Give NGOs a chance

Officials and representatives of NGOs at an NREGS social audit plenary session in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. While the tendency of the administrative apparatus has been to leave NGOs alone, a number of more perceptive district-level officers in some States have helped them overcome bureaucratic hurdles.-THE HINDU ARCHIVES

THE United Progressive Alliance government has stressed its concern for the aam aadmi and earmarked large amounts of funds for schemes aimed at benefiting the common man, particularly in rural areas. One of the schemes is the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). In some States it has been of considerable benefit to the rural poor, but in others it has been less than effective owing to corruption and very poor performance records. But on the whole, it has made some impact on people in general in rural India.

One of the interesting features of the scheme is that it recognises the role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) even if it is only to use them as social auditors. On the whole, however, the tendency of the administrative apparatus has been to leave them alone. Indeed, a number of the more perceptive officers of district administrations in some States have helped such organisations overcome bureaucratic hurdles of various kinds.

Several years ago, I walked through a rather remote area of what was then called West Dinajpur district in West Bengal and came across a village where an NGO was working with residents to build cottages of a type that helped mitigate the terrible heat of summer and provided fresh air inside. The NGOs had developed a model structure with the help of architects and major inputs from residents and come up with a simple, ingenious design that used bricks with gaps between them, both horizontally and vertically. The bricks were placed in such a way that each brick in a row rested on the halves of two bricks below it leaving gaps in the wall. Slightly large gaps near the top ensured that the hot air moved up and out and narrow gaps lower down pulled in cooler air. It cost no more than a building built in the normal way. This well-known traditional architectural technique in Kerala was also used in building the main auditorium at Kalakshetra in Chennai. I do not know if the NGO in West Dinajpur (now South Dinajpur) consciously used the technique; I have a feeling they did.

While this was ingenious enough, what interested me more was that the workers of the NGO worked side by side with the local people, not just telling them what to do or not advising them but sitting with them and talking about how best to proceed. One specific instance was the advice from residents that the structures be coated with the traditional mixture of mud and cow dung the mud was thick and soft and when mixed with cow dung cooled the buildings considerably more effectively than the bricks by themselves. There was, I saw, complete trust and goodwill between them and I knew that in this village at least the dwelling units would be more liveable and practical than the old, stifling, dark huts they had.

Those were the days when NGOs were not considered a factor in the development process, but this instance made me realise that they could contribute substantially to the overall development effort, especially because they seemed to be able to establish a rapport with the local people, which the administration in those days did not have.

The situation has since changed, but the NGO is still not accepted as a significant element in the development effort despite the fact that some NGOs are lauded for their work. One major reason for this is that the good, effective NGOs do not accept the suzerainty of district officials very easily and point out shortcomings when they come across them. At the village level, the hierarchy-bound administration invariably finds that not only unacceptable but bordering on the subversive. That leads to a rather distant relationship between the administration and the NGOs, which helps neither.

1.2 million NGOs

Now, it is certainly not true that all NGOs are doing good work. India has an estimated 1.2 million NGOs, according to a survey by the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), itself an NGO. Of these, some 53 per cent work in rural areas. The organisation also reports that around 26 per cent of all NGOs are religious in nature. While some of them may well be doing excellent development work, some could be purely religious, devoted to nurturing or propagating a particular religion. That apart, there are numerous NGOs that exist only on glossy letterheads and collect funds for which they do not render clear statements of expenditure.

There are genuine NGOs that do good work in far-flung areas of the country, but they are so few, and some of them so small, that their efforts, no matter how good, have little effect on the overall miserable conditions in much of the countryside. The MGNREGS in its best form provides work, and that means money, to people in rural areas, making it possible for families to get modest meals and some of the essentials needed to lead a decent life. But it is not, as I mentioned, a scheme that has been implemented well in States such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. Poverty still exists, and petty and some not-so-petty government officials steal the money by cooking the account books and the muster rolls. Sometimes local politicians are involved, making it even worse.

Here is where NGOs can play a vital part. The government can work out a regular partnership agreement similar to the Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) they have created, which are public-private partnerships, to build roads, power stations and other major infrastructure projects. The difference is that NGOs are in the field because of a sense of commitment and dedication to solving the problems of people in the areas they work in.

If they can be entrusted with development work on a large scale, funded liberally and, above all, be treated with the dignity and respect by everyone from, the flag-flying, red-light flashing District Magistrates to officials lower down, then the whole face of development can change.

But this needs political will, political honesty and a genuine desire to do what really helps the poor in rural India. Does Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati have these qualities? Or Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Bhopal? Or the other Chief Ministers of the most backward States, the BIMARU States as they are sometimes called? Perhaps they do. Let us hope they do, and that they more than others recognise and accept the crucial role good NGOs can play in the development process. If they do not, then all the brave words of the Prime Minister and his other Ministers will come to nothing.