NGOs fail to live up to expectation

In April, the Supreme Court had asked the Centre to come up with a law that would regulate non-government organisations and their fund allocation.

The issue came to light because of the upsurge of NGOs in the last several years. An NGO can be registered with the government, private companies, societies and non-profit companies.

Mr C. Parthasarathi, secretary, co-operation department, said, “Unless a department takes interest in an NGO registered with it, it will not know how it is being run. Thousands of NGOs have sprung up with some doing exemplary service. But some are lax. There needs to be greater interaction with NGOs.”

In a report released by the Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology (Capart) in 2016, over 900 NGOs were blacklisted for forged documents, non-submission of documents, misuse of funds and improper implementation of action plans among other reasons.

Capart registered FIRs against NGOs for misuse of funds. Over 175 NGOs have been blacklisted in Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh.

“Apart from NGOs with Central funding that remain unknown to the state governments, most health, child welfare and education NGOs are funded by overseas organisations. Unless we can verify each activity, it is difficult to determine which NGO is performing or is formed for just a moment’s fame,” said Mr Parthasarathi.

Citizens claim that with NGOs in every nook and corner, it becomes difficult to know whom to contact.

City resident Lakshmi Pillai said, “I have seen many boards of NGOs around Tarnaka, It is not the number but the quality of their action which will make a difference.”