Do NGOs in India Really Work for Others OR Work for their Own Vested Interests?

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76 comments Page 4 of 8.

Ananya said:   9 years ago
Some are genuine while others are not all they seem to be. I volunteer with the Sitaram Jindal Foundation and they are very active towards healthcare, infrastructure. Education and women empowerment. They are pretty good and their main interest is towards the betterment of the society and moral upliftment. Wherever you wish to contribute, do a thorough check and see if they are doing work towards charity and then contribute.
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Sajjad yousuf said:   9 years ago
NGOs or non-government organization are organizations which provide basic needs to poor people i.e education medicine and employment etc actually NGOs are boon for poor people because it helps a lot but to provide basic needs is not a government responsibility to provide education is not a government responsibility to provide medicine is not a government responsibility yes it is government responsibility and government is not fulfilling it so a person which os not responsible to do any work doing work so how can we blame it so how can we blame NGOs if some corrupt people is present in NGOs we have to point out those corrupt people not, NGOs so I think NGOs are doing well
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Peya said:   10 years ago
I worked for a NGO for couple of years. Initially I was under the impression that NGOs are doing genuine work. They were paying well since they own a Bank and Insurance Company. The thing which I noticed was that the top management was enjoying and lower management was struggling they had to go visit slum areas daily and struggle in dirt filth. And if they don't butter the top management they were sacked from the job. This NGO had a appraisal process where each one had to prove their worth. The person who is visiting slums daily and slogging was humiliated and insulted left and right during appraisal process.

But as long as you are good with the senior management and buy them gifts you are spared. So technically it was not the hardworking or sincere employee who was working it was the manipulative and opportunistic who was working with the slum kids. Many of the employees were mere young girls in for pocket money and they knew how to get it from their rich male bosses. All said and done overall the atmosphere was not conducive for decent work. The top management wasn't even bothered with lower hierarchy they were just enjoying with the trustees roaming around in cars and tours across India. Government needs to check thoroughly the work of NGOs and not take a bribe from them.

But with my experience of working with them I would say they are a shady lot RTI has to be introduced and we need to get answers about their work ethics.
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Sathiamoorthy said:   1 decade ago
Our NGO registered 2005, we got 80G, 12AA, FCRA tax exception certificates, we are done 200 medical camps in our own money. We applied 8 central government project no response. All the projects are allotted to influential and political related NGO's. When where we search honesty NGO's working for poor peoples but without money run NGO's impossible.
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Parmjeet chauhan said:   1 decade ago
But in India's state where is many popular place Uttarakhand have a maximum area where people haven't any knowledge about many thing just like an place lie on nearest of Badrinath temple which is the amused place in idea there aren't available any type network from there people isn't about phone, technology etc.
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Samresh Patel said:   1 decade ago
This in response of comment of Amar Deep Tiwari,

Let us look at NGOs as a complimentary and support system of the government We must appreciate that fact that government Alone will not be able to do every thing on its own, every welfare scheme and plans does have have an 'NGO element' in them.

We cannot rule out NGOs existence. Coming to your statement "Behind these organisations people make only their life better instead of poor people" Please note that today's NGos are much more or rather very professional. The staff invests years of professional education and mind you a professional social work degree from a premier institute in India is expensive. However, even the senior most staff members in the organisations do not get paid closer to 15-20% of salary if he/she works in a corporate entity. So it is generalization that that 'they make their life better'.

Social work today is not about living a life of renunciation like a Sadhu or a Nun, it is a profession and like in any other profession, only if staff is paid decently will they be in a better condition to serve others. At the end each one of us has a family to take care of. How does one save for his/her old age? Health costs are rising, children's education in a decent school is getting difficult to pay for. I have seen my colleagues in NGO working for paltry salaries, and getting huge salaries when they moved to a company or abroad (huge by even western standards).

Going by the logic, so many people choose govt services, which are today very highly paid, and mind you each govt staff is paid out taxes. Who pays these taxes? You and me. Govt's work is also not a business but a 'service', and going by this logic why should the govt. Servants have very high salaries, govt benefits, housing, vehicles and what not depending on their job profiles. They are doing 'service' and should not have air conditioned cars, offices, cabins, leave travel concession (LTC) , or concessional travel for govt. Airline of railways. "Why" should they? Railways is not a profit making venture but a public service company. However, even they are human beings, they deserve to be getting what is due to them, they are entitled to all these, because only when your needs are satisfied, will you be in the capacity to do for others, they have their families to take care of.

So, let us not get into this. Yes, there will always be exceptions where some of the NGOs who may have done malpractice or broken the law at some level, but most NGOs are formed with a positive intention to 'serve a particular need/cause'.

Tax deductions are provided for donations to encourage people to do charity. No one can create an NGO to save taxes, mind you there are so many compliance and rules today that it is difficult to create an NGO to 'save taxes. '.

By the way how many of us simply donate when visiting a holy shrine or a place of worship, without questioning the utility of these anonymous donation boxes? We trust that it has gone to safe hands, and will be used for betterment of the shrine, facilities of that place etc. And other service activities.

Let us not generalize our singular experiences. If you want to contribute to an NGO, internet is at your disposal. Check the website, speak to the staff, representatives, speak to the beneficiaries, look at all the valid registrations, documents importantly, ask for their 'Annual Report'. Please Google for leads to their history of any untoward event/happening. But do not go to a non-profit organisation with an 'attitude of doubt or skepticism'.

Most NGOs are so very professional today, as such they have ways to look at their own efficiency, may be by way of being conscious of cost per beneficiary, maintaining a healthy ratio of administrative and programme related expenditures, measuring 'Social Return on Investment' (SROI) , maintaining staff-beneficiary ratio, maintaining a reasonable 'Cost of Fund raising', conducting impact studies, practices such as having well defined Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and Key Result Areas (KRA) KRAs, drawing up operation plans, internal and external reporting systems. Hence, to ensure that a maximum no. Of people benefit with the limited resources available, you need a 'Professional and qualified Social Worker' who does not come for free, s/he has brains, ideas, innovations, ability to manage, lead and motivate teams, show results and efficiency. Professionals have to be paid.

An NGO's work is "People to People' and a mental and emotional draining (in addition to personal life) is inevitable. They need to be paid their due. An ambulance on call for common man, a child helpline, a suicide helpline, a distress tollfree line, these were all innovations of a 'social worker' which might have over time adopted into our admisistrative systems over time. The caller to these numbers may have been a rich child, or a well heeled woman calling for help in suicidal circumstances/distress. NGOs are for all of Us.

Volunteer with them as some one suggested, to have a better understanding of their work look at them as partners in social well being.
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Neeraj Singh said:   1 decade ago
Hello friends,

This topic is quite a matter of discussion. Coming forward to do charitable activities for poor and needy people is a great and respectable task. We should appreciate that, NGO people take steps to return to the society that has given a lot to them.

But yes, indeed, there's a flip side of the coin where people uses it as a medium of conversion of BLACK into WHITE. People open charitable trusts, put some "DONATION BOXES", dump there Black money in that box and then buy the assets in the name of that trust.

A very common thing that I have noticed while doing Audit of a NGO, that people working on field level are the one who faces the most problems but get paid with, I will charitably say, pannys. On the other hand, people working at management level get paid quite handsomely.

Funds sent by government companies, other NGOs, foreign government are used in a manner by which almost 40% of money is absorbed by the management in the name of their salaries and overheads (indirect costs).

My personal view stands as, they do the good job but still they are not using the resources at their best.
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Varija said:   1 decade ago
Every NGO's has their own goals to reach. For example, some NGO's aim at reducing unemployment while some others aim at providing education or shelter for needy. Their work should be appreciated as they are non profit and service oriented organizations. It is equally true that in very few NGO's the funds are being misused.

In order to overcome such issues, one must know how the money which we offer as funds is used by the NGO. Besides offering funds we must also accompany the NGO's (as a volunteer) in their working when we get time. Then we can know how the money is being used and we can also get to know their steps to reach their goals.
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Anu said:   1 decade ago
There are said to be many NGO's working with the black money. If a proper auditing by the govt is done and transparency is maintained by providing the details about how the money was used on the websites, it could prove to be a highly efficient system for tackling the problems we face in the society.
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Gowri said:   1 decade ago
NGO (Non Governmental Organisation) is organised by legal persons not from the government. It helps mainly for the children education. There are many organisations which is also rewarded for their activity. Help age India stands first in helping people. And not only for human for animals also Non Profitable Organisations are working successfully.
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