The Hindu Business Line : `Transparency, accountability vital in functioning of NGOs'

NGOs' role
Home Minister sensitive to NGOs's demand for relative freedom and flexibility in the implementation of various projects and activities.
FIs, banks should closely involve NGOs in income generation activities and facilitate flow of funds for social sector activities too.
NGOs could play a big role in achieving Millennium Development Goals and implementation of Bharat Nirman project.

New Delhi , April 17

The Union Home Minister, Mr Shivraj V. Patil, on Monday urged the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to be accountable to all the stakeholders and to the people whose interests they seek to safeguard and serve.

"The NGO sector has far greater stake in the system as its actions are based on voluntary principles and accountability should be a condition precedent for its operations," the Minister said while delivering a lecture at the three-day national meet of the Confederation of NGOs of Rural India (CNRI) to mark the first anniversary of its advent here.

Pointing out that as the Home Minister he had to be careful and cautious about the funding and related activities of some NGOs from foreign sources in the interest of security, Mr Patil said adding he was also "sensitive to the demand of the NGOs for relative freedom and flexibility in the implementation of various projects and activities".

Paradigm shift

Underlining the need for transparency and accountability, Mr Patil said if these two cardinal principles become the bedrock in the functioning of any NGO, there is no problem in providing requisite space for its operation. He also called for a paradigm shift in "our approach towards funding of the NGOs and receiving of funds by the NGOs from any source". Alongside, he suggested that the financial institutions and banks should closely involve NGOs in a host of income generation activities and in that process facilitate flow of funds for social sector activities too.

Role in rural development

Earlier, inaugurating the meet the Union Minister for Rural Development, Dr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, said that NGOs functioning in villages could play a proactive role in rural development by taking up tasks in a host of areas and the Government would fully back their effort.

NGOs in the villages could also play a catalytic role in realising Millennium Development Goals; Provision of Urban Facilities in Rural Areas (PURA) and the Government would support their efforts. He also said the CNRI could complement the industry and chamber associations such as CII and FICCI in highlighting the development activities and redressing development deficit in rural areas.

Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister of State for Non-Conventional Energy Sources, Mr Vilas Muttemwar, sought the help of CNRI members in the task of electrification of rural areas in the country.

The CNRI Chairman, Dr Mohan Dharia, emphasised the need for transparency and accountability in the functioning of the NGOs and said the voluntary sector could play a big role in the implementation of the Bharat Nirman Project to address the basic amenities of the people and also in Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission.

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