Thursday, January 10, 2013

Fund Scams : NGOs getting govt funds for SC welfare are inactive: Study

A study conducted by a foundation working under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has found that most NGOs working for SC and weaker sections of society, and receiving funds from the government remain inactive except on the birth and death anniversaries of Babasaheb Ambedkar.

In fact, preparing a list of just two dozen participants for a five-day workshop on capacity-building of such NGOs in Delhi took Dr Ambedkar Foundation (DAF) two years. The foundation also found that most of these NGOs are run by people from non-weaker sections.

“Most of the active NGOs working for SC/weaker sections are run by non-SC/weaker sections; most of these are ‘one man show’ and some are found active only on April 14 (birth anniversary of Ambedkar) and December 6 (death anniversary of Ambedkar),” says a note by the DAF following an informal study of about 100 NGOs in Delhi and the NCR working for weaker sections. The Indian Express accessed the note using RTI.

While the decision to hold a workshop for such NGOs was taken at a governing body meeting of the DAF on July 24, 2009, the problem in getting proper nominees meant that it had to be postponed again and again and took place finally only in June 2012. The workshop was held in partnership with the Indian Institute of Public Administration.

After prolonged attempts to shortlist NGOs, the DAF finally sent out invitations to 22 Delhi-based NGOs receiving funds from the government for empowerment of weaker sections in February 2011, for the workshop.

After six months of efforts, “only three NGOs confirmed their participation and four letters returned undelivered”. The DAF wrote to the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis and National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation next for names of more such NGOs, but they said they “do not have list/addresses of NGOs working for SCs”.

Following numerous reminders and postponement of schedule, only 21 participants belonging to 10 NGOs finally attended the workshop.

Considering that nowadays “NGOs are playing a very vital role in developmen-t/awareness programmes not only on their own but also as an extended arm of the government and quasi government organisations”, the DAF has decided to hold more such workshops for NGOs working in other states.

However, in Maharashtra too, of the 50 NGOs in the state sent invitations in early November, only two have indicated their willingness to participate, says the DAF note. The workshop is to be held in January-February.
Shyamlal Yadav : New Delhi, Tue Jan 08 2013, 01:16 hrs
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ngos-getting-govt-funds-for-sc-welfare-are-inactive-study/1055982/0

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