Thread by @sssingh21

Dear @SwarajyaMag team,

Here are my views on the #FCRA bill, and I hope my views, based on my over three decades of Indian and global experience, would reach Mr @narendramodi and Mr @AmitShah as well.

https://twitter.com/SwarajyaMag/status/1309760345037135872

There are two features of the revised act which are praiseworthy, i.e, linking of Aadhar and disqualifying public servants from receiving foreign fund. However, your assumption that the revision may lead to #AatmNirbharBharat may unfortunately not be true.

Rules are framed to control the malpractices of NGOs but the big and cunning ones always have resources to find a way out and consequences are felt by honest NGOs. For example, when a Tamil Nadu based NGO lost its FCRA, it already had another FCRA registered NGO to divert funding

Consequently, all its activities continue unabated.

Let me give a historical perspective which will help to understand, how the Indian civil society organisations (CSOs) space has been systematically colonised by Western NGOs, which even current revisions can't control.

Indian CSOs have been playing significant role in social reforms and poverty alleviation since the pre-independence time. After the independence, in first couple of five-years plans, they even mobilised in-kind support to achieve targets.

The first watershed moment came during the NDA regime when it stopped all bilateral aids but from six blocks. When the UPA government came, it changed the rule but it was too late. By this time most of the donor countries had closed down their offices in India.

However, that didn't stop them to continue funding in India.

How did they do that?

They started channeling funds through the NGOs originated in their own countries and this is why we saw a mushroom growth of International NGOs in India.

Then came the economic recession and all these INGOs started facing challenges to raise funds in their own countries.

They are big and smart, therefore quick to adapt, which they did by getting registered in India to take benefit of India growing much faster.

Now here comes the third feature of the FCRA act which now prevents transfer of funds from one FCRA registered organisation to another. Many think, it will help the Indian NGOs. On the contrary, it is going to kill them. Let me explain.

When INGOs acquired Indian identity, most of them were primarily interested in raising funds in India without being on ground. They partnered with Indian local organisations to do ground work by passing on project funding.

Now this will stop.

What will be the consequences?

First these INGOs replaced Indian NGOs in the capital cities. Now, since they can't transfer funds to local partners, they will start replacing them even in villages.

Does anyone think, grassroots NGOs have capacity to write fancy proposals to compete for international funding?

Most of the Indian NGOS survived by working through partnerships. If there is a call for proposal from European Union, how many grassroots NGOs you think can successfully bid for that?

Who will be winner here?

Of course those who you think should lose thru amendment

Earlier there was one East India Company which colonised us. Now there are many and we are not even aware of that. Let me give one example.

When #Covid19 response started, it was led by local NGOs by mobilising local resources. INGOs sat back as they didn't want to face risk.

However, as the funding chances started growing they returned to the scene and became prime beneficiaries of it through the work was still being done by the poor staff of their local partner NGOs, who rarely get adequate salaries, unlike the head of Oxfam India.

NDTV started organising telethon at this time to help NGOs to start raising funds for #Covid19 response. Indeed a commendable step, but it also required an upfront investment of approximately Rs 1.25 crores.

Do you think any Indian NGO can invest so much to raise funds?

Then who blame the beneficiaries ot it. Let me name four organisations - Oxfam India, World Vision India, Save the Children India and Helpage India.

Yes, all of them have India in their names despite having international roots, and they raised Rs 3-6 crores through this.

This is not only colonisation of aid, but also replacing Indian NGOs from coordination mechanism and all other platforms, which are evidently occupied by resource rich INGOs. Our corporate sector and state governments love them and fund them. #AatmaNirbharBharat anymore?

The largest NGO coordination body in India is controlled by INGOs and faith-based NGOs. Our government bodies listen to them and coordinate with them. This body is highly hostile to me and @humanaidint as we challenge their hegemony.

So, we have many enemies but fewer friends

Many people feel happy that this revision will prevent evangelism. I would suggest you to come out of your dreams, as all evangelical organisations are raising funds in India without you knowing about it. Perhaps you also make contribution to them.

Our govt should have come up with diversity criteria for NGOs to control religious malpractices. That hasn't happened. Do you know, how many staff does World Vision India have? Do you know how many or them come from any other faiths?

They raise maximum funds in India.

A Catholic Indian organisation, with huge international funding, raises funds from state governments, CSR and crowdfunding. However, a local NGO, seeking funds from this organisation, must produce a recommendation letter from a Bishop.

Is that fair?

Some faith based organisations have changed their name. Since they had leverage of their international funding, within no time they started raising billions of rupees in India from CSR funds and also state governments. I won't take every name as I already have many enemies.

If INGOs are taking control in India, it is because their governments invested in them for decades. They partnered with them through their ODA funding to work in developing and least-developed countries. Even China does that, therefore has INGOs now.

A few years ago, Chinese government signed a MoU with the Nepalese government, allowing 24 Chinese INGOs to work in Nepal for cultural strengthening.

How many Indian NGOs have been assisted by our governments to grow bigger?

Good and bad are everywhere. There are bad NGOs and then need to be eliminated, but the good ones also need a supportive environment to complement our government nationally and internationally.

Now let me talk briefly the global funding scenario to describe how the system supports the big organisations and continuously marginalises the smaller one.

Local organisations are always the first to respond to disasters but last to access funding.

In 2015, it was found out that less than 0.3% of the global humanitarian funding was reaching local actors. The prime beneficiaries were 8 UN agencies and 5 INGOs controlling 2/3rd of the funding. A commitment, Grand Bargain, was made in 2016, inter alia, also pledging ...

passing on at least 25% of funding to local actors by 2020. However, according to one report, it rose to only 3.7% in 2019. Another report suggests, it further fell down to 0.2%.

There is a politics in this too. Let me explain.

First the international actors realised that the system was flawed, not favouring the real local actors, and therefore made commitment to pass on more funding to them. And then they started inventing reasons for not passing on committed funding to them.

How did they do that?

By projecting their country offices, registered in countries like India, as local organisations therefore eligible to receive the 25% funding committed for local actors.

Therefore, India loses on there grounds. What are these?

The international funding remains with international actors. Major chunk of the committed 25% funding is passed on to their country offices and shown as delivery on commitments. And on top of that, taking over our domestic fundraising space too.

I conclude by saying, our government should consider all these aspects and then come up with rules which eliminate only the bad ones, and creates favourable system for the honest, hard working, committed Indian grass roots organisations.

"Who became the beneficiaries..."

Sorry for the typos.