NGOs planning a silent coup at the Centre

 BY: DN BAROLA

RANIKHET: Encouraged by the ‘great experience’ of Delhi, the NGO group of India is planning a silent coup at the Centre. AAP has clearly said that now they will go ahead with another ‘Great experience’ at the Centre.  Arvind Kejriwal could climb the ladders of power as CM of Delhi with the shrewd political backing of the Congress which for the present seems to be a politically right decision.  But now Kejriwal and company have realised the power of NGOs and they are uniting the NGOs spread over India to get united and fight Lok Sabha elections. Prominent NGOs led by Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal and others have their blessings to this effort.

After all where-from the NGOs could get such support at Delhi is a question for discussion. It is pertinent to mention that today NGOs have Money Power, Man Power and above all the Contact- Power. They get Government recognition and get awards for social service, like Magsaysay Award, Padmshree and other awards. Many of them have direct access at Secretary Level. They can oblige people due to their massive contacts. I had an occasion to see the Man Power and Money Power of a NGO. Some years back there was furore in public about a book published by some NGO about the definite possibility of Aids in the hill areas. There argument was that people in the village remain out for long durations in service, particular in the Army and during this period the women get the appetite of sex fulfilled from other villagers. Aids is a sexually transmitted disease, hence there is great apprehension that Aids may spread in the village as an epidemic.  This apprehension has proved wrong even after years because women in hills are devoted to their husbands but the NGO had done its job. He could get a big chunk of money from the World Bank. The local activists staged a rally against the NGO, which had a participation of some 15-20 people. In retaliation the NGO also staged a rally, which had a massive participation of more than 500 persons. This was the Man Power the NGO could easily display.

Some 30 years back, I had an occasion to work in Net-working of NGOs called Samanwaya. Keeping in view my organisational skills, I was elected as President of Samanwaya, Uttarakhand. I soon realised that the NGO sector is a hub of corruption.  I came to know that just like in engineering departments, you have to pay a certain percentage of the money to the department concerned to get aid. Naturally in order to justify this expense you would be required to prepare fake vouchers for this money. In spite of this corruption when the Lokpal Bill was in the Lok Sabha NGO lobby vehemently opposed inclusion of NGOs in Lokpal Act.

NGOs have the mastery in wooing the people. They cater to the small needs of people. Even Kejriwal says that he is concerned about the small needs of the people, like preparation of Ration Card, bijli Pani. I had an example of this. In my neighbourhood there was scarcity of water. The problem was small but for the people who were suffering the problem was great. A NGO activist offered to repair the existing spring (called Dhara or Naula). He prepared an estimate, sent it to the proper forum and got the required money. He said that a Tank would be constructed, so that there is enough storage of water every time. People were happy. He further proposed that the place can be developed further, so that people could sit there for a while and chat. He proposed that on the day of completion of construction of the tank, a Bhandara (Community Lunch) would be held and a small Temple would also be constructed. Now this being a religious matter funds started pouring in. The people were happy and felt obliged. After few months he fought Panchayat election and he won with good margin. This way the NGOs are doing social service at the cost of Government or World Bank money and leading a decent lifestyle, some lead luxurious life style as is the case with Anna Hazare, Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and others. Now the NGOs of India are uniting and wish to lead a silent coup at the Centre, if not this Lok Sabha elections, it may be next elections.

The task before the political parties is great. Their organisations work in a haphazard way, whereas NGOs work systematically and in a planned way. Today the Bureaucrats, Senior Officers, high ranking Retired Officers have opted to become NGO. Even Ministers and other Political Leaders are running their NGOs. Under these circumstances, it is a matter for debate, whether NGOs participation in a big way and capturing the highest post of India, should be encouraged or discouraged. NGOs capturing power means inexperienced novice being elected as CM or PM and governing the State or the Country in Kejriwal’s anarchist fashion. This also means that India would be under big influence of USA. The policies would have to be framed the way US wants, because all the NGOs get massive funding  from World Bank as is the case with Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and others.

Political Parties would have to be vigilant. Traditional Politics would not do. Sheila Dixit drastically changed the picture in Delhi with massive development, but she did not address small issues like Bijli, Pani etc., which would have needed very small investment. So Political Parties would have to plan afresh and be vigilant on these matters. There was a time when I as a political worker used to visit every house frequently and would find about their problems and a solution was being found out, but today political activists give only speeches in their Mohalla, which do not solve the people’s problems. This is an era of paid-workers and Paid-Media. Hence the Party is not able to create a stable volunteer force.  Yet another big problem is corruption. The fact is the small people indulge in small corruption, whereas big people indulge in big and massive corruption. Hence corruption free society is only a dream. Still we have to work for a society that has corruption to the level which people may be able to afford. We have also to educate the people to work for a 2-3 Party system, so that a stable Government may work for the full term.