After a day of unsuccessfully calling one of my NGO friends in Banda district when I was finally able to talk to him the obvious question was, “Kahan vyast ho gae hain (where have you gone busy)?” Pat came reply, “Vyast nahin ast vyast ho gae hain aajkal (not busy, we have gone haywire).”

This statement of my friend summarises the current state of affairs of NGOs, particularly those working at the grassroots level. Barring a few big grassroots NGOs, almost have a few common traits: Ability to reach out the most neglected, most unreached and most vulnerable people, enabling them to learn nuances so they can face life in a better and respectable way, providing them relief and a shoulder to lean on when needed most, etc.

But they also suffer from common problems. The most prominent is their very narrow and uncertain funding base. This emanates from their poor communication. The heads are usually less educated, unpolished, rustic and unable to communicate in English, the language that the donors like to hear and read.

It is here that the role of foreign donor organisations through their Indian arms becomes critical. Employees of these India based foreign donors have worked together with these small grassroots organisations by providing them funds and expertise and this has done wonders to empower the community.

But with the recent amendment to Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), fund transfer from India based foreign donors to grassroots NGOs has stopped. As the dust settles things have started clearing up. Almost all the Indian arms of foreign donors are now converting themselves into implementors (after all managers and employees of these organisations have to save their jobs). For the time being they are hiring existing team, and in a few cases heads, of the grassroots NGOs whom they used to fund till the other day to work for them as their team.

This arrangement may work fine for some time to come, but its sustainability will always be doubted. And in this arrangement the victims are the grassroots NGOs as they are being removed from the picture completely. Their balance sheets will shrink, hitting hard their capacity to get funds, even harder than lack of command over English.

Gradually, such organisations are likely to die slowly. And this is probably the intent of the Government, because it does not wish the reality of the masses to come out in open for that tarnishes the image of vibrant India.

– Photo Credit: Vikas Samvad, Bhopal