocacy)

The VO engagement in the policy formation is significant because not only does it echo the voice of the marginalized, it also presents a clear picture of what the issue is. Its engagement is strongly based on research and cases built from interactions at the grassroot levels. Throughout the history of the Indian VO sector, there has been a noticeable stimulation in the culture of rights based advocacy and lobbying with a view to influencing the amendments of policies and legislations.31

Chapter 3

Methodology of the Present study

31 http://www.nhimbe.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12:project-title&catid=3:projects&Itemid=12

29


Conducting research would involve mobilization within the sector and actively engaging them in policy-decision making processes. The exercise also encourages a culture of open articulation as stakeholders get a platform to creatively interface and offer inputs regarding national legislation, policy proposals and programs. Typically, the result of research and analysis in the chosen policy area or sectorial issue is the advocacy for policy change or effective policy implementation.

Generally, advocacy challenges the root causes of poverty while achieving equity and social justice through the empowerment of the disadvantaged – this waythey are able to have a direct participation in decision making processes, which are expected to affect both their rights and lives.32

2. SeRvice deliveRy

The delivery of services by the VOs in India encompassed challenges of geographical remoteness, civil instability, over-centralization of the government, lack of infrastructure and transportation system and lack of resources from the government, among others. The VOs serve as substitutes in terms of recognizing the potential roles of VOs to supply public services in India.33

The provision of various services by the VOs is primarily based on the VOs qualities such as: generally small, flexible and decentralized. Their structure permits them to make decisions at the grassroot level enhancing their ability to provide better public services. In addition, the local VOs employ local staff and create culturally compatible, locally driven projects and have the potential to satisfy the needs of previously underserve groups that create partnerships among local organisations.34

3. RighTS BaSed enTiTlemenT

In India, the fundamental right to life and personal liberty, privacy, equality, non-discrimination, freedom of movement, religion, expression, thought and conscience, and even of property, have been a major concern not only because of caste-system, but mostly due to the inadequate will to enforce the rules and laws pertaining to equality and access to these rights. The intervention of the VOs in this regard has been considerable as they were able to gain legal recognition for basic rights and services such as the right to education, food, water and sanitation, health and nutrition and land rights, among others.

Over the years, there has been a revolution in terms of shift in power relations among the various development key players involved in the promotion of rights-based approach. In this regard, the VOs would not only help the poor, but it would lobby for new approaches to ensure that ‘poor people are actors in their own right, and not victims of beneficiaries’.35

daTa collecTion foR STudy

Qualitative and quantitative data/information were collected through VANI’s various State and Regional meetings apart from four designated state level workshops, that were held in Kolkata, Dehradun and Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh (Bangalore)

32 http://www.vsointernational.org/Images/start-toolkit-advocacy-research-rebrand_tcm76-21106.pdf

33 http://www.lafollette.wisc.edu/publications/workshops/2006/servicedelivery.pdf

34 http://www.lafollette.wisc.edu/publications/workshops/2006/servicedelivery.pdf

35 Oxfam,“Towards”,12-15

30


Primary data was collected through Focused Group Discussions (FGDs), interviews with the visiting organization’s head and staff during the field visits to these places, and sending structured questionnaire to and telephonic conversation with VANI’s partners and non-partners across the country.

Secondary information was collected from VANI’s already published and unpublished meeting reports, studies, libraries from voluntary organisations and websites.

Detailed methodological description is mentioned in the following paragraphs;

pRoceSS

1. Initial meeting/consultation

VANI organised a discussion meeting on 21st December 2012 at its office to ponder over the proposed methodology for the research on the status of theVoluntary Sector . Present at the meeting were researchers, academicians and invited experts. It was widely recognized that itis difficult to capture the diversity of the VOs’ operations in various geographical areas and also the scale of operations. It is all the more difficult to capture the realities at the grassroot level. Hence, some researchers, especially those associated with the voluntary world, were invited to provide their inputs.

Those attending the meeting suggested that VANI use exclusion criteria: the emphasis to be made by listing out the criteria to be done through thematic mapping of the organisations (what type of themes they are addressing) by highlighting the contribution of the sector - type of contribution and impact of our work across the country. This would be done by taking up some important social policies and how the voluntary development organisations contributed towards upscaling them.

2. Research strategy and limitation of the study

Due to the extreme diversity of the sector mentioned earlier in this report, it is difficult to perform a comprehensive study of all VOs in India. Our aim is to present a representative sample of the types of activities that VOs are involved in – including their contributions to the welfare of Indian society and the challenges that they face. Of particular importance is the regional diversity in Voluntary Sector engagement. In order to understand the scope of the Voluntary Sector in India we propose the following:

A. VANI’s member database as a sample set

VANI’s membership (440 member organisations plus 550 associates) is a self-selected group with outreach potential to many more organisations that are not members or associates. The VANI membership, including associates, is representative of Voluntary Sector organisations nationally. Voluntary organisations that are members of VANI are from all over India and represent the voice of smaller groups and those who do not have institutional capacity. However, for this particular study, we have focused on five regions and taken few sample States, like Uttarakhand, (Northern region), Andhra Pradesh (Southern region), West Bengal (Eastern region) and Madhya Pradesh (Central region) and Gujarat (Western region).

B. Workshops as nodal points for data collection

VANI conducts State, Regional and National workshops with its partners, non-partners, non-members, members, associates and other local interested parties in the Northern, Eastern, North-Eastern, Western, Southern, and Central regions of India. Workshops are intended as information- sharing events where issues in the sector are discussed. Reports from these workshops are written by VANI and then shared with participants for feedback. In 2012-2013 the following workshops were held. Additional reports were

31


written by VANI focusing on individual states where particular social issues had been addressed.

Regional WoRkShopS conducTed

Northern:

October 8-9, 2012 - Dehradun (Uttarakhand)zz

July 3-4, 2012 - Chandigarhzz

Eastern/North Eastern region:

September 11-12, 2012 - Kolkata (West Bengal). Participants from Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and zz

West Bengal

Western:

January 18-19, 2012 - Udaipur (Rajasthan). Attendance: Participants from all the four states of the zz

western region i.e. Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh attended the meeting. Site visits and interviews were conducted between March 12-19 2013 in Ahmedabad (Gujarat) with 10 prominent VOs.

Central:

March 13-14, 2012 - Nagpur (Maharashtra). Attendance: participants from Maharashtra , Madhya zz

Pradesh and Chhattisgarh

May 7, 2013 - Bhopal zz

Southern:

December 18-19, 2012 - Bangalore (Karnataka)zz

C. Case studies

In addition to material collected from the above mentioned workshops, Status of the Voluntary Sector report will include narrative case studies that paint portraits of the sector. Exemplary VOs from each region have been selected for this portion of the study.

Data analysis focuses on both the contribution and challenges faced by the sector (CHAPTERS 4-5)

Challenges of the sector (CHAPTER 4)

The study is also an attempt to document some of the challenges that the sector is currently facing, including:

Global recession zz

MSSR bill-2012zz

New Companies Billzz

Government (working with/ way perceived by)zz

Legal issues and FCRAzz

Proposed Direct taxes Codezz

Collaboration with other NGOszz

32

India faces multiplicity of issues. With the changing global scenario, the Indian society has also witnessed

rapid changes and added to the already existing issues. This has resulted in increase in the number of VOs that have come up to undertake various developmental activities and impact these issues. ‘They have come up with various kinds of formations and hence can be viewed as heterogeneous in nature’.36

Despite India’s meteoric economic development, it can be said that India has the best of the First World and the worst of the Third World within its borders, and faces unprecedented human security challenges.37 India now has 410 million people living below the UN poverty line – 37.2 percent of its population and actually 100 million more people than in 2004 – and millions of India’s rural poor are faced with food price inflation of up to 17 percent38. Sixty per cent of Indian labour is still agricultural, and the integration of hundreds of millions of peasants into a modern economy may be an extremely painful process39. And while Indian infrastructure such as roads, civil aviation, ports, and telecommunications have experienced noticeable improvements in recent years, electricity, railways, and irrigation still

Chapter 4

Challenges of Voluntary Sector

The explosion of NGOs has been happening in the context of a world which has been over the past few decades, charac-terized by rapid, complex and often unpredictable political, institutional, environmental, demographic, social and eco-nomic changes, which show no sign of ending which the past decade in particular has seen dramatic changes at global lev-el that have been a fundamen-tal impact on societies every-where.


37 SungWonKim,DavidP.Fidler,andSumitGanguly,“EastphaliaRising?AsianInfluenceandtheFateofHumanSecurity”,WorldPolicyJournal,Summer2009,p64

38 “100millionmoreIndiansnowlivinginpoverty”,TheEconomicTimes,18Apr2010,http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/100-million-more-Indians-now-living-in-poverty/articleshow/5829267.cms

39 Bardhan, Pranab. “Crouching Tiger, Lumbering Elephant? TheRise of China and India in a Comparative Economic Perspective”, BrownJournalofWorldAffairs,Fall/Winter2006,Vol13,No1,p51.

33


need significant investment. India also continues to lag in social infrastructure, such as education and healthcare40. These social inequalities have fuelled the widespread ‘Naxalite’ Maoist insurgency affecting vast areas throughout Eastern and Central India and whose 20,000 insurgents have been identified as “greatest internal security threat” facing the nation41 by the current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. These internal issues pose the first challenge to India’s rise as a great power, as external projection must be based on a firm foundation of domestic stability. The requirements for domestic stability also shape India’s international needs. Pant42 asserts that, “The biggest challenge for India remains that of continuing to achieve the rates of economic growth that it has enjoyed in recent years. Everything else is of secondary importance. … Unless India can sustain this momentum, its larger foreign policy ambitions cannot be realized.”

The Voluntary Sector has also evolved significantly during the last two decades. The technology, communication and market have created immense opportunities and pressure to set up many new organisations, especially around the issues of global governance and policy advocacy besides having been engaged in all sectors of social life like relief, rehabilitation, health, education, development programmes, peace, human rights, environment and so on. Although under-resourced in comparison to business and government, funding for voluntary activities has grown substantially in specific areas (as mentioned in the previous lines) with support from major foundations and tailored funds.

The country has witnessed some characteristic changes in the last couple of decades that have impacted not just the general civil society of India, but also the Voluntary Sector in their functional outlook;

1. FDI: The Government of India rolled out the red carpet for international corporations to enter India. On 14 September 2012, the government allowed FDI in single Brand Retail Trading, Multi-Brand Retail Trading, Foreign airlines, certain Broadcasting sections, and with some conditions in the Pension and Defense Sector. ‘With this, the plethora of business opportunities in India has been thrown open to the overseas investors. India has seen an eightfold increase in its FDI in March 2012, at a time when the aforesaid norms were not even approved. India remains one of the favorite destinations for foreign investors’43. Opponents of the entry of FDI in retail trade generally point to its adverse impact on employment. This is indeed an important issue, as around 40 million people are engaged in retail trade in India. Even a small percentage loss of employment in this sector amounts to lakhs of unemployed44. At the same time, we as a Sector need to take note of certain other issues as well, in particular the nature of the relations which international retailing giants establish with their suppliers, and their implications for workers and cultivators in countries like India.

2. Global recession: Global economic meltdown has affected almost all the countries of the world. The recession has taken its toll on the Indian Economy and has led to multi-crore loss in business and export orders, thousands of job losses, especially in key sectors like the IT, automobiles, industry

40 Bardhan,“CrouchingTiger”,p52

41 Pant,“IndianForeignandSecurityPolicy”,p231

42 Pant,“IndianForeignandSecurityPolicy”,p226.

43 ForeignDirectInvestment(FDI),ReformsinIndiaCouldbeaGameChanger,http://www.sannams4.com/?p=2136,

44 M.Guruswamy,K.Sharma,J.P.Mohanty,andT.Korah,“FDIinIndia’sRetailSector–MoreBadthanGood”,EconomicandPoliticalWeekly,12/2/05,estimatesfuturejoblossesasaresultofFDIintheretailsectoratbetween4,32,000and6,20,000

34


and export-oriented firms. It has also shaken up the investment arena. It is a difficult phase for a growing economy like India. Growth rates have now been scaled down up to three percentage points from pre-crisis levels and concerns abound on corruption, investment, jobs, agriculture and energy. The critics of India‘s two decade adherence to free market economics are many. Economists such as Jayati Ghosh, Prabhat Patnaik and others have shown that despite impressive growth rates the economy has not been able to reduce poverty and generate decent jobs by any substantive figure45. ‘Poverty statistics are much contested with estimates varying from a low of 29.8% of the total population (latest official estimates from the Planning Commission based on 2009-10 figures) to a high of up to 77% living on less than Rs. 20 a day (these are slightly dated figures from the 2007 Arjun Sengupta committee report, but the contrast is indicative of the debate on the impacts of reforms in reducing poverty)’46. ‘Data on employment indicates that despite a decline in share of GDP from 29.4% in 1980-81 to 12.8% in 2010-11, agriculture employs 52% of the workforce. The impressive growth in the services sector has not resulted in a concomitant rise in its employment share. In 2009-10, services contributed 57.1% of GDP, but only 26.2% of employment and much of it were precarious jobs in the informal sector’47. Also, the gaps between the rich and the poor have enhanced considerably. India is still way back in HDI ratings and ranks 119, much below in comparison to many small countries having much less economic growth. Such a situation can make India a demographic disaster rather than a demographic dividend’48.

3. India as a Rising Power: A projection of India as the next super power raises a lot of concerns for lower strata of its population. It is because of the insufficient government attention given to rampant corruption, rural poverty, inequality, etc. While millions of India’s population are working professionals, a huge percentage still lives under extreme poverty as evidenced by the malnutrition rate of 48% of the country’s total child population under 5 years of age, according to the latest report of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

This picture is contrary to the economic forecast as seen in Table 1 below, where it is a predicted continuous increase in India’s economic indicators.

Table 2: India Economic Forecast49

% 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

GDP Growth 7.80% 8.30% 8.40% 8.50% 8.60%

Industrial Production Growth 6.00% 7.50% 7.90% 7.90% 7.90%

Unemployment Rate 9.80% 9.60% 9.30% 8.90% 9.90%

Consumer Price Inflation 8.50% 8.40% 7.90% 7.50% 6.70%

Short-term Interbank Rate 9.90% 9.30% 12.00% 11.80% 11.80%

Government Balance (% of GDP) -0.052 -4.70% -5% -4.30% -3.90%

45 BennyKuruvilla(WithSusanaBarriawhoconductedpartofthebackgroundresearchandinterviews),July2012,GlobalIndia:Settingthecontextandcivilsocietyresponses,http://www.in.boell.org/downloads/Global_India_July2012.pdf

46 http://planningcommission.nic.in/news/press_pov1903.pdf

47 Mohanty,Mritiunjoy(2012),Thegrowthmodelhascomeundone‘,TheHindu,10July.


49 Economist Intelligence Unit as of Dec 1st 2011

35


Being part of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), an association of countries with emerging economies and considered to have large influence on regional and global affairs, India joined in the pursuit for a meaningful role in the global economy. Similarly, being part of the G20 (a group of finance ministries and central bank governors of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Republic of Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America, and the European Union, whose objective is to coordinate policies among its members to achieve global economic stability & economic growth; promote risk reducing financial regulations that shall prevent financial crises; and creation of new international financial architecture), India is expected to participate in the expansion of the UN’s system in order to accommodate the aspiration of the southern countries where it should help raise the voice of South Asia in such forums.

This predicament is secondary to what India as a nation needs to achieve – the dream of becoming a superpower. However, for the realization of this dream, we first need to address the internal issues plaguing the nation. This is where the VOs play a major role. They act as agents of change, delivering services to both the greater urban and rural population.

4. India as a Donor: Currently, India’s structure of development aid implementation is rather confusing. Led by the Ministry of External Affairs, number of different ministries and governmental institutions are involved in executing foreign aid. However, with the establishment of Development Partnership Administration (DPA) in January 2012, managing of economic aid and assistance has become more centralized, though it will take more time to put the systems in order.

The table representation below reflects the evolution of India’s aid assistance to both Africa and Latin American countries. While the figures do not signify a huge percentage of the entire aid outflow, it is evident of the change in dimension of India’s foreign policy. India’s presence in Africa and Latin America projects shows its slow rise in power.

Figure-6 India’s Outflow of Development Assistance (1990-2011)50

50 MinistryofFinance,GovernmentofIndiaExpenditureBudget,vol.2;loansfromMEAAnnualReports

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Also, according to the Global Humanitarian Assistance report called ‘India: Country Briefing’, in the year 2009, India ranked as the eighth largest recipient of external aid at US$2.5 billion from donors reporting to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s and Development Assistance Committee (DAC). The report, published in January 2012, also states that the Indian economy has grown threefold in 2010 and is now the 10th largest in the world by nominal GDP. With this and along with the shift in focus of the Ministry of International Aid in the UK to encourage bilateral trade between the two countries, the latter announced in November 2012 that all financial aid from the UK to India would cease with immediate effect excluding the programs currently running on the ground. All such programs are expected to be completed in 2015.

Shanthie Mariet D’Souza, Research Fellow, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore, Singapore, said that India pledged to donate US$2 billion to Afghanistan for various capacity and institution-building purposes.

Clearly on the rise as a world power, the Indian government recently lauded the fact that they were huge donors of charitable aid to Africa. That being said, the policies regarding VO activities overseas, as dictated by the DTC, are very different from those that exist among other donor nations. Presently, money collected in India for public benefit activity overseas is taxed at the highest rate in the nation.51

The issue lies with the fact that Indian VOs are not fully informed in the first instance about these global developments. Primarily, as a separate platform in local aid-giving, VOs should be at the least informed and especially engaged at any stage when discussion of this nature is held. There should be proper recognition from the government towards the VOs. Even the VOs working at the grassroot level thought of less in terms of understanding and providing stimulus regarding the matter of global-level, should be given due recognition.

The Steering Committee agreed that the perceived role and vision of voluntary agencies needs to undergo a change. The vision in particular should orient itself towards more transformative and constructive interventions that build an ethical social order, rekindle the notion of self-governance at the level of the individual/family/society, strengthen grassroot democratic establishments, increase sensitization of policy makers towards marginalized communities and contribute to social, economic and political advancement of people. While giving due recognition to the autonomous nature of VOs, processes ensuring respectful engagement between the Government and VOs must be institutionalised. A transition from engaging VOs in implementation roles of subsidiary agents/contractors to active partners in designing, planning and monitoring (while allowing them to co-exist as autonomous agents of social transformation) is envisaged.

51 VANI,2011,ReviewofLegalandFiscalRegulatoryMechanismofVoluntarySector:ComparingIndiaandtheWorld,http://vaniindia.org/Download/regulationstudy.pdf

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5. Report of the Steering Committee on Voluntary Sector:52 Taking off from the recommendations of National Policy on Voluntary Sector Policy (2007), the Planning Commission adopted a consultative approach for the mid-term appraisal of the Eleventh Five Year Plan. For the first time, voluntary agencies were formally involved in reviewing some of the promises made by the Eleventh Plan and assess its consequent impact. In continuation with this approach, the Planning Commission engaged with around 900 civil society organisations for the formulation of the Approach Paper to the Twelfth Five Year Plan. The consultations represented a wide range of thematic issues, regional concerns and constituency groups. Its recommendations were compiled in a document titled ‘Approaching Equity: Civil Society Inputs for the Approach Paper to the 12th Plan’53. The strength of the nature of engagement was confirmed with its continuation in the form of a published critique of the draft Approach Paper by a large set of VOs whose suggestions were formally accepted by the Planning Commission. Besides this singular Five Year Plan oriented initiative, the Planning Commission has consistently engaged with Voluntary Sector organisations through its Civil Society Window program54. This was started for inviting civil society representatives to share grassroots realities and alternate views on development with members and officials of the Planning Commission as well as with representatives of concerned ministries and state governments. Since its inception in 2005, there have been 41 Civil Society Windows that have enabled organisations to present their views and suggestions to policy makers.

It is also hoped that the Voluntary Sector as a whole will in the duration of the Twelfth Plan period transform itself into a better governed, more accountable and transparent, well-funded and sustainable sector with strong institutions that are functional at the union, state, district and panchayat levels. Enhanced support to the sector through human resource development, institutional enhancement, greater capacity and resource building of all voluntary actors is also envisaged.

An extension of this is the need to explore the changing relationship of voluntary agencies with the private sector. Transparent and accountable public private partnership models, greater corporate social responsibility and responsible interactions of VOs with market agencies are visualized. To ensure respectful engagement, the Steering Committee recommends the formulation of uniform and consistent state and central policies in order to overcome the shortfalls and biases in the current set of widely varying policy directives. This, however, does not take away the fact that the spirit of voluntarism would continue to remain unfettered and grow and find expression in its own amorphous way.

52 ReportoftheSteeringCommitteeonVoluntarySectorfortheTwelfthFiveyearPlan(2012-17),PlanningCommission,GovernmentofIndia,http://planningcommission.nic.in/aboutus/committee/strgrp12/str_voluntary.pdf

53 ApproachingEquity:CivilSocietyInputsfortheApproachPapertothe12thPlan,AWNTApublication,withsupportfromUNDP.http://indiagovernance.gov.in/files/Approaching-Equity.pdf

54 ReportoftheSteeringCommitteeonVoluntarySectorfortheTwelfthFiveyearPlan(2012-17),PlanningCommission,GovernmentofIndia,http://planningcommission.nic.in/aboutus/committee/strgrp12/str_voluntary.pdf

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6. Changes in specific laws: The Steering Committee acknowledges the importance of having an enabling environment for the Voluntary Sector, institutionalized participation from design to implementation and evaluation in the government schemes, review of the regulatory framework, acknowledging the need of self- regulation, creation of a separate ministry called Ministry of Voluntary Affairs (MVA), capacity building of the professionals. However, despite acknowledging the above mentioned points and having several rounds of meetings and consultations between Planning Commission and the VOs and incorporating their suggestions into 12th Five year plans, the Government of India is tightening its noose around the sector in the form of FCRA-2010, Direct Taxes Law (DTC). These things look more like harassment than creating the enabling environment for the Sector.

a. FCRA-2010: The government of India has tightened the rules on VOs following the implementation of FCRA 2010. Over the past two years, following protests that delayed several important industrial projects, during August 2012, precisely 4033 organisations got their FCRA registration cancelled. It was later clarified by the FCRA department that this was an effort to weed out the dormant and inactive FCRA registered organisations, or on account of non-submission of returns, change of address and not updating the same with the concerned department, or no reasonable activities in last couple of years. As per the rule, the

Policy intent for the Voluntary Sector in the Twelfth Five Year Plan

The Steering Committee on Voluntary Action has envisaged that at the end of the Twelfth Five Year Plan, the nation should have a more:

i. Coordinated system of dialogue between the state and the Voluntary Sector on the central issues of poverty eradication, protection of the most marginalized and vulnerable communities (including minorities, Nomadic Tribes Transgender groups, differently-abled persons, Primitive Tribal Groups, Internally Displaced Persons) through access to justice, conflict resolution, sustainable development, gender equity, rural transformation, heritage and culture promotion, financial inclusion and capacity building/ talent management of India’s human resource, particularly the youth.

ii. Stable, growing, eclectic and better managed Voluntary Sector with greater transparency and accountability; enabled by laws, institutional structures and frameworks that can provide support even in a non-homogenous environment.

iii. Better skilled and equipped body of Voluntary Sector professionals which is empowered to work towards a more inclusive, equitable and harmonious social order.

iv. Empowered Voluntary Sector that plays the important role of animating and establishing among others a robust and participatory Panchayati Raj System of self-governance and encourages youth, both men and women to give some of their time to nation building as part of their own self development.

v. Institutionalized legal measures that are uniformly applicable across states to ensure protection of all voluntary actors against any form of political, social or economic harassment by either the state or market forces.

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During a Rajya Sabha debate on the proposed FCRA bill on 9 March, 1976, the term ‘CIA’ (Central Intelligence Agency) was mentioned at least 30 times by different legislators, while ‘Lockheed Martin’ (a military aerospace corporation) came up at least six times in the context of alleged instances of Americans pumping dollars into governments worldwide to buy influence during the Cold War. In 2010, a different parliament, with opposition members who had not been imprisoned like those in 1976, unanimously voted to update the law by passing the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). This time round, there was no talk of the CIA or Lockheed Martin. Instead, concern was focused on the increasingly influential role of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) as institutions of civil society in India. The term ‘NGO’ found at least 40 mentions during the Rajya Sabha debate on the 2010 bill. The main concern of the Upper House appeared to be a lack of transparency among NGOs receiving foreign contributions. Hence the calls to strengthen the monitoring regime, although several MPs expressed worry that the new law would give the Centre too much discretionary power to crack down on dissenting NGOs

-Foreign Funding of NGOs, http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/

business/foreign-funding-of-ngos

department should have suspended the registrations, but an official said it was due to the anxiety the registrations were cancelled instead of suspensions. However, itis also true, that only 257 organisations raised their voice against the cancellation which proves that the rest of them do not exist anymore. The department claims that proper measures are being taken to revoke the cancellation by checking the papers.

Worries about the 2010 Act’s overreach werevalidated lastyearwhenthegovernmentused it toclampdownonNGOsinvolvedinanti-corruptionandanti-nuclearprotests.Aspartofthatexercise,atleastfourNGOswerebookedundertheFCRAforallegedlydiverting foreign funds to aid the organisation ofprotests against the Koodankulam nuclear powerplantinTamilNadu.Theirbankaccountswerefrozen.Theprotests,however,didnotend.

The government stepped up its campaign this month, suspending the permission that Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF), a network of more than 700 NGOs across India, had to receive foreign funds. Groups in the network campaign for indigenous peoples’ rights over their mineral-rich land and against nuclear energy, human rights violations and religious fundamentalism; nearly 90 percent of the network’s funding comes from overseas.

In its letter to INSAF, the Home Ministry said the group’s bank accounts were frozen and foreign funding approval suspended because it was likely to “prejudicially affect the public interest”.

A government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said that the government is not against criticism. But when an NGO uses foreign donations to criticize Indian policies, “things get complicated, and you never know what the plot is,” the official said, adding that NGOs should use foreign donations to do development work instead55.

55 ActivistsbristleasIndiacracksdownonforeignfundingofNGOs,http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/activists-bristle-as-india-cracks-down-on-foreign-funding-of-ngos/2013/05/19/a647ff80-bcaf-11e2-b537-ab47f0325f7c_story.html

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TheironyhereisthataforeignermaymakeaninvestmentintoanIndiancompany;evenFDIhasenteredthedefensesector.ThatIndiancompanymaylobbymembersofParliament,bureaucrats,andlocalgovernments.Itmayengage“publicaffairsconsultants”andinfluencepolicy–say,miningpolicyofthegovernment.Yet,if aVOwere to protest against the government’smining policy,itwould be prohibited from getting any donations from foreignsources.

Another point worth mentioning here is that the religious and education sector together are one of the biggest FCRA recipients in the country. Point not to be missed here is the bigger private educational schools like Doon, Woodstock, religious bodies like Pathanamthitta are registered as not-for-profit bodies, receiving foreign funds. The following table shows that nearly 19 per cent (Rs 1276.56 crore) of the foreign funds are pumped into the education sector and the religious bodies. The figures have been calculated by broadly taking four highlighted purposes from the table below.

Table -3 Receipt of Foreign Contribution towards major 15 Purposes during the year 2010-1156

PURPOSE ForeignContribution( Rs. in crore)

Establishment Expenses 1337.15

Rural Development 863.12

Welfare of Children 745.24

Construction and maintenance of school/college 631.24

Grant of stipend/ scholarship/ assistance in cash and kind to poor/deserving children 458.13

Research 392.43

Awareness about AIDS/ Treatment and rehabilitation of persons affected by AIDS 392.33

Welfare of orphans. 259.70

Construction/ Running of hospital/dispensary/clinic. 253.31

Awareness camp/ Seminar/ Workshop/ meeting/ Conference 226.55

Non-formal education projects/coaching classes 224.63

Maintenance of Priests/ preachers and other religious functionaries 211.30

Religious Schools/Education of priests and Preachers 209.39

Welfare/Empowerment of women. 203.06

Construction/Repair/Maintenance of places of worship 199.74

“The government’s action is aimed at curbing our demo-cratic right to dissent and disagree. “We dared to chal-lenge the government’s new foreign donation rules in the court”. We opposed nucle-ar energy; we campaigned against genetically modified food. We have spoiled the sleep of our Prime Minis-ter.”

- Anil Chaudhary, INSAF network

56 FCRAAnnualreport,2010-11,ReceiptandUtilizationofForeignContributionbyVoluntaryAssociations,MinistryofHomeAffairs,ForeignersDivision,FCRAWing

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b. Direct taxes Code (DTC): The Direct Taxes Code Bill, 2010 (DTC) has been referred to the Standing Committee on Finance of Parliament for detailed examination and report thereon. It consolidates and integrates all the direct tax laws and replaces both the Income Tax Act, 1961 and the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 by a single legislation, namely the Direct Taxes Code (DTC)57. The chapter-4 (Section 90 to 103) in the new tax act proposed is for NPOs/ VOs.

It is very important for all the VOs to have a working knowledge of the legal norms and how to run the VOs. It is indeed more difficult to run a non-profit rather than a profit making organization. In case of DTC, VOs registered under IT Act will not have to re-register under DTC, but may have to provide extra information; basic exemption limit will be provided, excess will be taxable; cash system of accounting will be retained; central government will have power to notify any VO as an exempt entity; donation by a VO to another VO from its accumulated surplus will not be considered charitable purpose; up to 15% of the surplus or 10% of gross receipts (whichever is higher) will be allowed to be carried forward to be used within 3 years; indefinite accumulation of 15% as previously allowed will not be permissible; 100% deductions under section 35AC has been removed; depreciation as an expenditure towards charitable purpose will not be allowed; every VO should show charitable activity every year; any VO not having charitable activity in two out of preceding four years will be subjected to tax at the rate of 30% on the entire net worth.

c. Companies Bill: The Companies Bill 2012, after due discussions with stakeholders was cleared by the Lok Sabha on December 18, 2012. The new law mandates 2% of profit after tax (PAT) of preceding three years to be spent on CSR activities. All companies with revenue greater than Rs 1000 Crore ($ 200 million) or profits of 5 Crore ($ 1 million) must spend 2% of the average of the last 3 years profits, towards CSR activity.

The Board must designate a three-member CSR committee (including one independent director) to ratify decisions on spending. Employee expenses will not be classifiable as CSR spending. Poverty alleviation, healthcare, education and social business ventures have all been included as potential areas of investment. If the spend is not made in that year, the CSR committee would have to submit an explanation for

“The idea was to give it a structure, a shape, regularize it in a way that it becomes formatted.

We are following a principle of self reporting. I am very confident because the private sector, the corporates — they themselves want to build bridges with the community. I also think it helps them enhance their brand value and their presence in a very positive fashion. I am very confident that they want to come over and do it as long as there is absorptive capacity in the area to get the CSR done.”

Mr. Sachin Pilot, Minster of State for Corporate Affairs (I/C), GoI

57 TheDirecttaxescodebill,2010,fortyNinthreport,StandingcommitteeonFinance,(2011-12),FifteenthLokSabha,MinistryofFinance,departmentofRevenue,LokSabhaSecretariat,NewDelhi,March,2012/Phalguna,1933(Saka),http://www.prsindia.org/uploads/media/DTC%20Bill/SCR%20DTC%20Bill%202010.pdf

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the non utilization of the mandated amount not to be penalized. If the bill passes, India will be the first country in the world to mandate this kind of expenditure across the board. (Some countries, like Malaysia have mandated spending towards CSR for certain industries such as mining.)

This new Companies Bill has got mixed review from the private and the Voluntary Sector.

Many corporate representatives think that this means approximately $5 billion worth of funds that will annually have to be absorbed by the not-for-profit or the Voluntary Sector. They also raise a question whether the non-profit organisations are really capable of absorbing this much capital in the right way58? In spite of the 1 million VOs that exist in India, there is a popular perception that many are inefficient and disorganised. This new capital will call for quick scaling of systems and processes by the sector. However, in the Voluntary Sector, it is widely believed that this 2 per cent may act as a gateway for the bigger companies to use it in their own CSR ventures and the smaller companies, who do not have their CSR venture, may donate this 2 per cent to a well known private brand for new business alliances. The CSR bodies function with profit as their main motive unlike the VOs, which have totally different implications on the community. However, on a positive note, the Voluntary Sector can look for new avenues to raise fund from the private bodies. However, in this case many of them need to be more transparent and accountable in their systems. This in the long run, will reduce pressure on our sector for foreign funding.

d. The Proposed Multi-State Societies Registration (MSSR) Bill, 2012: The Central Government through the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has released the proposed Multi-State Societies Registration Bill (MSSR), 2012. This bill is proposed to regulate the various types of VOs in India through a central statute. The idea is to enhance transparency and accountability in the Voluntary Sector.

The proposed MSSR 2012 is addressed to societies that have multi-state operations. The need to have a common law and framework applicable in the entire country to regulate such societies is addressed through the MSSR. Therefore, we propose following suggestions to the proposed bill;

i. Registration requirements and process:

1. The registration process involves any seven or more persons associated for any literary, scientific or charitable purpose and who conduct or plan to conduct inter-state activity by such association shall, by subscribing their names to a memorandum of association and filing the same with an application for registration as a multi-state society to the Registrar in the manner prescribed where a fee would have to be paid.

2. Note that the proposed MSSR Bill, 2012 shall regulate only Societies having Multi State operation. For instance, Societies of national importance working in one state shall not be covered.

58 Shah,March,2013,IndiaCSRbillcreatesripplesinthesocialsector,http://acumen.org/blog/our-world/new-bill-means-big-funding-for-indias-social-enterprises/

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ii. Promotion of self-regulation and modernization of the regulatory framework.

1. The Governing Body would act as a regulator providing corporate governance standards for the functioning of the multi-state society.

iii. Constitution of a National Charities and Voluntary Commission which will take care of the registration and monitoring process.

1. The MSSR Bill, 2012 does not have any provision for the creation of a separate voluntary commission.

vi. Proper reporting of books and related financial statements.

1. All registered multi-state society would have to comply with the annual reporting requirements and would have to maintain books of accounts including but not limited to the sums of money received and expended by the multi-state society and the matters in respect of which the receipt and expenditure take place.

v. Whistle-blower policy

1. Among others, the multi-state society may establish a mechanism for its members or employees to report to the Governing Body concerns about unethical behavior, actual or suspected fraud or violation of the Act or rules made thereunder.

OUR INTERNAL CHALLENGES

The sector is also grappling with its internal challenges.

1. Lack of Funding Sources:

Information regarding sources of funding is limited among VOs and the long gestation period of fund sanctioning is also a major concern for them. Even the funding volume has come down to a large extent compared to preceeding years. When asked about the reason behind this, many organisations cited that it was because of competition existing among VOs for funding. These days there is a high increase in the number of voluntary organisations in the state, on account of which there is confusion among donors regarding the identification of genuine organisations. This makes it more difficult for new grassroots organisations to obtain funding from foreign donors.

There is a need to have collaboration among the VOs at the national, state and district level, which will help the sector to counter all the challenges together. Some of the funding related problems shared by the organisations are:

Delay on approval of proposals and projects at various stages.z�

Undue delay in sanction and release of funds by certain government departments.z�

Funding agencies are asking for references from the organisations while the newly formed z�

organisations find it difficult to provide previous track records or references. The lack of funding has brought many NGO projects to a halt.

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When asked about the funding challenge the organization is going through, one respondent commented, “we have been making applications/proposals for small grants to various funding agencies, but receiving regret letters stating that we have received number applications, we have limited funds, we work with our old partners etc”.

Moreover, funding from government is not adequate to carry out developmental activities. Red-Tapism coupled with vested political interests and corruption among some government officials at the lower levels obstructs work taken up by these organisations. VOs have to divert their resources to accomplish the works of government either due to the delay in getting grants or the small amount of funding.

2. Lack of Internal good governance:

An effort was made to ascertain governance patterns of VOs in the state. As per the inferences drawn from the field study, the absence of effective management systems among many VOs in the state has made the sector completely disorganised and unsystematic. The study revealed that most of the policies, which are the basic parameter and indicator of good management practice, are missing among small and grassroots organisations.

One of the key aspects of internal strengthening is good governance reflected in sound human resource and related policies, which confirms an organisation’s commitment to accountability and transparency towards its internal and external stakeholders. On the basis of the responses received, big organisations have well set operational and management policies within the system. In contrast, small VOs have no well-defined policies on some key aspects such an anti-sexual harassment policy; conflict of interest policy; diversity/gender policy etc. making the governance structure of these organisations weak. Thus organisations working at the grassroots need to focus mainly on their governance structure and should take initiative to build policies that are very important for the organisation’s sustainability.

3. Skill gap:

There exists a huge skill gap among existing staff of VOS of Andhra Pradesh. In this respect, some of the challenges faced include:

Difficulty in appointment of skilled and qualified personnel because of low and meager z�

salaries.

Stability and commitment has been missing in the sector among its workforce. Many employees z�

after devoting 4-5 years in the sector prefer to take up a new profession after gathering experience. It poses a threat to the existence and sustainability of the sector.

It becomes very difficult to appoint or employ highly qualified personnel in grassroot VOs that z�

are mostly located in rural areas.

Lack of reporting and presentation skills with tools and technical knowledge.z�

One of the respondent interviewed commented, “There is every scope to improve the skills of the existing staff and the organization is striving to improve the same through refresher and skill development programs continually. However, lack of adequate budgetary allocations is the major constraint.”

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Proposal Writing

Proposal writing poses many challenges, especially for small and unskilled VOs. Proposals have recently become more sophisticated, reflecting the increased competitiveness among the VOs. However, small and grassroot level organisations are finding it difficult to write well-framed proposals for raising funds. Fundraising is the lifeline activity for a VOs, but due to lack of sufficient skill in writing proposals it has become a big challenge for some organisations. It is rightly said in economics that wants are unlimited and resources are scarce and limited. Similarly, fundraising is a big concern for the Voluntary Sector as there are such few resources available and too many seekers reaching out for them. In such situations, developing professionalism in the form of writing well-framed proposals and surviving in such a competitive environment is a major concern for the grassroot VOs as they can’t afford to hire professionals for writing proposals. Hiring fundraising professionals has become expensive. In contrast, bigger organisations possess both the resources and qualified personnel for fundraising.

Technical institutes of the state in some way adding to the capacity of the VOs

Technical Institutes at various instances have extended their support to VOs in the form of trainings and skill development activities. Collaboration was seen in the field of organic farming and entrepreneurship development among VOs, and research and technical institutes. Various research institutes and centers are providing training support to VOs by introducing certificate courses for dissemination of information relating to skill development and professional exposure.

4. Ideological Difference between the VOs

There is good inter agency collaboration among VOs in Andhra Pradesh. A good number of VOs are engaged with other local VOs, local CBO’s, networks and federations in implementation of watershed projects, agriculture, education, health, livelihood, women empowerment programs, skill development, capacity-building and vocational training programs. This collaboration has proved to be fruitful and helped in expertise, exposure and smooth delivery of mass services. However, there also exists big ideological difference between the VOs in the state, which need to be worked out for the long and better sustenance of this sector. There also exists mutual distrust, non-co-operation and non-coordination among some VOs in the area that prefer to work independently.

Even in Anantapur there have been various efforts to have a common platform for VOs. However, it is difficult to keep unity between members when some members have better continuity of funds and others lesser and some members have a good level of honesty and transparency and others do not. If there is some commonality not in size of the organization or in type of work, but at least in stability of regular funding and honesty and transparency it would be easier for VOs to share a common platform. RDT works with two or three known VOs that have confidence between each other. – Rural Development Trust (RDT)

One of the members of SVAN (Sankalpa Voluntary Associations Network) shared, “We have been involving other VOs in our programs. We are a part of local VOs, Networks and sharing our experiences, expertise, resources and information on funding sources. But, we too find mutual distrust, non-co-operation & non-co-ordination with some other VOs.”

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5. Lack of stability among the workforce:

The sector is in the crisis of permanent working staff, which can very well lead the sector. The stability of the workforce is a major concern for the sector as a person prefers to work with a VO hardly for a period of 5-6 years and once his/her career starts reaching its height; he/she shifts to some other sector. There are various instances in Andhra Pradesh where organisations are facing the crisis of vigorous leadership on account of temporary staff, which is threatening the very existence of the sector as a whole. Moreover the resources available for VOs are also limited. Many are not able to pay a sound salary to its workforce, which in turn forces them to look for better employment options. Many people who have been engaged with the sector for a long time do so out of their passion and desire to work for society.

One can conclude from these discussions that there are two types of challenges that the sector is facing today.

External and z�

Internal challengesz�

The external challenges come mostly in the form of changing global (and Indian) market scenario, and government’s various regulatory mechanisms trying to control the sector; whereas the internal challenges involves dealing with the sector’s internal crisis. While the sector is regulated by multiple laws and authorities, its credibility is often questioned by most stakeholder groups due to lack of information (about existence, performance, finances, output and outcome), absence of performance benchmarks, government licenses and permissions, not having sufficient indicators of performance or credibility, media reports usually being centred around stories of what went wrong and the general lack of awareness of the common man about the Voluntary Sector. As a result, the sector is facing growing demands for accountability from resource-providers as well as from the constituents they claim to serve. Also, calls for greater accountability are emerging from within the sector itself.

Ensuring Transparency, Accountability and Democracy in Indian VOs

VANI59

There has been much public debate on the Voluntary Sector, particularly its governance, accountability, and transparency. It is widely believed that the Voluntary Sector must address these issues through suitable self-regulation. “The Government will encourage the evolution of, and subsequently accord recognition to, an independent, national level, self-regulatory agency for the Voluntary Sector”60.

There were many initiatives taken by the sector to emphasize the need of greater transparency and accountability through self-regulations, and VANI being the apex body of the Indian voluntary organisations, took some important initiatives in this direction.

When VANI was formed in 1988, it was mandated to promote value based voluntarism in society. Among many interventions towards this end, VANI defined a set of norms and standards of good governance

59 http://www.vaniindia.org/

60 ReportoftheSteeringCommitteeonVoluntarySectorfortheeleventhfiveyearPlan(2007-2012),PlanningCommission,GovernmentofIndia, 2007

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practices for those voluntary organisations, which became its members. That’s precisely why no VANI’s member has ever been included in these periodic ‘black lists’ by the government. VANI’s campaign to reform the policy and regulatory environment for voluntary organisations in the country is based on this premise of making the governance of such institutions more transparent, accountable and effective. It is also a strong aspect of the National Policy on Voluntary Sector in the country.

“In 1997, VANI adopted a document titled Guiding Principles for Voluntary Developmental Organisations. This set of guidelines was the culmination of many previous attempts by both government and voluntary organisations to make a code of conduct for the Voluntary Sector.

In 2001, an independent process named Credibility Alliance was initiated to develop a set of norms for the Voluntary Sector. VANI was one of the prime movers and core group member of this coalition’61.

In 2010, VANI came out with a ‘handbook on Good Governance’62 for the Voluntary Sector. It was viewed that the Voluntary Sector often demands accountability and transparency from the government and the private sector, but at the same time itis very important for us to practice the best governance instruments. The Voluntary Sector, which is known for its innovative strategies and practices, can also contribute in overall knowledge of good governance. There are many organisations operating in remote locations in the country having no access to the information. The handbook would provide them the required practical information on a special legal entity of an organisation, i.e., its board, which has a critical role to play in ensuring the good governance.

In 2011, VANI in collaboration with Child Fund India, initiated the process to enhance the internal governance of voluntary organisations and came up with the handbook on ‘Model Policies for Internal Good Governance’63. We know that one of the key aspects of internal strengthening is good governance that is reflected in sound human resources and related policies which confirms an organisation’s commitment to accountability and transparency towards its internal and external stakeholders. A policy needs to be functional and an organisation needs to provide that space through appropriate structure and systems. The objective of this book is not only to facilitate the smooth functioning of small and medium organisations, but also help in adoption of self-regulation methods like accreditation or self-certification.

Credibility Alliance64

Credibility Alliance’s (CA) mission is to build the credibility of the Voluntary Sector through creation and promotion of norms of good governance and public disclosure. It is a membership based body. The members participate in the process of evolving suitable guidelines based on voluntary disclosure of information and adhere to them. In addition, CA has developed an Accreditation System and Peer Group Review model based on its norms to strengthen and enhance the legitimacy and the credibility of individual organisations in the sector. The accreditation has 3 years validity and is expected to help organisations garner resources due to the credibility stamp. Capacity building initiatives required to equip voluntary organisations to meet the norms are also carried out by CA. Credibility Alliance is represented on the Planning Commission’s

61 http://www.vaniindia.org/content.php?id=11

62 TheHandbookonGoodGovernancefortheVoluntarySector,VANI,2010

63 ModelPoliciesforInternalGoodGovernanceinvoluntaryorganisations,(2011),VANIandChildFund

64 http://www.credibilityalliance.org/home/index.php

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(nodal government agency for the Voluntary Sector) committees for reforms in the Voluntary Sector. It is hoped that CA, as the voice of the sector on issues of transparency and accountability, will influence any governmental initiative to regulate the sector.

GiveIndia65

It is India’s first online giving portal and was founded in the year 2000. This initiative used the internet as a platform to create a philanthropy marketplace or giving exchange aimed at showcasing the work of NGOs that meet stringent norms of transparency and accountability in the public domain and allowed individuals to choose the end use of their contributions with a guarantee to provide a feedback report within 6 to 8 months. GiveIndia does an annual review of NGOs listed with it, to verify if they continue to meet its criteria. Those who do not meet the criteria are taken off the site until they demonstrate compliance. This platform has opened the doors for organisations to access funds from donors who they are not even aware of, simply on the strength of their willingness to be transparent and accountable. The core of the criteria used by GiveIndia to appraise NGOs, consist of the norms put out by the Credibility Alliance, another key initiative of India’s Voluntary Sector.

GuideStar India66

This is an online platform for NGOs in India to voluntarily showcase their work, articulate their needs and make their information accessible to donors, policy makers, government, academia, media, foundations, corporations, career seekers, volunteers, NGO leaders, managers & staff and simply anyone who seeks to makes decisions involving NGOs. GuideStar India persistently follows up with NGOs to clean up and update the data, while also educating NGOs to embrace transparency by consenting to put their information in the public domain. Verified information is made available in the public domain and is also fed back to the source including government sources.

The efforts of self-regulations are coming from the sector itself, which is a good sign. The challenges are enormous and emanates from both the external and internal contexts as dealt on the previous paragraphs. While external challenges lie outside the organisations, the capacities to respond to these external challenges depend on an organization’s internal strengths and of the Voluntary Sector as a whole. This internal strengthening is all the more necessary and critical as the Voluntary Sector in India continues to be active and dynamic.

65 http://www.giveindia.org/

66 http://www.guidestarindia.org/About.aspx

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In this chapter, the contribution of the sector in the areas of water & sanitation, health & nutrition, education, environment, empowerment (women, children, tribes & the marginalized) and livelihood

is discussed and highlighted using case examples. VOs use three primary approaches to target their constituencies - Research and Advocacy, Service Delivery and Rights-based Entitlements. Examples are given in these sectoral themes and through these approaches to illuminate the contribution of VOs to the social development sector of India.

Due to limited data, it’s impossible to present samples of VO contribution on a national level. As this study only serves as an introduction to potential future studies especially on the thematic areas discussed herewith, the VO contribution per theme was largely based on the existing primary data of VANI which was consolidated and presented in a manner that would expound this study’s objective of producing a report that would reflect the current state of the Voluntary Sector in the country. Examples of VOs in particular social development arenas are highlighted to demonstrate the complex and multi-faceted terrain that VOs operate in. The examples also demonstrate the specific contributions that VOs make to the social development of India’s population.

WATER AND SANITATION

Contributions to water and sanitation pertains to the access of all households to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities as well as their ability to monitor the sources of their drinking water. In addition, households should have proper bathrooms or urinals. But more importantly, there should be a conscious and actual effort in the provision of an enabling environment to the Panchayat Raj institutions and local communities for them to be able to manage their own safe drinking water and sanitation system in the villages67.

The situation of the poor in urban areas is far worse. They are powerless and therefore at the end of the line when the inevitable rationing takes place. They also cannot afford to make the same coping

Chapter 5

Contribution of the Voluntary Sector

67 http://www.mdws.gov.in/sites/upload_files/ddws/files/pdf/aboutus.pdf

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investments as the middle class. They depend heavily on water vendors, most of which are, again, supplied by groundwater, and provide water of very high cost68.

The improvement of water management in the country was mostly on community efforts in the rural areas, relying on a plethora of imaginative and then effective methods for harvesting rainwater in tanks and underground storages69.

In Figure 2 below, it can be seen that the total sectorial water use as foreseen in the year 2020 would heavily be allocated for agricultural use, which are in rural areas. This is based on two scenarios: fixed and flexible scenarios.

Figure 7: Total and Sectorial Water Use in 2020 under the Two Management Scenarios70

There have been plenty of interventions to initiate a continuous water supply for the masses, especially in the rural areas, where infrastructure is least instituted. The contribution from public and private is disparate because for the private sector, ‘bulk water provided to private parties who can retail it to actual users has worked well with co-operative institutions’71. The government on the other hand is focused on providing irrigation systems and access to groundwater where involvement from the VO sector has been in practice considering the state-level initiatives which don’t usually reach far flung villages.

68 https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/7238/443760PUB0IN0W1Box0327398B01PUBLIC1.pdf?sequence=1

69 https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/7238/443760PUB0IN0W1Box0327398B01PUBLIC1.pdf?sequence=1

70 Ibid

71 V.S.Vyas,‘Principledpragmatism,orthepoliticaleconomyofchange’,BackgroundPaperforthisReport,2005

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The presence of VOs in those hard to reach areas heralds a representation of the challenges the villagers face in terms of access to water and eventual methods of sanitation.

Drinking water supply is a very important issue as over 80% of health problems are due to consumption of unsafe water. Increasing health awareness among the rural public underlines the additional attention to be paid to the subject. Hence, one of the most important programs of the government is the provision of safe drinking water to the rural population.

VOs have played a pioneering role in creating awareness on environmental issues, stimulating civil societal response, and engaging in advocacy with government and initiating environment protection and promotion programs like watersheds, rainwater harvesting, and tree-plantation.

conTRiBuTion of The vo SecToR in WaTeR & SaniTaTion:

a. ReSeaRch & advocacy

Reversing Desertification: Advocacy & Awareness through APPS72, a VO in Andhra Pradesh73

During (1989-93), Oxfam supported APPS undertook extensive campaigns in the district to create awareness among the people to protect the environment, particularly the revenue hillocks and grazing lands and pastures, from further degradation. Awareness on the role of forests in improving environmental conditions was built gradually, cultural programs were organised on fire protection measures, illicit felling of tress, brick kilns, lime kilns, sand mining, etc. Padayatras and cycle rallies were undertaken - Dharnas were staged. The cultural teams enacted street plays focusing on ecological degradation, which would ultimately result in the depletion of ground water. The concept of reversing the trends of desertification was widely disseminated in the villages. Meetings were conducted in the villages and the need for protecting the environment through the method of natural regeneration of forest was widely discussed. Villagers were taken to Pulikallu, Nidimamidi, Vaddumaruvapalli and Donnikota to see first-hand the effects of natural regeneration involving minimal cost and inputs. During this period a total area of 6,191 acres was brought under protection through the concept of natural regeneration.

72 AnanthaParyavaranaParirakshanaSamithi (APPS) isanetworkof thirteenVOsbased inAnnathapurdistrict. Itwas formed in1995toaddressvariousissueslikehungerandpovertyinthedistrict.Itsmainstrategyhasbeentofacilitatedevelopmentinstitutionsthatwouldactivelyregenerateandmanagecommonnaturalresourcessuchasvillagecommonlands,waterbodies,tankbeds,steambanksetc.

73 AuniquefeatureofAndhraPradeshisthedevelopmentofparticipatoryinstitutions.Thestateiswell-knownforitsstrongemphasisonruraldevelopment,communityempowermentandsupportforwomen’sgroups.Theseincludeself-helpwomen’sgroups,wateruserassociations,watershedcommittees,schooleducationcommittees,mother’scommittees,RytuMitraGroups(farmers’clubs),vanasamrakshanasamitis(VSS,JointForestManagement).

RuralWaterSupplyDepartmentwasformulatedduringtheyear1997bytheGovernmentofAndhraPradeshcreatingseparatedivisionsofRuralWaterSupplysinceanumberofvillagesarestilltobeprovidedwithqualitydrinkingwaterInexerciseofpowersconferredbyarticle309oftheConstitutionofIndia,GovernmentfurtherdecidedtobifurcatePR&RDDepartmentintoPanchayatiRajandRuralWaterSupplyDepartments.

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B. SeRvice deliveRy

Potable Water and Sanitation: Service Delivery of AKRSP (I)74 in Gujarat75

Potable drinking water programs have been a priority, whether in saline areas of Gujarat or in flood-prone Bihar, where bacterial contamination has been very high. In Gujarat, AKRSP partners with the government and the village Panchayat to scale up interventions, which provide potable water through household and village drinking water schemes. AKRSP has built or rejuvenated 125 drinking water schemes, 200 percolation wells and over 10,000 roof rainwater harvesting structures. As a result of these efforts, over 40,000 women have access to potable drinking water. Where practicable, water is piped to the home; in other locations, water harvesting systems for the home have been introduced. One of the most important impacts of these systems has been the reduction of drudgery for women and girls. The Nirmala water testing lab in Surendranagar in Gujarat, set up by AKRSP, tests water samples and trains villagers in ways of improving water quality. AKRSP has promoted a Coastal Salinity Prevention Cell which partners with the government to provide drinking water access to over 250 coastal villages. In Bihar, AKRSP tests water quality and supports low cost interventions that reduce bacterial content substantially.

c. RighTS-BaSed enTiTlemenT

The implementation of the Total Sanitation Campaign76 (TSC) in 1999 gave hope to what lagged in terms of sanitation for all rural communities. Unfortunately though, in many cases TSC has resulted in the provision of toilets that are not used by the community and are often culturally and socially inaccurate. Specifically, many of the toilets have been subsidized to BPL communities that could not, or were not willing to provide the rest of the funds to complete the toilets due to a lack of incentive and understating

74 Establishedin1984toworkinthreeareasinGujaratrelatingtotribalareasinthesouthtohelpmanagenaturalresources;thecoastalregionandtheareasurroundingtheGirForest(currentlysufferingfromincreasedgroundwatersalinityfromover-pumping);andSurendranagarDistrictwhichisoneofthemostdrought-proneregionsinGujarat,theorganizationnowworksin1,100villagesofGujarat,MadhyaPradeshandBiharwhereover4,000villageorganisationshavebeencreated.

OneofAKRSP(I)’smaincomponentsinruraldevelopmentiscomprisedofbasicservicesinordertofilltheperennialneedforwater,energyandfodder.Theorganizationworkstoprovideinfrastructurefordrinkingwater,technicalknow-howaswellasinfrastructureforgeneratingalternativeenergyandfoddergrowthforcattle.BeingthefirstVOtoimplementparticipationirrigationmanagement(PIM)inGujarat,itswatershedapproachhasbeencitedbythegovernmentintherevisednationalwatershedguidelines.

75 The increasing number of VOs not only in Gujarat but in thewhole of India causes a huge deliberation behind the rationale of thisphenomenon.WhetherthegovernmentisnotabletoreachmanyareasthataremostlyreachedonlybytheVOsforsomereasonthatis likely due to bureaucratic biases, does not discount the immense contribution from theVO sectorwith regard to society’s generaldevelopmentspanningmajorscaleswherethegovernmentportraystocoverefficiently.

BasedonthestategovernmentofGujarat,3yearsago,75percentofit’spopulationwouldhavebeencoveredbytheWatergridthatisinadditiontotheexistingmethodofwaterconservationwhichareasfollows:

1. 7,179checkdams(Smallweirconstructedacrossrivulethavingminimumdischargeof1cusecaftermonsoon)

2. 35,379boribandhs(Damsmadeofsandbags)

3. 1,30,262khettalavadi(Farmponds)and

4. 5,551deepenedponds.

Inthisregard,theGujaratStateGovernmentpassedtheGujaratWaterUsers’ParticipatoryIrrigationManagementBillin2007-thisauthorizesfarmerstoconstituteWaterUsers’Associations(WUA)formanagementofcanalshandedover,afterrehabilitationbythegovernment.

76 AccordingtoanarticleinTheChennaiKaleidoscope,“TotalSanitationCampaign(TSC)wasimplementedin1999bytheGovernmentofIndiatoachieveuniversalruralsanitationcoverageby2012.Thecommunity-led,demand-drivenapproachofthisprogrammeseekstoachievenotonly100percentopendefecationfreecommunitiesbutalsobroaderenvironmentalsanitationobjectivessuchaspromotionofimprovedhygienebehaviorsandsolid/liquidwastemanagement.”

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of sanitation. Therefore, many of the toilets were not constructed properly, not used frequently and did not provide the privacy that is necessary for women to conduct cleansing in a dignified way.

Another fallback of the campaign has been the absence of a water supply directly to the toilets. As anal cleansing is norm in India, a water supply directly to the toilet is a major factor in promoting the use of toilets and decreasing open defecation, a main goal of TSC. Additionally, the installation of toilets without a piped water source has had the indirect effect of burdening women further by increasing their task of gathering water. If people in the community did want to use the toilet, women and children would need to increase their arduous task of collecting water for cleansing on top of all the other uses of water.

Overall, TSC initiatives reinforced the mindset of ‘poor solutions for poor people’ by failing to holistically combat the issue of water and sanitation as a package, and rather focusing on sanitation as a single independent issue. Although efforts have been made in the past to combat the issue of water and sanitation as separate issues, a holistic effort that is community-based and focused on both water and sanitation as a symbiotic and foundational relationship is necessary if the issue of water and sanitation is to be adequately combatted.

gRam vikaS model:

As 80% of diseases in rural Odisha are related to water, which in turn affects the health conditions of the people, Gram Vikas has intentionally used common concerns for water and sanitation as an entry point into communities and as a unifying mechanism for villages that are often factionalized by caste or socioeconomic status. Gram Vikas requires 100% inclusion in the implementation of community development through cost-sharing and participation of both genders and all castes.

Gram Vikas reinforces the concept of rights and entitlements through foundational values such as 100% inclusion that place emphasis on self-reliance and equality. For example, each community is asked to contribute a certain amount of funds, either monetary or labor based, for the construction of water and sanitation infrastructure. This initiative gives the community a sense of ownership that provides each person, regardless of caste or gender, with the same amount of rights to equal infrastructure. The mindset of self-reliance and equality is often permeated throughout self-governing institutions, in which people begin to feel empowered and are able to lobby and advocate for government programs on their own behalf.

In order to empower rural communities to access their rights and entitlements from the government, Gram Vikas supports the creation of social and gender equitable self-governing institutions manifested in Village Executive Committees (VECs) and Self Help Groups (SHGs). These institutions are empowered to access their rights and entitlements from the communities by making use of the Right to Information Act77 and the Panchayat Raj Institutions78.

77 TheRighttoInformationAct,2005isan“Acttoprovideforsettingoutthepracticalregimeofrighttoinformationforcitizenstosecureaccesstoinformationunderthecontrolofpublicauthorities,inordertopromotetransparencyandaccountabilityintheworkingofeverypublic authority, the constitution of a CentralInformation Commission and State Information Commissions and formatters connectedtherewithorincidentalthereto.”

78 ThePRIsareathree-tieredstructureoflocalself-governanceseparatedintoGramPanchayat,BlockandZillaPanchayat.

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Gram Vikas also works to enhance the reach of government programs by accessing government schemes such as Swajaldhara Yojana79 to receive monies that will assist in providing drinking water to villages. Empowering communities to advocate and lobby on their own behalf in ways such as these is one of the main purposes of Gram Vikas’ initiatives.

ouTcome:

The implementation of water access and an increase in sanitation has had direct beneficial effects on women. Water taps directly to the home provide women with more time to engage in economic activities and participate in SHGs. Through the SHGs, the confidence of women has been increased and they have been better represented in their communities by participating in village decision making through the VEC which requires equal involvement of women. Women often play an instrumental role in keeping education and health systems accountable. In addition, the installation of toilets has given women space for personal bodily functions in a dignified manner, especially during their menstrual period.

As girl children are often those that support in the task of gathering water, three water taps to the household has provided them an opportunity to attend schools. In addition, health and hygiene education has increased in the schools through Gram Vikas’ initiative and also through government programs that have been strengthened. Access to water and education regarding hygiene has had a beneficial impact on community health by making communities aware of long term health issues caused by contaminated water. New health standards and systems have been developed in communities in order to gauge appropriate use and cleanliness of sanitation infrastructure. The absence of open defecation has provided for a more dignified community that has set the standard of sanitation for future generations.

In most of the villages where water and sanitation has been implemented, we observe almost 85% reduction in the incidence of water borne illness, especially diarrhea, typhoid, scabies and worms. Better hygienic habits like washing of hands with soap before and after critical times like taking food, using the toilets etc has resulted in improved health standards.

With almost 300 employees, as of March 2013, Gram Vikas has been able to reach 1159 villages with a population of 378,087 in 27 districts in the state of Odisha and has initiated projects in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

As of March 2013, Gram Vikas has completed water and sanitation coverage in 1040 villages, encompassing 60,497 households and a total population of 330,143.

79 TheSwajaldharaYojanasetsouttoemphasize“theneedfortakingupcommunitybasedruralwatersupplyprogrammesandtoopenupthereforminitiativesintheruraldrinkingwatersupplysector.GovernmentofIndiahasintroduced[thisprogram],whichwaslaunchedbythePrimeMinisterofIndiaon25thDecember2002.”

“DetailsofSwajaldharaYojana.”SwajaldharaYojana.http://phed.bih.nic.in/OwnDW.htm.

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campaign foR RighT To WaTeR- kaRnaTaka in gulBaRga

“Water is a natural resource and access to it is one of the basic human rights in a democratic system, privatization of the same is an insult to independent India” said Prof. Vasantha Kustagi, an eminent and progressive writer of Karnataka in his inaugural address during the consultation on “Safe Water Distribution” organised by Peoples’ Campaign for Right to water- Karnataka in Gulbarga on 29th May 2013.

A system where multilateral agencies are utilising natural resources, converting it into a profit venture and selling the same to the community whom it belongs to at exorbitant prices should be strongly opposed by everyone. Providing safe drinking water is the responsibility of the government and not of Veolia, a French company or any other corporate company. He said, the wells and lakes dug during Nizam’s rule in Gulbarga have water even today; water distribution was very well planned even in those days. If our governments imbibe the learnings from our past, we will not have the need of any multilateral agency teaching us lessons 24X7 on distribution of water. Worse, after privatization, the water which our city is being provided with is mixed with drainage water that is unfit for drinking has raised serious concerns regarding public health. The campaign resolves to:

Promote water rights awareness among different communities in Gulbarga.z�

Organise Peoples’ Resistance against Water Privatization in the entire city of Gulbarga.z�

Mobilize and educate local elected representatives of Gulbarga to demand transparent and z�

accountable governance in water distribution.

Promote awareness to conserve existing water bodies and protect them from encroachments z�

and land grab.

Appropriate Sanitation: Rights-based Entitlement through Sathee80 in Jharkhand81

As part of the GTF program, SATHEE has been working in the Indian State of Jharkhand on WASH governance issues for the last 18 months. Their activities are focused on Santhal Pargana areas in five Development

“There is an urgent need for various movements to come together and build a strong resistance against water priva-tization” Lakshman Dasthi, activist from Hyderabad Karnataka Horata Samanvaya Samithi..

80 SATHEEenvisionsahealthyenvironment,wherepeoplewillhaveaccessibilitytoenoughsafedrinkingwater,safesanitationsystemandbasichygienepracticeworldwide.WeextensivelyworkwithinIndiaatthemoment,providingpeoplewithsafedrinkingwater,safeandadequatesanitationsystemandspreadingawarenessaboutbasichygienepracticesthatcanprotectmillionsofhumanlivesagainstvarioushealthhazards.

Oureffortishelpingmillionsofpeopletosafeguardtheirlivesagainstvariouswater-bornediseases,someofwhich,weknow,arefatal.Inbrief,weconcentrateonthefollowingactivities:

Provisioningofadequatesafedrinkingwater.footnote continued on pg 56

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Blocks located in five districts. These areas were selected because no WASH services were being provided, no other NGOs were present and there were high poverty rates amongst the marginalized Paharia tribal communities. “People in these areas are extremely poor and marginalized, but we are trying to establish the right to water in these areas and amplify the voices of poor people at district or state level,” notes Neeraj Mishra, SATHEE GTF Program Officer.

healTh and nuTRiTion

Having one of the highest rates of malnutrition in the world and a large population lacking access to good quality health care, both the government and VOs have been working on improving the country’s overall health system and nutritional indexes. According to the Planning Commission, about 40% of India’s population still lives below the poverty line82.

The VO sector contribution to this issue is primarily through the reduction and prevention of malnutrition and the provision of training in the villages in terms of proper self-care during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. VOs also have comprehensive programs that aim to improve complementary feeding campaigns, enhanced access to food in the villages and the mass provision of supplements.

Facilitatingpropersanitationsystem.

Promotionandadoptionofhygieneeducation&personalhygiene.

Imbibemodern technology to provide ingenious and cost-effectivewater safetymeasures for large-scale community use and also atdomesticlevel.

81 The28thstateoftheIndianUnionwasbroughtintoexistencebytheBiharReorganizationActonNovember15,2000thebirthanniversaryofthelegendaryBhagwanBirsaMunda.TheStateisforestcovered,mineralrichandtribaldominated.Itisrichwithvastbiodiversityandbeautifullandscapes.Ithasdiverseethnic,culturalandlinguisticheritage;andhaslargelyagricultureandforestbasedlivelihoods.TheStatehas24districts,224blocksandover32,000villages.

DepartmentofDrinkingWaterandSanitation

InJharkhandentirepopulationdoesnothaveaccesstosafedrinkingwater&sanitation.Ruralsanitationcoverageisverylow.About30%ofhabitationshavepartialfacilitywithdrinkingwater.AllhabitationsdonothavesafedrinkingwaterassourcecontainsFluoride,Arsenic&Iron.TheprogramssuchasAcceleratedRuralWaterSupplyProgram(ARWSP),SwajaldharaandTotalSanitationCampaignwerelaunchedinservingtheruralpopulationwithwaterandsanitationrelatedservicesallacrosstheState.

Achievements

• ReorganizationofRanchiUrbanWaterSupplyschemewascompletedandcommissioned

• ImprovementofDhanbadWaterSupplyschemecompletedandcommissioned

• WaterSupplytoMedininagarUrbanAreastartedPhase-1started

• 4400nos.ofNCand2799nos.ofPCcovered

• 270Nos.ofFluoride/ArsenicRemovalAttachmentsinstalledinwaterqualityproblemareas.

• 108RuralPipeWaterSupplyschemesconstructed/upgraded.

82 Radhakrishna,K.HanumanthaRao.Poverty,unemploymentandpublicintervention,Backgroundpaper,IndiaSocialdevelopmentReport(2006),NewDelhi:OxfordPublications;2006.

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Table 4: Indicators of Indian States by Grades of HDI (Human Development Index)83

conTRiBuTion of The vo SecToR in healTh & nuTRiTion:

A. Research & Advocacy

Pilot Research Study: Learning UNCRPD from Inclusive Practices (Case Studies in Education and Employment

VOs like UNNATI, use concerted research, public education advocacy with multiple stakeholders as key instruments to their work. Their strategy utilizes vast interventions from the grassroots and policy level organisations in ensuring the basic rights of citizens.

The study was launched in July 2011 in light of the urgent need for stimulating the values and provisions of the CRPD (Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) under the pretext of documenting

83 TabletakenfromthereportHumandevelopment,poverty,health&nutritionsituationinIndia,Anthony&Laxmaiah,CouncilofSocialDevelopment,SouthernRegionalCentre&DivisionofCommunityStudiesNatioalInstituteofNutrition(ICMR),Hyderabad,India,2007.

84 Uttarakhandisconstrainedbyregionaldisparities.Thishasseverelyimpactedthepercapitaincomeandsocialequalityinthestate.Thegeographicaldivideofhillsversusplains,concentrationofindustries,servicesandinfrastructurealongwitheducationandhealthfacilitiesincertaindistrictsintheplainsaffectstheoveralldevelopmentofthestate.Therefore,thedevelopmentstrategyneedstoconcentrateonbridgingthisgapandregionaldisparities.Further,highmigrationofalargenumberofmenleaveswomentodomostofthework.Thisisalsoamajorchallengeinthestate.

85 UttarakhandHealth&FamilyWelfareSociety (UKHFWS)wasconstituted in theyear2002withaim to serveasumbrella society forallnationalprogramsandeffecthealthsectorreformswiththehelpofexternalfundingagenciessuchasUSAID.

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innovative inclusive practices that have positively impacted the lives of persons with disabilities and provide necessary knowledge resources for its wider adoption.

B. Service Delivery

Health and Nutrition: Service Delivery in Uttarakhand84 through UKHFWS85

Key Achievements under the Innovations in Family Planning Services (IFPS)

Some of the key contributions of the IFPS project in the State of Uttarakhand include:

Building the capacity of state institutions: Uttarakhand Health and Family Welfare Society (UAHFWS) and State Health Resource Center (SHRC) were formed and supported.

Implemented successful PPP models:

Haridwar voucher scheme:zz A demand-side financing scheme for increasing access to RCH services amongst BPL clients. 14209 women have accessed services to date (ANC services-8434, Delivery-3307, PNC-2082 and FP- 206).

ASHA plus scheme:zz The ASHA-plus scheme was implemented in 6 blocks of 3 upper Himalayan districts of UA. It focused on IPC skill building, supporting supervision and monitoring by NGOs along with additional incentives to ASHAs for better performance.

Mobile health clinic:zz The project has piloted a mobile health clinic to increase access to RCH services in remote, hilly areas of the state. To date, 273 clinics have been provided and 24587 clients have received RCH services from the mobile clinic.

quality assurance:zz The project introduced a more systematic approach to quality assurance in 7 districts. The initial two project districts were funded through IFPS, and later, five additional districts were added through NRHM funding.

Adolescent Health:zz An adolescent health project (UDAAN) has been initiated in 4 districts of the State. The project includes a comprehensive, multi-sectoral approach to adolescent health, addressing societal and cultural issues in the family and at the community level, service delivery at the health facility and policy and advocacy with state policy makers.

C. Rights-based Entitlement

Christian Mission Hospital: Provision of compassionate care Northeast India86 through BMHC87

The health insurance scheme of BMCH has over 4000 people and has made the poor avail the services of the hospital at nominal cost. In this scheme a patient could have a laparoscopic Cholecystectomy for a operation fee of Rs. 500 only and he needs to just buy the medicines and disposables.

86 TheworkoftheVoluntarySectorintheNortheastIndiahastouchedawiderangeofspheresinhumanlifecoveringalmostalldevelopmentrelatedactivitiesrelatedtohumansocialwelfareanddevelopment,environmentalsafetyandconservation,politicalreform,protectionofhumanrightsetc.Whilemostoftheorganisationsareimplementingtheprojectsdirectlytherewerefeworganisationsthatemphasizebuildingcapacitiesofothersand implementvariousprojects throughthesepartners indifferentstatesof theregion.ThenumberandinterventionareasofsuchumbrellaorganisationsarehoweververylimitedascomparedtotheneedfornetworkingandothersupportsasexperiencedbytheVoluntarySectoroftheregion.Inanumberofdevelopmentalactivities,VOsareworkingassupplementsorcomplementstothegovernmentalefforts. footnote continued on pg 59

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Irrespective of caste, creed or religion, the medical mission provides care at primary, secondary and tertiary level to the people of Northeast India, especially the poor and marginalized.

The government of India appreciated the ministry of BMCH and on three occasions broadcast documentaries about the hospital in the State television channel. The National Informatics Center (NIC) of the Government of India has the CME videos of BMCH in its website and broadcast them for the CICs in Northeast India.

educaTion

According to Elizabeth King, the World Bank Director for Education, while there’s an increase in enrolment of students in schools and colleges, the quality of education in India remains poor. King said that although India has the resources to formulate an efficient education policy, inequality in distribution of resources remains a cause of concern88. This is in light of accessibility to education by only the well-offs.

As per the Census of India statistics report, the literacy rate has improved in the last 10 years as a result of free education system in the villages.

In response to the issues in education in the country and in line with the goal of nation building, India has been committed to providing free and compulsory education to all children. Towards this end, Indian Parliament has enacted a legislation making free and compulsory education a Right of every child in the age group 6-14 years that has come into force from 1 April, 2010. Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan has been launched recently as a step to universalize secondary education. Simultaneously, efforts are being made to create a robust and vast system of higher and technical education.89

Under Article 21 –A of the Constitution of India and its consequent legislation, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 became operative in the country in April 2010. This development has far reaching implications for elementary education in the years to come as every child now has a right to elementary education of satisfactory and equitable quality in a formal school, which satisfies certain essential norms and standards. To spread the message of RTE, the Ministry of Education launched a year-long ‘Shiksha ka Haq Abhiyan’ on National Education Day i.e. On 11 November, 2011. This campaign aims to generate awareness about children’s Right to Education90.

Themajorproblemsofthehealthsectorinthenortheastaresevereshortagesofpersonnelandfacilities.Thenortheasternstateshaveacombinedpopulationofaround39million(about3.7%ofthecountry’stotalpopulation).InArunachalPradesh,Manipur,Meghalaya,MizoramandNagaland,scheduledtribescompriseabout two-thirdsof thepopulation.Thenumberof indigenouscommunities in thispatchworkofstatesisprobablyasgreatasthenumberofdialects,butitisgenerallyreckonedthatthereareover200.

87 BurrowsMemorial ChristianHospital (BMHC) is a 70-bed charitable hospital based in Alipur, just 18 km away from Silchar in Assam,NortheastIndia.BMCHhasbeenservingthepoorandneedypatientsnotonlyinAlipurbutalsooftheneighboringstatesofMizoram,Tripura,MeghalayaandNagaland.

88 http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-11-09/news/30377763_1_education-policy-basic-education-schools-and-colleges

89 http://mhrd.gov.in/policy_initiatives

90 AnnualReport2011-12,MinistryofEducation,http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/AR2011-12.pdf

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In the 2011-2012 Annual Report of the Ministry of Education that is in line with the GOI’s flagship program Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) where the Universalization of Elementary Education (UEE) in a time bound manner and as mandated by the 86th amendment to the Constitution, made free and compulsory education to children with ages 6-14 a fundamental right91, some habitations and institutions where sanctioned and new ones were created and launched92.

conTRiBuTion of The vo SecToR in educaTion:


Basic Education for All: Advocating Changes at Structural Policy Levels in West Bengal through Mass Education93

B. Service Delivery

Bringing Education to the Community: Urban Poor Community Program of JOSH94

This program was started to involve urban poor youth and the larger community living in slums and

91 SSAWebsite,http://ssa.nic.in

92 MinistryofEducationAnnualReport2011-12,http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/AR2011-12.pdf

93 MassEducation isadevelopmentplayerthat launchedactivities forsustainabledevelopmentof themostvulnerableandmarginalizedpeoplespecificallyinthefieldofeducationandskillstrainingoftheyouthandyoungwomen.

94 JOSHwasformedin2006andhasbeenpartofthenationalRighttoInformationcampaign,withtheideathatthisgroupwillworkespeciallywithyouthtoworkonissuesoftransparencyandaccountability.Sincethen,JOSHhasworkedlikeamovement,promotingvolunteerismamongstyouth,motivatingthemtouseRTIActtoraiseandquestionissuesoftransparencyandaccountabilityintheareaswhichconcernsthem the most.

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resettlement colonies of East Delhi. Under this program, JOSH runs a Youth Resource Center and a Community Resource Centre, where apart from providing non formal education to youth from the nearby community; members of the community are trained and capacity built on various right based issues, which help them to raise issues of transparency and accountability of local governance.

The youth resource centre forms a platform and space where youth are engaged by proving them non-formal education. Regular classes on basic English are held. However, apart from providing non formal education, the main objective of this centre remains to involve youth on a daily basis to train and capacity build them on different governance issues. The community resource centre forms a space for engaging the community people to come together to raise various local issues, especially problems around poor access and quality of delivery of education.


Right to Education: Advocating the Implementation of RTE in Gujarat through JanVikas95

Janvikas’ UDAAN Education Resource Centre, as part of the strategy for local strategy for local level advocacy, decided to nurture local youth as EduLeaders/volunteers to monitor school functioning in their respective villages (50 youth leaders were chosen as part of a 6-month capacity building program).

enviRonmenT

Across India, concern is mounting over an ever growing list of environmental problems. More people means increased pressure on natural resources (from water to forests), while an economy in high-gear is leaving a trail of pollution that’s affecting not only India, but the rest of the world too96.

India makes up 2.4 per cent of the world’s land, while supporting 16 per cent of the world’s population. The compounding result is a severely unsustainable use of natural resources for several generations. Currently, India is experiencing rapid and widespread environmental degradation at alarming rates. Tremendous pressure is placed upon the country’s land and natural resources to support the massive overpopulation97.

Mismanagement and overuse of India’s once abundant forests has resulted in desertification, contamination and soil depletion throughout the sub-continent. This has serious repercussions for the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of Indians that live off the land.

To cite an example and just for added context, take the region of Bundelkhand, a region in central rural India (now included in the state of Madhya Pradesh or MP), is often called the heartland of India and has

95 JanVikas is a recognizedas aNationalResourceandSupportOrganisationknownprimarily for settingup, supporting, incubatingandnurturingstrategicdevelopmentinterventionsinresponsetoemergingsocio-economic-politicalrealities.ThemainfocusofJANVIKASisonwomen’sempowerment,genderawareness,ecology&environment,socialinjustice,addressingissuesofeducationandlivelihoodforchildrenandyouthbelongingtoweakersocio-economicstrata,capacitybuildingandsupporttograssrootsorganisations.

96 http://wwf.panda.org/who_we_are/wwf_offices/india/india_environmental_problems/

97 http://www.fsdinternational.org/country/india/envissues

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commanded an eminent place throughout Indian history. All along its length and breadth, Bundelkhand is richly studded with religious centers, historical sites, monuments and forts, and boasts of a vividly dynamic, rich and colorful cultural fabric98.

MP has the second largest forest area in the country, next to Odisha. Almost one-third of the State is forest area, compared to one-fifth of all India. The Bundelkhand and Baghelkhand regions of MP are rocky and have a high percentage of barren and uncultivable land. The soil form is the mixture of black and red-yellow, which is not considered very fertile. Rainfall is sparse and the agricultural production is low. Poverty level is significantly high. Though, MP is rich in forest, Bundelkhand has lost its forest cover to a large extent. So, the forest as a means of livelihood is becoming extinct day by day. Mining of minerals and stone-quarrying has emerged as a major non-form activity but is based on exploitative wage labor99.

One fourth of the total forests of the country fall in MP. Within MP, 34.94 per cent of its total area is forested. But these forests are not equally distributed throughout the State. There might have been time in medieval ages when Bundelkhand was heavily forested, as there were stories that it was safest hideout for the fugitive and defeated armies of warring kings and feudatories. But now the forests of Bundelkhand are dwindling. It is causing concern because it has been a major source of livelihood for poor people. People living in and around forests have been using it for shelter, fuel food, drinks and smoke, medicinal plants, crafts and cottage industries. But the control of forests by government through its forest department and the nexus between feudal and officials forces has left the poor people, particularly that of ST/SC, relatively out of the benefits of the forests100.

In 2009, the government of Madhya Pradesh launched an Afforestation Project to restore ecological balance by harnessing, conserving and developing natural resource like soil, water and forest; reduce or possibly eliminate soil erosion and check further degradation of forest; and organize the communities to create mass movement for conservation of natural resources, among others101.

Bundelkhand in MP is hardly on the NGO- map, given the present scenario. It is not that this region has never had voluntarism in its society. Voluntarism was there in it since the beginning and existing traditional water resource management systems, including that of Chandeli ponds, are the testimony of it102.

While Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has been consistently asking the Centre for more funds for the development of Bundelkhand, due to corruption at the bureaucratic level, drought-mitigation efforts have remained frozen on paper with hardly any relief to the people. It now appears that with indiscriminate industrialization, the State Government has found an easy way out of the Bundelkhand problem. The MoUs were disclosed under the Right to Information Act after the intervention of the State Information Commission against a petition filed by Rolly Shivhare, a Bhopal-based activist.

98 http://www.devalt.org/newsletter/jun07/of_5.htm

99 AStudyonBundelkhand,PlanningCommissionofIndia,http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/sereport/ser/bndel/stdy_bndel.pdf

100 Ibid

101 Concept Note for Project Development in Bundelkhand Area, Government ofMadhya Pradesh, Forest, http://mwh.mpforest.org/Bundelkhand/pdf/34.pdf

Department

102 AStudyonBundelkhand,PlanningCommissionofIndia,http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/sereport/ser/bndel/stdy_bndel.pdf

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In Bundelkhand there in no dearth of registered NGOs, for the namesake, but those who are involved in some activities and are functional to some extent can be placed under small, fluid and evolving NGOs/ associations / groups. They have started their work with relatively high degree of enthusiasm and commitments, but with only a little idea of organizational, program and financial management103.

Table 5 : Joint Forest Management Committees Coverage in Bundelkhand Region-wide104

conTRiBuTion of The vo SecToR in enviRonmenT:


National Environment Awareness Campaign (NEAC): Raising Awareness Campaign for Environment Education through VIKSAT105

103 Ibid

104 Ibid

105 VikramSarabhaiCentreforDevelopmentInteraction(VIKSAT)wassetupintheyear1977asanactivityoftheNehruFoundationforDevelopment(NFD)totakeproactivestepstoconservetheenvironment.VIKSATfeltthatlackofinteractionsisamajorbottleneckininvolvingindividualsandorganisationsinenvironmentprotection.

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The NEAC works with the Regional Resource Agency (RRA) for Gujarat, Diu & Daman as sponsored by the Ministry of Environment & Forests, New Delhi. Under this program, various stakeholders are engaged in an awareness campaign relating to environment education. The National Theme for 2011-12 was ‘Forests for Sustainable Livelihood’ which included sub themes like Afforestation, Forest Conservation, Forest and Climate Amelioration, Forest for Water, Joint Forest Management, Agro/Social Forestry, Forestry in Urban & Peri Urban Area, Renewable Energy and Green India Mission.

B. Service Delivery

Natural Resources Conservation: Delivering Various Environment-Related Activities in Rajasthan106 through TBS107

In a period of 25 years, over 10,000 Rain-Water Harvesting (RWH) structures have been restored in this way. The effects are visible in terms of recharging of wells and aquifers, renewed flow of rivulets which had been dry for many years, increased bio-mass productivity, significant increase in agriculture production, reversal of out-migration and reduction in women’s drudgery. Due to high fodder availability, villagers have also benefited from selling milk products through an informal co-operative arrangement.

TBS has built on existing cultural traditions of the area to revive the feeling of oneness with nature that existed in village communities, and to create an understanding and ethos of integrated ecosystem development. The organization plays a facilitating role in helping communities to articulate their priorities for natural resource development and to find solutions. The decision-making process is decentralized.

The work on water harvesting, in an organic manner, led communities to look for ways to revive the forests and evolve systems, to meet their fuel and fodder needs through natural resource conservation and management. Discussions lead to community actions like regulating the use of pasture land for fuel and grazing, reserving land for grazing, for protecting certain forests, for building check-dams across forest streams and protecting wildlife.


Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi has worked towards pushing for policy changes promoting people’s rights/entitlements. It has been advocating for the profit sharing provision in the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill 2011 (MMDR).

The organisations’ s report on the Bill - Sharing the Wealth of Minerals look at profit sharing in different countries and then does an analysis of what it would mean for the mining industry in India if the provision becomes operational. CSE was one of the first organisations to talk about the concept of benefit/profit sharing from mining in their publication Rich Lands, Poor People. Then they worked very closely with the

106 NumerousVOsinRajasthanfocusonenvironmentalissuesastheyareextremelypressingconcernsforthisregion.Aswithotherstates,theVOsfocusonawarenessandinformationdisseminationwhilesomepartnerwiththegovernmentintheimplementationofprogramsandprojects.

107 As TarunBharat Sangh (TBS) is situated in semi arid regionof Rajasthan, thewater and forest conservationbecomes thefirst stepof development. From this activity all other progressive activities flow. It is a cyclic andmutually reinforcing chain. These activitiesalsohighlightsthatwater-protectingsupportsystems, likeafforestationandhillslopeprotectionare interlinked.All theseeffortsaremotivatedbythedesiretomaintainanecologicalbalancebetweennatureandman.

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Ministry of Mines while they were drafting the MMDR Bill. The organisation has released the profit sharing report in Odisha and Jharkhand. CSE sent its representations to the Parliamentary Standing Committee and the Group of Ministers who accepted some of the key recommendations of the report and incorporated them in the MMDR Bill108.

empoWeRmenT (Women, childRen, TRiBeS)

In India, the problem of marginalization is very prevalent. It is seen with women, children, many tribes and their rights. This is much more predominant in rural areas, smaller towns and villages. Discrimination exists against women at every level, from female infanticide to widow remarriage, among others. The predicament of Dalits has not improved considerably, largely due to corruption, allowing only a fortunate few to benefit from the programs in place. Muslims also face some marginalization, as do people of various other minority groups109.

As of the year-end 2012, the country’s population was at 1.2 billion comprising 628.8 million men (or 51.5 per cent) and 501.4 million women (or 48.5 per cent). In addition, for the year ended 2011, 68.8 per cent of the country population lives in rural areas while the remaining 31.2 per cent lives in urban dwellings.

Table 6: Rural-Urban Distribution in India, 2011110

Social protection programs have been an important part of development process and planning in India since its Independence. However, after 65 years, around one-fourth of its population lives in poverty. Despite a plethora of social protection programs, vulnerable groups among the poor have not been well targeted. However, the recent paradigm shift towards rights-based legislations may have hit the right chord with its self-targeting mechanism. The Right to Work, or the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), provided employment to almost 55 million households and spending nearly $ 8 billion in April 2010–March 2011. Participation of women and socially backward groups has been exceptionally high111.

The Department of Women and Child Development has a unique scheme called the Balika Samriddhi Yojana aimed at altering the perspective towards the girl child as the unwanted child, the neglected

108 http://www.cseindia.org/node/4982

109 http://www.adityaanupkumar.com/files/TheConceptOfMarginalization.pdf

110 http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/paper2/data_files/india/Rural_Urban_2011.pdf

111 MahatmaGandhiNationalRuralEmploymentGuaranteeActinIndia

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child, the lesser child. The scheme aims to generate awareness amongst families about the needs of the girl child and to a sense of responsibility in the care and protection of girls to bring them at par with the boys. Side by side, the department has been stressing the need to provide free education to all girls upto the college level and is also emphasizing the need to ensure the safety and security of girls and to remove the obstacles which inhibit them from availing educational opportunities112.

In fact, the overall thrust of the department’s activities is to empower girls and women, as only an empowered girl or woman can make a choice about her life. One of the surest ways to achieve empowerment is to give economic independence to a woman. The Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK), by providing quick and easy micro credit to women, goes a long way in fulfilling this need113.

Table 7: Population of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in India, Census 2001114

The problems being faced by women both in the rural and urban areas are to be carefully considered. The requirements of working women for day care facilities for their children is being accorded utmost priority and the department is keen to promote a greater role on the part of the parents in this area. For instance, like-minded parents can form a group and set up their own crèche facilities with trustworthy

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Population in India

112 http://pib.nic.in/feature/fe0199/f1301991.html

113 Ibid

114 http://censusindia.gov.in/Tables_Published/A-Series/A-Series_links/t_00_005.aspx

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persons. Additionally, young unemployed girls, housewives or even elderly people could be roped into day care of children while the mothers are at work115.

conTRiBuTion of The vo SecToR in empoWeRmenT (Women, childRen, TRiBeS, maRginalized):


Conflict Transformation and Peace Process: Advocating Large Scale Mobilization through Awareness and Action Research by UTTHAN

Utthan has emerged as a strong, committed gender sensitive process oriented team and it views itself as facilitator of a strong and growing social movement in Gujarat, building grassroot level organisations, lobbying for just policies on critical development issues and working through partnerships and networks. Its main strategies are: selection of geographical areas of intervention, selection of the members, institutional building and strengthening at various levels, large scale mobilization through awareness, action research, information exchange and dissemination, capacity building, networking and policy advocacy.

The following activities are being undertaken by the organization:

Initiating and promoting processes to build bridges between the communities in conflict, zz

through various dialogues and processes; sharing grief and understanding the root causes of conflict.

Engaging members from different communities around gender issues of livelihood security.zz

Strengthening leadership, especially with Muslim women and youth, thereby encouraging zz

them to actively participate in the public domain.

Building awareness amongst diverse communities about the vulnerabilities that could lead to zz

division and conflict.

Mainstreaming peace perspective in other programs and institutions in seemingly communally zz

non-conflict areas from the context of diversity, responsible citizenship, interfaith dialogue as well as revisiting inter-cultural practices and sacred places of common faith.

Campaigning and mobilizing against violence on women.zz

B. Service Delivery

Socio-Economic Development Program: Community Empowerment through Abhigyan Disha116

Our organization takes initiatives in making GOs, NGOs and CSOs accountable to the community. On the other side, through Villages Resource Center, TARAhaat and ISRO VRC organization is providing training to the people for personal skill and capability building. Attaching itself to SSA, the organization is managing the KGBV (Kasturba Gandhi Awasiya Balika Vidyalaya Hostel) in Benipaati, purpose of which is to bring girl

115 Ibid

116 AbhigyanDishamainlyworksintheremoteareaswithsmall,marginalizedandbackwardcommunity.AbhigyanDishaisdirectlyinvolvedin2districts,involving55GramPanchayatcovering122villages.OrganizationisorientatingandcapacitatingpeoplethroughvillagelevelManavtaKendra,Gramcommittee,Disasterpreparednesscommittee,SelfHelpGroup,KisanclubandUser’scommittee.Throughthese,itsensitizespeoplebymobilizingandawaringthemonvarioussocialissues.

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students of small and marginalized community into mainstream of education. The organization intervenes in positive development of villages so that people start thinking on human centered development and recover from their pain and sufferings.


Access to Justice: Utilization of Innovative Good Practices in the Villages through RLEK117

RLEK is training paralegal workers identified in the target areas to strengthen the legal support system for marginalized communities at the grass root level. These paralegal workers are seen as emerging barefoot community lawyers. Intensive training given to them on socio-legal issues;fundamental and constitutional rights; rights against police atrocities; rights of SCs & STs against caste based discrimination and atrocities; MGNREGA, motor vehicles compensation; writing RTI application; process for availing benefits of free legal aid; process of registering FIR; forests rights; special rights of women; prohibition of child marriage; prohibition of female feticide etc.

livelihood (focuS on agRiculTuRe)

Agriculture is the main source of livelihood in the rural areas of the country. India leads the world in production of a few agriculture commodities. It is the largest producer in the world of milk, cashew nuts, coconut, tea, ginger, turmeric and black pepper. It also has the world’s largest cattle population (281 million). It is the second largest producer of wheat, rice, sugar, groundnut and inland fish. It is the third largest producer of tobacco. India accounts for 10 per cent of the world fruit production, ranking first in production of banana and sapota118.

Table 8: Top Ten Agricultural Exports from India119

117 RLEKisimplementingAccesstoJusticeProjectsupportedbyDepartmentofJustice,GOI-UNDPinfifteendistrictsofthreestatesinIndianamely,Orissa,RajasthanandUttarPradesh.Theprojectaimsatlegallyempoweringthemarginalizedcommunitiesincludingminoritieswithaspecialfocusonwomen.

118 GlobalEconomyResearchGroup,2010

119 http://accessdev.org/downloads/soil_report_2010.pdf

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Stagnating productivity of agriculture, increasing cost of production and near stagnant prices for majority of the crops, coupled with increasing cost of living for the farming households and changing aspirations of the community with the advent of the information and telecommunication technologies, has made the lives of the people whose livelihood depends primarily on agriculture, more difficult.

With the spread of the Management Intensive Crop Production systems, the dependence of the farmers on the markets, both for their inputs and outputs have gone up. So has the risks arising from dependence on nature affected by climate change, frequent natural disasters, uncertainties in yields and prices, weak rural infrastructure and imperfect markets120.

The government has taken several steps to address this issue. But most of them have revolved around loan waivers and cash compensations to affected families, both of which are very short-term measures and quite often people have wrongly utilized such schemes to get rid of some of the burdens from their families121.

Government initiated process of economic reforms, which involved deregulation, reduced government participation in economic activities and liberalization. Though much of the reforms were not initiated to directly affect agriculture sector, the sector was affected indirectly by devaluation of exchange rate, liberalization and opening of agriculture land to industries. This was further encouraged by the new international trade accord and World Trade Organization (WTO), which requires the opening up of domestic market. But the government did not seem to have a clear stand in agriculture like it had for industry122.

In 2007, the GOI approved the National Policy for Farmers which aims to improve the viability of farming through substantially improving net income of farmers with an emphasis on increased productivity, profitability and institutional support and on improvement of land, water and support services apart from provisions of appropriate price policy, risk mitigation measures, etc.123

conTRiBuTion of The vo SecToR in livelihood:


Improved Rural Livelihood: Taking Initiatives for Appropriate Policy Changes and Carrying Out Field Studies Related to Policy Studies through DSC124

Livelihood Enhancement through Participatory Natural Resource Management in Rainfed and Irrigated areas of Rural Gujarat (LEPNRM) - The project focuses on following five main components of agriculture enhancement; reducing cost, mitigating risk, increasing productivity, value addition and market linkages with an aim to increase incomes of farmers especially those that are small and marginal.

120 Ibid

121 Ibid

122 Ibid

123 Ibid

124 DevelopmentSupportCenter(DSC)isaresourceorganizationthatprovidesknowledgebasedsupporttoNon-GovernmentOrganisations(NGOs),governmentagenciesandotherstakeholdersinthefieldofnaturalresourcemanagement.TheorganizationwasestablishedbyMr.AnilC.Shahin1994,inresponsetodemandfromvarioussegmentsconcernedwithruraldevelopmentinGujarat.DSCprovidesavarietyofservicesthataimtoimproverurallivelihoodsthroughparticipatorymanagementofnaturalresourcessuchaslandandwateronwhichalargenumberofruralpopulationdirectlydepends.

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B. Service Delivery

Promotion of Self-Sufficiency: Enabling Disadvantaged Communities to Provide for Themselves through Sustainable Livelihood Approach through Ekta125

Ekta works with farming communities through two major programs: People’s Empowerment to Access Rights for Livelihoods (PEARL) and Sustainable Livelihood Options for Rural Poor (SLORP). These programs work to educate farming communities on approaches that can improve productivity such as sustainable agricultural practices, micro-finance initiatives, vocational training, self-help groups and cooperatives. These programs help disadvantaged families to not just increase their income, but also to create support networks, which mean that they can rely on each other in times of need without having to seek assistance from external groups or money lenders.


Right to Life: Reclaiming the Right to Livelihood by Astha126

The Livelihood Resource Unit started functioning in the year 2004, with focus on livelihood related issues -- land, forest and water. The Unit members were involved in Forest Land People’s Movement (Jungle Jameen Jan Andolan), which began in 1995. The campaign expanded with linkages to other states and ultimately, in 2006, the central government passed the ‘Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act’. The Unit is actively associated with the Jungle Jameen Andolan (Forest Land People’s Movement) at the regional level and with the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD) at national level. At present, the Resource Unit is working towards the effective implementation of the ‘Forest Rights Act’, ‘NREGA’ and contributing its efforts to include the needs of poor, marginalized community in the Food Security bill. The Unit is working with the strategy - to work with the likeminded Voluntary Organisations, POs and Civil Society actors, as well as working with the government, on the issues related to livelihood of poor and marginalized people127.

125 BasedinOdisha,Ektaenhancestheresourcebaseandeconomicopportunitiesofthetargetgroupanddevelopingstrategiesforpromotionandsustainablelivelihoodoptions

126 TheworkareaofAsthahasbeenprimarilyRajasthan,but thenational issuesand larger forcesandpoliciesaffect the conditions inRajasthan,andatthelocallevel.AsthaalwayshasmadeanattempttoensuretheRighttoJustice,Peace,Development,nocaste,class,genderbaseddiscrimination;wehaveworkedforasocietyinwhichthepoorhavecontrolontheirnaturalaswellaslivelihoodresources,peopleco-existwithnature,equalityprevailsinthesociety,andthecitizensofIndiahavestrongmoralvalues.TheAsthafeelsthattheroleoftheNGOistostrengthenthecitizenstobecomeawareoftheirrights,theirresponsibilitiesandthegovernment’sresponsibilities,andtogether,tomakethemassresourcesofthegovernmentavailabletothemasses.

127 http://www.astha.org/annual-report-2011-12.pdf

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The voluntary sector of India is diverse and vast. It has been very instrumental in bringing positive changes into the lives of the downtrodden and marginalized. Many of their works and achievements

have gone unnoticed in the absence of any documentation. However, the government is trying to regulate the sector by tightening policies like FCRA, taxation, visa regulations etc. In addition, there is also much confusion in the minds of general civil society about the nature and functions of VOs. As such, it is very important to clear these confusions - for example, most of the large educational and health institutions that make large profits are registered under the Societies Act. Government does not consider these large institutions as a separate entity from smaller community based voluntary organizations. They are treated as any small or medium sized VOs that are providing services without reaping profits. It is time that the government realize this fact and considers them as separate entity. This can be done through proper legislation made exclusively for not-for-profit organizations for separation from other types of organizations considered to be profit making bodies.

Currently, many voluntary organizations are working on the issues crucial at the global level like health, education, water and sanitation and environmental issue that have linkages with the millennium development goals. Those who have agenda matching with the donors get funds, but not all of them are lucky. In their case, they become donor driven and may work on the donor’s agenda even if that doesn’t match their organizational vision.

Various definitions have been given for the VOs by various agencies, however, we have limited the study to only those voluntary organizations working at the grassroots level, other small to medium sized organizations and community based organizations whose sole motive is providing not –for-profit services to the society.

India has witnessed a rapidly changing society. This has resulted in cropping up of numerous forms of VOs that undertake various developmental activities in order to address the multiplicities of societal issues. The voluntary sector has also evolved significantly in the last two decades. The current setting in technology, communication and market have together created immense opportunities and pressure to start many new organizations especially around the issues of global governance and policy advocacy. This is apart from being engaged in all sectors of social life like relief, rehabilitation, health, education,

Chapter 6

Conclusions and Recommendations

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development programmes, peace, human rights, and environment and so on. Although under-resourced in comparison to business and government, funding for voluntary activities has grown substantially in specific areas with support from major foundations and tailored funds. At the same time, there have been many developments at the national and the global fronts that have impacted the sector. Some of the crucial ones being introduction of FDI in most of the sectors including defence, global recession, India’s strong foothold at the multi-lateral platforms like G20, IBSA, BRICS etc, growing Indian aids to African Asian and some South American countries, tightening FCRA law for the voluntary sector and multi state societies registration bill-2012.

While it is significant to have India’s strong foothold at the global level, most of these activities are under red tape and the general civil society including the media thereby majority of the population is not aware of these activities. It’s highly recommended to make all these information transparent at both global and national levels. Further, the Indian voluntary organizations are not allowed to work in foreign countries unlike the corporate bodies, if so, why is there a need to tighten the noose on the foreign money provided to the Indian voluntary sector? Understandably, since some of these VOs are under suspicion because of their activities, it is imperative to scrutinize them in particular rather than accusing the entire voluntary sector of the country.

We arrived on an appropriate methodology for conducting this research after a series of meetings and discussions with voluntary sector experts, researchers and academicians. The outcome was three possible methodologies that could be worked on;

Using Geographical demarcations to identify variation within the sector; Using thematic contributions of the sector as a rubric: like Water & Sanitation, Health & Nutrition, Education, Environment, Empowerment (Women, Children, Tribes, Marginalized) and Livelihood (Agriculture); Using strategic approaches to illuminate sectoral contribution, ie, Research and Advocacy organizations, Service delivery and Rights-based entitlement.

The study aims at brining to light the contributions of the voluntary sector that has for a long time tried to make the society a better place. They are responsible for various social development activities and for implementation of various plans and projects of the government meant for the upliftment of the downtrodden. The study aimed at clearing any confusions about the sector among the government officials, media, and the general community by providing an inside picture and highlighting the contribution made by the sector.

Over the years, the Indian voluntary sector’s reach has expanded exponentially touching more and more far-flung areas that most government agencies are unable access. While no single VO works on a specific theme, there are quite a number of VOs that focus on specific areas and such VOs were used as examples in this chapter. Taking down their respective contribution in a particular strategic approach in a single thematic area demonstrates the VOs level of engagement and dedication to implement changes and improvement. Undeniably, the absence of the sector in the society would make some services impossible to be enjoyed by the general public specifically the marginalized and those living in rural areas.

It can also be observed that the sector has been bolder in implementing more sustainable, people-centered development approaches such as the training of barefoot community workers. This audacious, yet, flexible method not only empowers the community as a whole, but also helps set the future direction of the society. Empowering the population, particularly the marginalized, warrants lesser support not only

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from the government, but also from donors and funders. There is a need to sensitize the key stakeholders that the VOs’ advocacy to fight for the rights of society despite different perspectives and policies may not always be favorable to the conventional bureaucratic mindset. Differences in perception should be encouraged to produce more alternatives to stimulate human development in a sustainable and unbiased manner.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE FUTURE

The study provides a list of recommendations based on the data and analysis in the previous chapters and the views of experts, professionals and practitioners:

i. To have a sectorial identity by weeding out organizations that have stemmed from corporate bodies to re-emphasize the values of voluntarism and not-for-profit

ii. To have a nodal ministry for the voluntary sector based on the guidelines of Steering Committee report of 2012. This ministry would help foster an enabling environment for the sector and assist in its regulation and monitoring of effective implementation of social development programs. The ministry would also facilitate communication between the voluntary sector and the government. It could also help liaise with the corporate sector through CSR

iii. To expand this pilot study and develop a more in-depth research program to study the contribution of the voluntary sector in health, sanitation, education, water etc.

iv. Proper legislation made exclusively for not-for-profit organizations and is separate from all other types of organizations that stem from other profit making bodies

v. The government needs to be careful and sensitive towards the organizations working on the rights and entitlement issues to safeguard the rights of the poor and marginalized

vi. The sector also needs to improve itself by bringing and following good governance practices towards greater transparency and accountability before demanding the same from the government and administration.

vii. All the three pillars of development: the voluntary sector, the government and the private sector - need to work in coordination, strengthen the inter-relationship and supplementing rather than competing with each other

Through self-regulation, the voluntary sector needs to demonstrate a high level of transparency and accountability downward towards the community and beneficiaries as well as to the government, donors and the larger civil society. There are various models of self-regulations like self-certification, accreditation, or at least following the criteria of due diligence. As discussed earlier, the voluntary sector is highly regulated in India since various ministries have their own mechanism to monitor. We need to develop a system that will not only keep the independence of the sector intact, but would also effectively keep it in check. It’s important to understand that the voluntary sector is equally important for the democracy and development of nation as the media or any other sector is.

Since majority of the sector is surviving on the grants from the government and public sector, there is a

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need to check the source of funding. In the last few years we have observed and also CAG reports have indicated that many government departments do not follow their own guidelines while funding NGOs, hence promote corruption. We suggest that in such cases, it is not just the NGOs/VOs that should be blacklisted or penalized, but those providing such funds should also be questioned.

There is sudden mushrooming of NGOs formed out of vested interests. These fly by night NGOs can be checked only if we monitor both the receiver and provider of the funds. In a nutshell, VANI along with its members, advocates for high level of accountability and transparency in public institutions and that includes voluntary sector too. Hence, we urge the Government of India to create an effective mechanism like VO–Council with an anchoring ministry that would not have a differentiating view on foreign or Indian funds. We also aspire that the ‘National Policy on Voluntary Sector’, produced by Planning Commission and approved by Union Cabinet in 2007, would be implemented in its true spirits.

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APPENDIx

List of Organisations

WEST BENGAL

1. Sir Syed Group of Schools (SSGS), DUVA-71/1C, Diamond Harbour Road, Kidderpore, Kolkata-700023, Email: [email protected]

2. Forum of Communities United In Services, 6, Tiljala Road, 2nd Floor, Kolkata-700 046 Email: [email protected], Website: www.focuskolkata.org

3. Socio-Legal Aid Research & Training Centre (SLARTC), P-112, Lake Terrace, Kolkata-700029, Email: [email protected]

4. Action Against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children (ATSEC), P-112, Lake Terrace, Kolkata-700029, Email: [email protected], |Website: www.atsecindia.org

5. Church Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA), 5, Russell Street, Kolkata-700 071, Email: [email protected], Website: www.casa-india.org

6. Mass Education Training Institute, Mahamayatala, P.O. Garia, Kolkata-700 084 Website: www.mass-education.com

7. Primary Teachers Training Institute, Patharpratima, 24 Parganas south

8. Sunderban Nature Resort, DakhinShibgange, P.O. & P.S: Patharpratima, South 24 Parganas, Email: [email protected], Website: www.mass-education.com

9. Sundarban Social Development Centre, Village: Polerhat, P.O. Bijoyganj Bazar, via-Ghateswar, Dist 24 Parganas (South)-743343, Email: [email protected], [email protected], Website: www.ssdcindia.org

10. Sundarban Eye Hospital, Village: Polerhat, P.O. Bijoyganj Bazar, via-Ghateswar, Dist 24 Parganas (South)-743343, Email: [email protected], [email protected], Website: www.ssdcindia.org

11. MuktiSwanirbharMahilaGosthi, Sultanpur, GabbariaPanchayat, Laxmikantapur, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, Email: [email protected]

12. Child In Need Institute (CINI), Village:Daulatpur, P.O. Pailan via Joka, Pin 700 104, West Bengal, Email: [email protected], Website: www.cini-india.org

13. CINI YUVA, Village:Daulatpur, P.O. Pailan via Joka, Pin 700 104, West Bengal, Email: [email protected], Website: www.cini-india.org

14. JEEVIKA Development Society, Flat No. 1/A, Southend View Building, P.O. Joka, Dist. South 24 Parganas, Kolkata-700104, Email: [email protected]

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15. National Fellowship, 11A/1A, MahendraChatterjee Lane, Kolkata – 700046 West Bengal, Email: [email protected], Website: www.nationalfellowship.org

16. SundarbanBanamalipur Community Development & Research Centre (SBCDRC), Vill- Bonomalipur. P.O-RamlochanPur. Pin-743336, Block- Mandir Bazar, Dist- 24 Parganas (S) Website: www.sbcdrc.org

17. RamnagarUnnayanSangstha (RUS), Ramnagar, PurbaMedinipur, Village & P.O. Ramnagar, District : Purba-Medinipur Pin - 721 441, Email: [email protected], Website: www.rus.net.in

18. Gram Bikash Kendra, BanerjeerChawakSantiSamity, Village. & P.O. Banerjeerchawak; P.S- Joynagar Website: www.grambikash.org

19. Centre for the Development of Human Initiatives (CDHI), Composite complex, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal-735101, Email: [email protected], Website: www.cdhi.org

20. Progressive Rural Active Youth’s Action for Society (PRAYAS), ICHAPUR Sealdanga, P.O. Santragachi, Howrah – 711104, Email: [email protected]

21. Narendrapur Helping Hand, Ramchandrapur, Narendrapur, South 24 parganas, Email: [email protected], Website: www. nhhindia.wordpress.com

22. Kalighat Society for Development Facilitation, 57/A, GurupadaHalder Road, Kalighat, Kolkata-700026, Email: [email protected], Email: [email protected]: www.ksdfindia.org

23. Society of the Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier - Pilar Fathers, Howrah, Website: www.societyofpilar.org

24. Mandra Lions Club, Sarada Pally, Baghmundi, Purulia, West Bengal 723152, Email: [email protected], Website: www.mandralionsclub.net

25. Society for Participatory Action and Reflection (SPAR), 49/53 Prince Gulam Muhammad Shah Road, Kolkata – 700033, West Bengal, Email: [email protected], Website: www.sparindia.org

26. Gandhi Mission Trust, Daspur, PaschimMedinipur, West Bengal

27. Institute For Motivating Self Employment, 195 Jodhpur Park, Kolkata, India, Email: [email protected], Website: www.imse-india.org

28. PalliUnnayan Samiti Baruipur, PalliUnnayan Samiti, C/o Bishop’s House, P.O. Baruipur, Kolkata 700 144, Email: [email protected],

29. Arabinda Pally Bharat Kristi SevaSangha, Cosmos Apartment, 92, SC Chatterjee Street, Konnagar, Hooghly, Kolkata - 712 235, Email: [email protected]

30. Association of Peoples’ Initiative for Liberation (APIL), Email: [email protected]

31. Society for Model Gram Bikash Kendra, 107, Jodhpur Park, Ground Floor, Kolkata 700 068; Email: [email protected], Email: [email protected], Website: www.grambikash.org

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32. Tarapur Social Development Society, Vill&PostTarapurDist-Birbhum Pin-731233

33. MandraUnnayanSamsad, VillMandra, Hooghly, West Bengal - 712301 Email: [email protected]

34. New Bharati Club, Cooch Behar, Email: [email protected]

35. CINI CHETANA, Vill. & P.O. Amgachia via Joka, 24 Parganas (S), Pin - 700 104, West Bengal, Email: [email protected], Website: www.cini-india.org

36. Samaj Kalyan Mahila Unnyan Kendra,Vill-Amaipara, PO-Amaipara, Jiaganj, Dist-Murshidabad, Website: www.charity.org.in

37. Helpage India, Website: www.helpageindia.org

38. Prayas India, Email: [email protected]

39. Gandhi Mission Trust, Daspur

UTTARAKHAND

1. AADHAAR Society, Haridwar, Email : [email protected]

2. Abhiyan Social and Educational Society, Dhalwala, TehriGarhwal, Email: [email protected]

3. AdrashYuva Samiti (AYUS), Haridwar, Uttarakhand, [email protected]

4. APAAR, Pithoragarh, Email: [email protected]

5. Astitva, Dehradun, Email: [email protected]

6. AT India, Dehradun, Email: [email protected]

7. AzimPremji Foundation,Dehradun, Email: [email protected]

8. CASA, Dehradun, Email: [email protected]

9. DHARA, Bageshwar, Email: [email protected]

10. DISHA, Dehradun, Email: [email protected]; [email protected]

11. Empower Society, Dehradun, Email: [email protected]

12. Environmental and Rural Development Society, Vikasnagar, Email: [email protected]

13. Garhawl Welfare, Rudraprayag, Email: [email protected]

14. Grass, Almora, Email: [email protected]

15. HARC-Himalayan Action Research Centre , Dehradun, email: [email protected]

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16. Himalayan Society for Alternative Development, Gopeshwar, Chamoli, Uttarakhand, Email: [email protected]

17. Himalayan Gram Vikas Samiti, gangolihat, Pithoragarh, Email: [email protected]

18. Himalayan Education and Resource Development Society, New Tehri, Email: [email protected]

19. Himalayan Society for Alternative Development, Chamoli, Email: [email protected]

20. Himalayan Study Circle for Environment. Pithoragarh, Email: [email protected]

21. JakheshwarShikshan Sansthan, Chamoli, Email: [email protected]

22. Jan Vikas Sansthan, Chirbatiya, TehriGharwal, Email: [email protected]

23. Landour Community Hospital, Mussorie, Email: [email protected]

24. MahilaVikas Samiti, Uttarkashi, Email: [email protected]

25. Mount Valley Development Association, Tehri, Email: [email protected]

26. Mountain Children’s Foundation, Dehradun, Email: mcfglobal @ mymountains.org

27. Mountain Valley Development Association, Tehri, Email: [email protected]

28. ParvatiyaAanchal Samiti, TehriGarhwal, Email: [email protected]

29. ParvatiyaVikasSanthaDunda, Uttarkashi, Email: [email protected]

30. Plan India, Dehradun, Email: [email protected]; [email protected]

31. Sanjeevani, RanikhetEmail: [email protected]

32. SEAD, Dehradun, Email: [email protected]

33. Social Upliftment for Rural Youth Association, TehriGarhwal, Email: [email protected]

34. Sri Nanda Devi Mahila Lok Vikas Samiti, ChamoliUttarakhand, Email: [email protected]

35. SUDHA, Almora, Email: [email protected]

36. Swar Samiti, Pithoragarh, Email: [email protected]

37. Swyam, Dehradun, Email: [email protected]

38. Swayam Social Welfare Organization, Rishikesh, [email protected]

39. THDCIL, Rishikesh, [email protected]

40. Umeed India, Dehradun, Email: [email protected], [email protected]

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41. Uttaranchal Youth and Rural Development Centre (UYRDC), Narainbagar, Chamoli, Email: [email protected]

42. UVHA (Uttarakhand Voluntary Health Association), Dehradun, Email: [email protected]

43. Vanee, Email: [email protected]

44. VDS, Haridwar, Email: [email protected]

45. VRIKSH-SSS (SwayamShiksha Samiti), Mussorrie, Email: [email protected]

46. Women’s Development Organization, Dehradun, Email: [email protected]

ANDHRA PRADESH

1. AccionFraterna Ecology Centre , Anantapur, Email: [email protected]

2. Rural Development Trust, Anantapur, Email: [email protected]

3. The Timbaktu Collective , Anantapur, Email: [email protected]

4. Society For Social Transformation, Kurnool, Email: [email protected]

5. RASS BalajiBalaVikas, Chittor, Email: [email protected]

6. ShriHanumantharaya Educational and Charitable Society, East Godavari, Email: [email protected]

7. APMAS-The Andhra Pradesh MahilaAbhivruddhiSoceity, Hyderabad, Email: [email protected]

8. Relief Organisation for Handicapped (ROH), Anantapur, Email: [email protected]

9. Centre for Rural Action( CERA), Anantapur, Email: [email protected]

10. Mahatma Gandhi YuvajanaSangam(MGYS), Anantapur, Email: [email protected]

11. Human and Natural resource Development (HANDS), Anantapur, Email: [email protected]

12. Chaitanya Rural Education and Development Society((CHAITANYA), Anantapur, Email: [email protected]

13. Voice Organisation for Integrated Community Emancipation(VOICE), Anantapur

14. PrajaSevaSamaj(PSS), Anantapur, Email: [email protected]

15. Pragati Rural Education Service Society, Kurnool, Email: [email protected]

16. Integrated Development in Education, Agriculture and Health, Anantapur, Email: [email protected]

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17. Bharati Agro Industry Foundation for Rural Development, Anantapur, Email: [email protected]

18. Soceity for Animal Initiative, Anantapur,Email: [email protected]

19. National Youth project, Karimnagar, Email: [email protected]

20. SangeetaRao Educational Society, Kurnool, Email: [email protected]

21. DINAKAR –Development of Integrated Nurturing Association to Kindle Awakening for Renaissance, Kurnool, Email: [email protected]

22. Kalabandhu Kala Parishad, Kurnool, Email: [email protected]

23. Young India Project, Anantapur, Email: [email protected]

24. Confederation of Voluntary Association (COVA), Hyderabad, Email: [email protected]

25. ShriPriyadarshiniMahilaMandali, Kurnool, Email: [email protected]

26. Good Samiratan Social Organisation, Warangal, Email: [email protected]

27. Adarsh Community Development Trust, Anantapur, Email: [email protected]

28. MYRADA(Kadiri Project), Anantapur, Email: [email protected]

29. Jana VikasSamstha, Anantapur, Email: [email protected]

30. Gramajyothi society, Chittor, Email: [email protected]

GUJARAT

1. Janvikas, C/105-106, Royal Chinmay, Off. Judges Bungalow Road, Bodakdev, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad – 380 054, Email: [email protected]

2. UNNATI Organization for Development Education, G-1, 200 Azad Society, Ahmedabad 380 015, Email: [email protected]

3. Behavioural Science Centre, St. Xaviers College Campus, St. Xaviers College Campus, Navrangpura,

4. Ahmedabad, Phone: 07926304928

5. Aga Khan Rural Support Programme India, 10th Floor, Corporate House, Opposite Dinesh Hall, Off Ashram Road, Navrangpura, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, Phone: 079 2687 0640

6. SWAPATH, 5-A, Orient Apartment, Nr. Aroma School, Somnath Road Usmanpura, Ahmedabad-380013, Phone: 079 - 2755 6163, Email [email protected]

7. Cohesion Foundation, 6, Sejal Apartment, B/h Navneet Publications, Gurukul Road, Ahmedabad

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8. UTTHAN, 36, Chitrakut Twin, Nehru Park, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380015, India, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad, Phone: 079 2675 1023

9. Development Support Centre , Near Government TubewellBopal, Ahmedabad- 380058, Phone 02717) 235994/5

10. Janpath, B/3-1, Sahjanand Towers Jivraj Park Ahmedabad – 380051, Phone : 079-26813029

11. VIKSAT Nehru Foundation for Development, ThaltejTekra, Ahmedabad-380054, Phone: 079-2685 6220, Email: [email protected]

MADHYA PRADESH

1. United reforms org. Madhyavan, Bhopal, Email: [email protected]

2. Sambhav, Bhopal, Email: [email protected]

3. Shrlh, Bhopal, Email: [email protected]

4. Pradipan, Bhopal, Phone: 9406551287

5. AbharmahilasamitiChhatarpur, Email: [email protected]

6. NCHSE, Bhopal, Email: [email protected]

7. Voluntary Action Network India, Email: [email protected]

8. CASA, Bhopal, Email: [email protected]

9. K.S.S. Raisen, Email: [email protected]

10. Samarthan, Bhopal

11. NIWCYD Bachpan, Bhopal, Email: [email protected]

12. Life line Service Society Sagar, Email: [email protected]

13. The human Project, Email: [email protected]

14. ShardaShiksha Samiti Sujalpur, Email: [email protected]

15. MP BNVS, Email: [email protected]

16. Samavesh, Email: [email protected]

17. Pradhan, Email: [email protected]

18. TI Project, Email: [email protected]

19. Ekta Foundation Trust, Email: [email protected]

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REPORTS

1. A Study on Bundelkhand, Planning Commission of India, Annual Report 2011-12, Ministry of Education,

2. Approaching Equity: Civil Society Inputs for the Approach Paper to the 12th Plan, A WNTA publication, with support from UNDP.

3. Commonwealth Foundation(1994), Non-Governmental Organisations in the commonwealth: Guides for Good policy and Practice, Commonwealth Foundation Publication: London

4. Commonwealth Secretariat (1986). “Decentralization for Development.” Management Development Programme supplement to a selected annotated bibliography. Human Resource Development Group.

5. Concept Note for Project Development in Bundelkhand Area, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Forest,

6. Details of Swajaldhara Yojana. Swajaldhara Yojana. http://phed.bih.nic.in/OwnDW.htm.

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7. FCRA Annual report, 2010-11, Receipt and Utilization of Foreign Contribution by Voluntary Associations, Ministry of Home Affairs, Foreigners Division, FCRA Wing

8. Handbook of National Accounting, 2003, Handbook on Non-Profit Institutions in the System of National Accounts, Department of Economic and Social Affairs Statistics Division, United Nations, New York, Series- F., No. 91

9. Human development, poverty, health & nutrition situation in India, Anthony & Laxmaiah, Council of Social Development, Southern Regional Centre & Division of Community Studies National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR), Hyderabad, India, 2007.

10. India Statistics. Info by Country. UNICEF. http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/ india_statistics.html.

11. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in India

12. Millennium Development Goals. United Nations. http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/host.aspx?Content=indicators/officiallist.htm.

13. Ministry of Education Annual Report 2011-12,

14. Ministry of Finance, Government of India Expenditure Budget, vol. 2; loans from MEA Annual Reports

15. National Accounts Division, Central Statistics Office, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, March 2012, Final Report on Non Profit Institutions in India A Profile and Satellite Accounts in the framework of System of National Accounts (including State-wise Comparison of Profiles), Website- Website: www.mospi.gov.in

16. National Accounts Division, Central Statistics Office, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, March 2012, Final Report on Non Profit Institutions in India A Profile and Satellite Accounts in the framework of System of National Accounts (including State-wise Comparison of Profiles), Website- Website: www.mospi.gov.in

17. Oxfam, “Towards”, 12-15

18. Progress on Sanitation and Drinking Water: 2013 Update. World Health Organization and UNICEF. http://www.wssinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/resources/JMPreport2013.pdf.

19. Report of the Steering Committee on Voluntary Sector for the Twelfth Five year Plan (2012-17), Planning Commission, Government of India,

20. Right to Information Act, 2005. Ministry of Law and Justice. Government of India.

21. Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA)-September 2000, DEFINING THE SECTOR IN INDIA, Voluntary, Civil or Non-profit, A Report Prepared by PRIA in Collaboration with the Centre for Civil Society Studies, Johns Hopkins University, USA

22. The Direct taxes code bill, 2010, forty Ninth report, Standing committee on Finance, (2011-12),

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Fifteenth Lok Sabha, Ministry of Finance, department of Revenue, Lok Sabha Secretariat, New Delhi, March, 2012/ Phalguna, 1933 (Saka),

23. The specific role of civil society organisations (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2002:0704:FIN:EN:PDF#_Toc46744741)

24. Total Sanitation Campaign: Rapid Assessment of Processes and Outcomes. The Chennai Kaleidoscope. 18 April 2011. http://www.transparentchennai.com/2011/04/18/ total- sanitation-campaign-rapid-assessment-of-processes-and-outcomes/

25. VANI, 2011, Review of Legal and Fiscal Regulatory Mechanism of Voluntary Sector: Comparing India and the World,

26. World Economic Forum, 2013, The Future Role of Civil Society, World Scenario Series

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