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HVK Archives: No go for NGOs

No go for NGOs - The Observer

Posted By Ashok V Chowgule (ashokvc@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in)
October 27, 1996

Non-government organisations (NGOs) have always been
perceived as threats to the foundation of Marxist hegemo-
ny in West Bengal. But until CPI(M)'s central committee
member Biman Bose declared openly this week that the fast
evolving system of NGOs gaining economic and political
independence from the State Government would not be
tolerated, a policy of doublespeak had marked the Marx-
ists' dealings with the so-called "voluntary sector".

Top Communist leaders, whenever they graced functions
hosted by NGOs, harped on the need for greater NGO-Gov-
ernment collaboration. But, all the while, the same
leaders, Jyoti Basu included, winked at Marxist cadres as
they harassed apolitical social workers at the grass-
roots.

The announcement by Biman Bose, that NGOs trying to
bypass the State Government (the bureaucracy) and elected
representatives (polity) would not be 'tolerated', does
not come as a surprise to leaders of prominent NGOs.
Nineteen years of Leftist rule have led to the stunting
of the NGO movement in West Bengal. CPI(M) politicians
routinely use the government machinery or the muscle
power of their cadre base (often a combination of both)
to prevent NGOs from functioning properly.

This is a standing complaint of the voluntary groups in
West Bengal. They point to the poor growth rate in the
number of NGOs in comparison to other states as a bench-
mark of the disillusionment among committed social work-
ers.

But they are taken aback by the tinting of Bose's attack.
What was the need, they say, for the Marxists to make
explicit a policy already under implementation. Says
Santanu Bhattacharya, an international award-winning
expert on health, who heads the Bengal Rural Welfare
Service, a Calcutta based NGO: "We cannot understand why
the Government is trying to make enemies out of an im-
portant friend. Without help from the NGOs, the State
would find it impossible to improve health, immunisation,
low-cost sanitation, literacy and numerous other program-
mes."

Kalyani Karlekar, who heads the Calcutta Social Project,
said the statement was unfortunate". Her organisation,
which works among the street children of Calcutta, has
been receiving aid from the Central Government and fund-
ing organisations based abroad. "Al this has been known
to the State since 1972. What is the provocation this
time for such a remark?" Says Ashim Das, of Unnayan,
active in the area of low cost housing and g water: "We
will fight against the Government if such an order is
passed."

The immediate provocation for Bose's attack on NGOs seems
to lie in World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn's off-
thecuff remarks during his recent tour of India reported-
ly widely by the media. Wolfensohn was reported to have
said at a meeting with Mumbai-based AIDS workers: "The
matter of direct funding of NGOs is under consideration,

especially in the light of revelations of corruption in
the government." Bank-funded welfare activities were high
on the agenda of Wolfensohn. He told a news conference
in Delhi that funding for projects using child labour
would be stopped.

At the moment, funding from most channels require the
approval of state governments. An application for fund-
ing under an ICDS scheme from UNICEF, for example, would
require vetting by the social welfare, health or rural
development department of a state government. West
Bengal NGOs find the cooperation of state government
bureaucrats extremely difficult to come by. This should
satisfy Bose, but what irritates him are NGOs who have
built up a certain credibility with direct funding bod-
ies, like the Union Rural Development Ministry's CAPART
and some international donors like Ford Foundation, FNS
and FES.

Says Bhattacharya, who has been on the sanctioning com-
mittee of CAPART: "The Left Front is at loggerheads with
the Centre over direct funding and has tried several
times to get its foot in." Bose confirmed the existence
of a running battle when he vowed to use the Left Front's
'good offices' with Delhi under the United Front Gover-
nment's control, to get the system of direct funding
discontinued.

The question being asked is what will the Left Front gain
from curtailing the freedom of NGOs? As it happens, less
than a third of the 5,000-odd registered NGOs in the
State are active in the 40,000 villages. And, increas-
ingly, many of them are fronts of either the CPI(M) or
the Government (see box). The State Government, far from
offering the NGOs any incentive to increase their activi-
ties, seem to be intent on showing them the door.

This, says Partha Sarathi Sengupta, head of an NGO work-
ing on health care, would invariably lead to committed
social workers moving to other states. Says Bhattachar-
ya: "A lot of grants are available for working in the
BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh)
states."

If the NGOs are recognised as agencies to supplement
government work, who is to fill the gap once the former
collapses? Moreover, the hopelessness of the bureaucracy
in creating new models for development is an established
fact. Once the NGOs vanish from rural Bengal, need-based
succour will be a casualty.

Besides, point out experts, who is going to act as the
watchdog in the implementation of government-sponsored
programmes?


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