NGO’s Explained The Centre told the Supreme Court this week that it wanted to stop grants to NGOs who fail to file their income-expenditure statements. The court asked if it should pass an order to that effect, following which the counsel for the government asked for leave to move a memo. SHYAMLAL YADAV explains some key issues in the matter. What is a Non-Governmental Organisation? Worldwide, the term ‘NGO’ is used to describe a body that is neither part of a government nor a conventional for-profit business organisation. NGOs are typically set up by groups of ordinary citizens, and are involved in a wide range of activities that may have charitable, social, political, religious or other interests. In India, NGOs can be registered under a plethora of Acts such as the Indian Societies Registration Act, 1860, Religious Endowments Act,1863, Indian Trusts Act, etc. How did the Supreme Court come to examine them? Advocate M L Sharma filed a public interest lawsuit in 2013, requesting an inquiry against Hind Swaraj Trust, an NGO run by social activist Anna Hazare. The court widened its scope and ordered an inquiry into all registered NGOs in India. How many NGOs are there in India? India has possibly the largest number of active NGOs in the world, but no specific number is available. A study commissioned by the government put the number of NGOs in 2009 at 33 lakh. That was one NGO for fewer than 400 Indians, and many times the number of primary schools and primary health centres. Do they receive government funds? Worldwide, NGOs are helpful in implementing government schemes at the grassroots. In India, ministries such as Health and Family Welfare, HRD, WCD and MoEF have separate sections to deal with NGOs. They are flooded with requests for grants but only a handful of NGOs linked to politicians, bureaucrats or other high-profile individuals get hefty government funds. Do they receive funds from abroad? They may, if they are registered with the Home Ministry under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA). Without this, no NGO can receive cash or anything of value higher than Rs 25,000. Last year, the Home Ministry served showcause notices on 10,331 FCRA-registered NGOs for not filing mandatory contribution reports for 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12. Why have NGOs been recently controversial? An IB report, submitted to the PMO and National Security Adviser in June, alleged that several foreign-funded NGOs were stalling India’s economic growth by their obstructionist activism. The report accused Greenpeace of attempting to destabilise India’s energy mix in collusion with a US-based anti-coal lobbying group. The IB subsequently advised the government to cancel Greenpeace’s FCRA registration. What has CBI told the Supreme Court? That fewer than 10 per cent (only 2,23,428) of 22,39,971 NGOs in 20 states have filed balance sheets with the authorities. Details from Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Delhi are awaited. Are there tax benefits in donating to NGOs? Charitable donations are eligible for exemption, with the condition that it should not be for benefit of any religious community or caste, among other conditions. As per the I-T department website, 1,50,217 institutions have got approval under Sec 12A of the Income-Tax Act to receive donations under Sec 80G. -Via The Indian Express
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 06:39:00 +0000
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