By Aravindan Rajaram
As per official information in 2015, India had 31 lakh registered Non-Government Organizations (NGOs). That’s roughly one NGO per 420 folks!
What are the roles of NGOs? The work performed by NGOs ought to ideally be performed by the federal government or significantly minimized. If the federal government does its responsibility, it’ll make the job of NGOs redundant or minimal. If the NGOs do their job correctly, they may make themselves redundant!
The Majority of NGOs don’t work to make themselves redundant – based mostly on my involvement in bettering well being and schooling for the deprived. Why is it?
The nature of NGOs’ work is reflective of the founder’s intent and understanding of social points. The nature of labor is a giant spectrum – as talked about beneath. At one finish of the spectrum, they do straightforward, shallow, charity-based, brief time period work, resulting in low impression. The different finish is about arduous, in-depth, rights-based, long run work, making a excessive impression.
Examples:
1)
- Left** finish of the spectrum: Donate cash to youngsters in authorities hospitals.
- Middle: Make healthcare accessible to the deprived folks by creating a community of volunteers, who’re the bridge between poor sufferers and empathetic docs
- Right: Pressurize the federal government to make healthcare coverage modifications to offer higher care and ensure the modifications work successfully.
2)
- Left: Provide lunch to the inmates of the orphanage on particular events like birthdays.
- Right: Question the function of orphanages when the variety of potential adoptive dad and mom outweigh the variety of orphans in India. Advocate streamlining of the adoption course of.
3)
- Left: Give low-cost water purifiers to slums/villages.
- Right: Make the federal government work on restoration of water our bodies, zero mixing of commercial waste and afforestation.
My buddy as soon as requested a easy query at a volunteer assembly in Bangalore: “If our room is getting filled with water, should we mop the floor or close the tap?”. So, the place ought to the well-meaning people begin?
Should they immediately go to the suitable finish of the spectrum? Though that’s the supreme situation, it is probably not sensible for everybody. It is determined by the person character and the attitude concerning the socio-political points.
Not everybody has the endurance to battle for the rights the arduous approach – like Medha Patkar who has been combating for social justice since 1984! It’s certainly a tough grind!
As the social points in India are a fancy interconnected net, the work performed at completely different phases of the spectrum by numerous folks can complement each other. Individuals could begin from the left facet; however, should get their perspective wider and transfer in the direction of the suitable, so far as they’ll!
** Right and Left are to not be confused with ideologies. They consult with the ends of the spectrum.