[Assam] NGO for profit or no profit?

[umesh sharma]

What is not so well known at ALL schools and colleges are run by NGOs - by LAW? About 5 million of them perhaps -in India. 
   
  Most of these take money from the govt to run schools -as aid -- and cook up figures of enrollment and teachers . Sometimes entire schools are on paper only --if there is one school running -- two schools would be shown onrecord -by same NGO. If there is some inspection - the children of one school would temporarily shifted to the premises of another. 
   
  However, most schools would love to do away with the rule of being a non-profit -- and operate as fee-charging profit making bodies - providing valuable service to the society. However, the law does not allow it - it won't recognize these schools or grant them national affiliation with Education Boards - so no child would join it.
   
  Growth Funds:
  Further, in US the govt is leninet enough to allow non-profits to build up funds -such as the $25 billion endowment of Harvard Univ and earn profits by investing that money - for use for development of the univ later on. In India - after great Delhi Public Schools group built up an endowment of 500 crores ($100 million) the IT department came up with a plan to force NGOs not to save money (more than 20% of that year's incoem) and use it up within 5 years. So no chance of any viable, sincere NGO growing up by legal means. 
   
  Umesh
   
   
  

Dilip/Dil Deka <dilipdeka at yahoo.com> wrote:
    NGO is a profession  to many in India. In December 2005, I met a few in Assam who are making a good living with money from NGOs. I didn't have the heart to tell them that I could see through it all.
  Dilip
   
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        Magazine| Mar 20, 2006 

Exclusive: NGOs

We Serve Fudge 

Rs 5,100 crore in foreign funds. The home ministry clamps down on errant NGOs. 

BHAVNA VIJ-AURORA         They are ostensibly non-profit organisations, but with working capital running into thousands of crores. Blessed with tax exemptions, their accounts rarely come up for scrutiny. Of course, it would be a misrepresentation to paint all non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with the same tainted brush. But among the sincere and committed ones are several organisations getting foreign funds and donations which they divert for their own ends. Among these are NGOs which claim they are active in cultural, educational and religious activities but have not accounted for monies received from abroad.   When the ministry of home affairs recently decided to crack down on errant voluntary organisations, it realised that of the 32,000 registered ones, only a little over 17,000 had submitted accounts to the government. Of the remaining, more than 8,000 organisations have not shown their balance books for the past three years. Examining the records of the year 2003-04
 (subsequent information is being collated), it found that over Rs 5,100 crore had come by way of foreign funding.   However, what was of concern was that probably an equal amount, if not more, was going unreported. In an effort to rein in the defaulting NGOs and institutions, the government has now banned 8,673 of them, countrywide, from accepting any more foreign donations without prior permission. In an unprecedented move, they were also put on a ‘Prior Permission list’. Which means their names will be cleared only if they submitted accounts. Among those on the list include well-known organisations and institutions like the Institute for Conflict Management (run by ex-supercop K.P.S. Gill), the Gandhi Peace Foundation, Delhi University, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), Times of India Relief Fund, Zee Telefilm Relief Fund, Indian Council for Agriculture Research, Jamia Millia Islamia, the rss-affiliated Vanvasi Trust, Khoj and Sanchetana. Also on the list are
 hundreds of concerns working in the HIV/AIDS sector.   Ajay Sahni, of the Institute for Conflict Management, says it was just an administrative lapse. "Ours is a small organisation and anyway the foreign contributions we get are negligible," he says. A spokesperson for the Times Group claimed it had not received any foreign funds in the past three years. As for Khoj and Sanchetana, though they have not submitted accounts, records of the Ford Foundation for April-September ’05 showed it had paid $2,250 to Khoj and $5,00,000 to Sanchetana. Joint secretary D.S. Mishra, dealing with foreign contributions, told Outlook that all accounts would be scrutinised before any clearance is given. "Once they submit records, we will go through them very carefully and then decide if they should be taken off from the list," he says.   Meanwhile, 35 NGOs have been banned forever from taking foreign funds or donations. "They have been prohibited for various reasons, ranging from diversion of funds for
 anti-national activities, misuse for personal gain or for purposes other than stated in their charter," points out Mishra. This category includes several outfits which claim to be working in the religious and social sectors. Predictably, they span the four corners of the country.   The Saraswati Charitable Trust in Delhi figures in this list with a total ban. The trust was involved in translation, printing and distribution of Srila Prabhupada’s books, and sources say they were found to be misusing funds. When Outlook tried to contact the trust, at the Greater Kailash-II address given to the home ministry, it turned out to be false. The phone number given to the ministry was also fake. In a third list are NGOs banned till they set their accounts in order. It has 30 names. "These organisations will have to get government permission before accepting any more donations.Their accounts were not above board," an official explained.   Regulated by the Foreign Contributions Regulatory Act
 (FCRA) of 1976, manys NGOs had been getting away without maintaining proper records for long. For the home ministry, FCRA was more of a national security legislation, but it was weak on issues like tracking the source and utilisation of foreign donations. It has been trying to replace the FCRA with an act with more teeth—the Foreign Contributions (Management and Control) Bill, 2005.   The earlier NDA regime had started the process, but now the UPA has a group of ministers (GoM) to study the FCRA and suggest changes to it. Headed by home minister Shivraj Patil, its other members are finance minister P. Chidambaram, law minister H.R. Bhardwaj, minister for science Kapil Sibal and minister for overseas Indian affairs Vyalar Ravi. Defence minister Pranab Mukherjee has said the new bill would aim to check "activities undertaken by unscrupulous elements in the garb of overt welfare schemes and projects". The government, he said, was keen to ensure that associations engaged in
 anti-national and illegal activities are taken out. But, at the same time, there would be no hindrance to genuine NGOs engaged in developmental and welfare work.   The GoM, which has already had two meetings, went through the FCRA and found the law did not even have provision to derecognise an organisation. It could only debar a violating organisation from receiving foreign funds. The GoM wants a provision to de-recognise an organisation and bar it from functioning altogether. Moreover, it discussed issues like an institution having only one bank account—declared to the government—to receive foreign donations. It could be allowed more accounts only to disburse the amount for various projects.   The aim of the new law will be to facilitate the inflow of foreign contributions for genuine activities without compromising concerns over national security. Of the reported Rs 5,100 crore coming into the country, Delhi received the maximum of Rs 857 crore, followed by Tamil Nadu with Rs 800
 crore and Andhra Pradesh with Rs 684 crore. Among organisations, Andhra’s Rural Development Trust was the highest recipient with Rs 126 crore.   While foreign funding is crucial for NGOs as well as educational institutions, the government is clear it wants a proper auditing mechanism. And it has stuck to its guns that it’ll spare none. Perhaps the reason why IIT Delhi and the IGNCA figure in the list of organisations banned from accepting foreign donations without first getting their books in order. 









  

        magazine | Mar 20, 2006
Blacklisted NGOs/ Institutions



As many as 8,673 NGOs and institutions nationwide are on the government watchlist for receiving foreign funding and not accounting for it or misusing it. Named below are some of them:   Banned forever from accepting foreign funding     
   Saraswati Charitable Trust, New Delhi 
  
   Harayanvi Organisation for Progress and Ecology, Sonepat, Haryana 
  
   Islamiya College, Calicut, Kerala 
  
   Public Relief Trust, Srinagar 
  
   J&K Muslim Conference, Srinagar 
  
   Children’s Development Communities India, Calcutta 
  
   Vikas Parishad, Koraput, Orissa 
  
   Association Madras Church of Christ, Chennai 
  
   Anjumane Hussamia Educational Association, Hyderabad 
  
   Jamai Atul Falah, Azamgarh, UP
Prohibited from receiving foreign donations for not submitting accounts for more than 3 years     
   Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, Delhi 
  
   Institute for Conflict Management, Delhi 
  
   Times of India Relief Fund, Delhi 
  
   Self Employed Women’s Association, Bihar 
  
   Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi 
  
   Cheshire Homes, Andhra Pradesh 
  
   Vivekanand Mission, West Bengal 
  
   Auroville Resource Trust, Tamil Nadu 
  
   Jagriti, Maharashtra 
  
   Citizens Action Group, Karnataka
Source: Union home ministry 


        magazine | Mar 20, 2006
Flush With Foreign Funds



    
   World Vision of India, Tamil Nadu, Rs 103 crore 
  
   Foster Parents Plan International, Delhi, Rs 57 crore 
  
   Shri Sathya Sai Central Trust, Andhra Pradesh, Rs 50 crore 
  
   Action Aid, Karnataka, Rs 45 crore 
  
   Mata Amritanandmayi Mission, Kerala, Rs 40 crore 
  
   SOS Children’s Village of India, Delhi Rs 39 crore 
  
   Maharishi Ved Vigyan Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Delhi, Rs 34 crore

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Umesh Sharma
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Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
		
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