NGO
NGO
GENERAL STUDIES - 2
GOVERNANCE
NGO, SHG, Pressure Groups
NGOs –
A non-governmental organisation (NGO) is an organization that is neither a part of a
government nor a conventional for-profit business. Usually set up by ordinary citizens,
NGOs may be funded by governments, foundations, businesses, or private persons.
● NGO activities include, but are not limited to, environmental, social, advocacy and
human rights work. They can work to promote social or political change on a broad
scale or very locally.
● NGOs play a critical part in developing society, improving communities, and
promoting citizen participation.
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3. Many issues in India do not come to the surface unless picked up by NGOs. Ex: rights of
LGBTQAI community picked up by Naz Foundation .
4. It also helps in Working where state is unwilling to work and where the state resources are
limited to work.
5. Policy formulation – Various NGOs work for policy formulation and also for the policies to
come into force. Ex: MKSS for RTI.
6. Development and Operation of Infrastructure e.g. NGOs did a remarkable job post-2004
Tsunami. Besides helping in rescue operations, NGOs also set up vocational training
centres
7. Advocacy for and with the Poor - In some cases, NGOs become spokespersons or
ombudsman for the poor and attempt to influence government policies and programmes
on their behalf.
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and payments and for promoting the orderly development and maintenance of
foreign exchange market in India.
● A transaction under FEMA is called a fee or a salary while the same under FCRA is
called a grant or a contribution.
● In 2016, the powers of the Ministry of Finance to monitor NGOs were placed
under the FEMA.
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● Absence of Strategic Planning: Many NGOs suffer from the lack of a cohesive,
strategic plan that would facilitate success in their activities and mission. This renders
them unable to effectively raise and capitalize on financial support.
● Poor Governance and Networking: A lack of effective governance is all too common
in NGOs. Many have a deficit of understanding as to why they must have a Board and
how to set one up. A founder may be too focused on running the NGO for their own
purposes; however, governance is foundational to transparency.
● Lack of Volunteerism/Social work among Youth due to less attractive career
opportunities and pay scales. Even parents also discourage their children from social
activities.
● Centralisation in Urban and metropolitan areas.
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National policy on voluntary sector 2007-
1. It aims to strengthen, promote and develop Voluntary sector. VOs include community
based organisations (CBOs), NGOs, charitable organisations, support organisations and
professional associations.
2. To identify methods by which Government may work together with VOs, on the basis of
the principles of mutual trust and respect, and with shared responsibility.
3. It recognises the importance of independence of voluntary organisations, which allows
them to explore alternative models of development.
4. To enable VOs to mobilise financial resources from India and abroad.
5. To encourage VOs to adopt transparent and accountable systems of governance and
management.
6. It highlights the need for Government to encourage all central and state Government
agencies to introduce pre-service and in-service training modules on constructive
relations with voluntary organisations.
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Self Help Groups-
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Benefits of the SHG model-
● Freedom from exploitative debt - In rural India, people are still dependent on
informal moneylenders. These moneylenders exploit these poor people by entering
into false agreements, writing wrong amounts on papers, charging excessive interest
rates and confiscating property on failing to repay the loan. SHGs free these people
from clutches of moneylenders.
● Collective guarantee system - for members who propose to borrow from organised
sources. The poor collect their savings and save it in banks. In return they receive easy
access to loans with a small rate of interest to start their micro unit enterprise.
● Leadership development: SHGs provide organisational platform to rural people to act
as leader for their respective activities. SHGs provide dynamic leadership as every
person gets a chance to lead according to the skill sets. Example: In Andhra Pradesh
alone, 1,40,000 women leaders were created.
● Social integrity – SHGs encourages collective efforts for combating practices like
dowry, alcoholism etc.
● Gender Equity – SHGs empowers women and inculcates leadership skill among them.
Empowered women participate more actively in gram sabha and elections.
● Pressure Groups – their participation in governance process enables them to highlight
issues such as dowry, alcoholism, the menace of open defecation, primary health care
etc and impact policy decision.
● Voice to marginalized section – Most of the beneficiaries of government schemes
have been from weaker and marginalized communities and hence their participation
through SHGs ensures social justice.
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● Savings - All SHG members regularly save a small amount. The amount may be small,
but savings have to be a regular and continuous habit with all the members.
● “Savings first - Credit later” should be the motto of every SHG member.
● Internal lending - The SHG should use the savings amount for giving loans to
members. The purpose, amount, rate of interest, schedule of repayment etc., are to be
decided by the group itself.
● Financial inclusion - SHGs have mobilised millions of people across the country
especially women. 40.95 million families and 204.75 million people having been
covered under NABARD-Bank Linkage programme and the cumulative loan figure
standing at 18040 crores as on 31-03-2007
● Impact on Housing & Health – The financial inclusion attained through SHGs has led
to reduced child mortality, improved maternal health and the ability of the poor to
combat disease through better nutrition, housing and health – especially among
women and children.
● Banking literacy – It encourages and motivates its members to save and act as a
conduit for formal banking services to reach them.
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● The financial inclusion attained through SHGs has led to reduced child mortality,
improved maternal health and the ability of the poor to combat disease through
better nutrition, housing and health – especially among women and children.
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managerial ability, packing, other technical knowledge are not adequate to compete
with that of strong units.
● Economies of scale: Normally each SHG procures raw materials individually from the
suppliers. They purchase raw materials in smaller quantities and hence they may not
be able to enjoy the benefits of large scale purchases like discount, credit facilities etc.
● Lack of professionalism: There is no professionalism within the SHGs. This does not
promote the expansion and improvement of the SHGs. This does not allow for the
increase of wages of the members and improvement in their living conditions. This
also leads to error in accounting and mismanagement.
● Lack of Stability and Unity Especially among women SHGs: In the case of SHGs
dominated by women, it is found that there is no stability of the units as many married
women are not in a position to associate with the group due to the shi of their place
of residence. Moreover, there is no unity among women members owing to personal
reasons.
● Lack of democratization in functioning : It is also observed that in the case of many
SHGs, strong members try to earn a lionʼs share of the profit of the group, by exploiting
the ignorance and illiterate members.
● Too much dependence on government and NGOs: Many SHGs are dependent on the
promoter agencies for their survival. In case these agencies withdraw their support,
the SHGs are vulnerable to downfall.
● Inadequate Financial Assistance: It is found that in most of the SHGs, the financial
assistance provided to them by the agencies concerned is not adequate to meet their
actual requirements. The financial authorities are not giving adequate subsidies to
meet even the labour cost requirements
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● Credit Mobilization: A study has shown that about 48% of the members had to borrow
from local money lenders, relatives and neighbours because they were getting
inadequate loan from groups.
● Contrary to the vision for SHG development, members of a group do not come
necessarily from the poorest families;
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● Export promotion- Government should encourage export of goods which are
produced by the group members.
● SHG linkages- The An integrated approach is required for meeting overall credit
needs of a poor family in terms of backward linkages with technology and forward
linkages with processing and marketing organizations.
● Improved Access to credit- Credit needs to be provided for diversified activities
including income generating livelihood activities productions, housing consumption
loan and against sudden calamities.
● Proactive delivery- The delivery system has to be proactive and should respond to
the financial needs of the farmers.
● Training programmes- relating to management of finances, maintaining accounts,
production and marketing activities etc. should be given.
● Provide gender sensitization training- to bank staff so that they are sensitized to the
needs of rural clients especially women.
● Adequate insurance coverage- should be provided to the business units promoted by
SHG against the financial losses to safeguard the interest of the entrepreneurs.
● Improving the scope of movement- The SHG movement needs to be extended to
urban and peri-urban areas. State Governments, NABARD and commercial Banks
should join together to prepare a directory of activities and financial products relevant
to such areas.
● Better marketing of products- NGOs may help SHG in identifying new marketing
areas and methods of distribution of products manufactured or marketed by SHGs.
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● Social issues- A Self-Help Group should not only concentrate on the growth of the
group, but should also show active involvement on the social issues and other
essential issues like health, sanitation etc. to develop the entire village.
● Democratic leadership- There should be rotation of group leadership, so that all the
members of the group get an opportunity to play managerial roles.
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Pressure groups-
▪ A pressure group is a group of people who are organised actively for promoting and
defending their common interest. It is called so, as it attempts to bring a change in
public policy by exerting pressure on the government. It acts as a liaison between the
government and its members.
▪ The pressure groups are also called interest groups or vested groups. They are different
from the political parties, as they neither contest elections nor try to capture political
power. They are concerned with specific programmes and issues and their activities are
confined to the protection and promotion of the interests of their members by
influencing the government.
▪ The pressure groups influence the policy-making and policy implementation in the
government through legal and legitimate methods like lobbying, correspondence,
publicity, propagandising, petitioning, public debating, maintaining contacts with their
legislators and so forth.
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5. Agrarian Groups- All India Kisan Sabha, Bharatiya Kisan Union, etc
6. Studentʼs Organisations- ABVP, All India Students Federation (AISF), National Students
Union of India (NSUI)
7. Religious Groups – RSS, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Jamaat-e-Islami, etc.
8. Caste Groups – Harijan Sevak Sangh, karni sena, etc
9. Linguistic Groups – Tamil Sangh, Andhra Maha Sabha, etc
10.Tribal Groups – National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), Tribal National
Volunteers (TNU) in Tripura, Tribal League of Assam, etc.
11.Ideology based Groups – Narmada Bachao Andolan, Chipko Movement, India Against
Corruption etc.
1. The rise in benefits provided for by the welfare state is leading interest groups to form
to protect and extend those rights to their group members.
2. Higher educational standards have increased the numbers of people with the
organisational skills to contribute to pressure groups.
3. Changes in gender roles have removed many of the barriers to participation by women
in pressure group activity.
4. Membership of political parties has declined. It has been argued that this reflects the
failure of the political parties adequately to reflect the needs of different groups of
people in society, and that cause groups offer a more promising route for bringing
about political change.
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5. Globalisation has strengthened pressure groups in a number of ways. In particular,
there is general agreement that business groups have become more powerful in a
global age. This is because they are able more easily to relocate production and
investment, so exerting greater leverage on national governments.
● Based on Certain Interests - organises itself keeping in view certain interests and thus
tries to adopt the structure of power in the political systems.
● Use of combination of Modern and Traditional Means - Modern means includes
adoption of techniques like financing of political parties, sponsoring their close
candidates at the time of elections and keeping the bureaucracy also satisfied. Their
traditional means include exploitation of caste, creed and religious feelings to promote
their interests.
● Pressure groups are primarily a consequence of inadequacies of Political Parties
● Represent Changing Consciousness in society
● Pressure groups results out of increasing pressure and demands on resources -
Scarcity of resources, claims and counterclaims on the resources from different and
competing sections of the society.
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● Agents of Political Socialisation - as they influence the orientations of the people
towards the political process.
● They work as two-way communication links between the people and the
government.
● Pressure groups play a vital role in the legislative process.
● Role in Judicial Administration - Pressure groups try to use the judicial system for
securing and safeguarding their interests.
● Pressure groups play a leading role in the formulation of public opinion.
● Pressure groups help in improving the quality of government and governance.
● Provides important counterweights to balance the concentration of power.
● Pressure groups increase social cohesion and political stability by providing a
ʻsafety-valveʼ outlet
● Representation: Pressure groups provide a mouthpiece for groups and interests that
are not adequately represented through the electoral process or by political parties.
● Lobbying government: It include contacting members of parliament, ministers and
bureaucrats to disseminate information about the positive or adverse effects of
proposed legislation. Ex: FICCI lobby Government to bring tax reforms which suit
industry.
● Educating public: Interest groups work hard to educate the public at large,
government officials, their own members, and potential interest group members. They
use sources like communication medium which include TV advertisements, sponsored
news paper articles, social media, etc.
● Policy formulation and implementation: In particular, pressure groups are a vital
source of information and advice to governments. Many groups are therefore regularly
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consulted in the process of policy formulation, with government policy increasingly
being developed through policy networks. An example of such group is Observer
Research Foundation, which works on policy issues primarily related to Foreign affairs.
● Advocate Democracy: Interest groups, also called lobby groups, advocacy groups or
pressure groups usually become the “voice” of the people, helping others express their
opinion and bring forward their message.
● Encourage Legislators: Interest groups campaign aggressively in support of their
advocacies. They use their size and motivation in pushing legislators to pass and
implement laws that uphold the interest groupsʼ beliefs.
● Monitor Those in Power: Interest groups are strongly driven by their belief and
support in upholding human rights and public interest. They take collective action in
checking and correcting those in power.
● Support Political Awareness: Various interest groups help disseminate valuable
information to the rest of the public, especially those that involve politics and laws.
They spur political involvement among the people who are otherwise helpless, meek,
or ignorant on their own.
● Better Representation: Interest groups advocate causes that are dear to their hearts,
and those of the people (minorities) they represent. Divided, they are weak and
vulnerable, but collectively, they are strong and well represented.
● Information gathering- Pressure groups compile data and provide specific
information to policy makers, thus they work as an informal source of information
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which is separate from that coming from the public service. Many groups are therefore
regularly consulted in the process of policy formulation.
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● Sectional interests- Pressure groups at times gets influenced by their sectional and
local interest more as compared to their common interest as seen in Jallikattu ban
case in Chennai.
● Anti-Development- At times they hinder development. In case of protests against
Kudankulam nuclear power project, people were mobilised on propaganda of safety
issues.
● Engineered dissent, Obstructionist activism- Some Pressure Groups could be
accused of holding the country to ransom. Many NGOs have been accused of
misappropriation of funds.
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