WHAT IS AN NGO ?
The World Bank defines an NGO Or Non Governmental Organisation “as a private organisation that pursues activities to relieve suffering, promotes the interests of the poor, protects the environment, provides basic social services or undertake community development.”
TYPES OF NGOs
There are various types of NGOs based on two major aspects :-
- Based on Orientation –
- Charitable Orientation – In this type of NGOs the power or authority is with the NGO and people who benefit from it have little to no involvement in the activities. It covers NGOs which directly work towards fulfilling the needs of the poor such as clothing, fooding, medicine, etc. These NGOs also play a crucial role in times of natural disasters.
- Empowering Orientation – This type of NGO focuses on empowering people especially the deprived sections of society by educating them about social, political and economic aspects of their lives.These NGOs make deprived sections capable enough to fight for and get equal rights.
- Participatory Orientation – This type of NGOs are based on participation individuals along with the NGO especially for a community development project. For example cleaning up of beaches, localities etc.
- Service Orientation – These NGOs focus on promoting various social issues such as education, family planning, health and wellness and require active participation from people for proper implementation. These NGOs often partner with other NGOs as well.
- Based on Operation Level –
- Community based NGOs – These kinds of NGOs need less effort and often work due to people’s initiatives.They often work with women’s organisations, sports clubs,educational organisations, etc.
- Citywide NGOs – These NGOs work at a city level and they work on various purposes like blood donations, helping the needy and other specific purposes.
- National NGOs – These NGOs work at a national level with a huge number of helpers and volunteers. They have branches and sub branches at various places to reach out to more people and even help other NGOs.
- International NGOs – These NGOs work in International level and have a huge budget and volunteers. Several NGOs, projects catering to various needs,work under them and also these smaller organisations reach out to such international level NGOs for funding.
WHAT ARE DIFFERENT SECTORS IN WHICH NGOs WORK ?
NGOs work in various sectors all over the world like-
- Old age care
- Animal Welfare
- Child Development
- Agriculture
- Art & Craft
- Child Education
- Urban Development
- Community Development
- Culture & Heritage
- Differently Abled People
- Disaster Management
- Education and Literacy
- Environmental issues
- Health & Hygiene
- HIV/AIDS
- Housing & Slums
- Population Control
- Poverty Removal
- Rural Development
- Science & Technology Development
- Deprived Section of People
- Waste Management and Sanitation
- Drinking-Water
- Women’s Rights
- Humanitarian Relief
- Refugees
NGO LAWS IN INDIA
There are three ways to set up an NGO legally in India, viz.
- TRUST – A trust can be formed when a person or organisation decides to transfer property and for the benefit of the public. A trust can be cancelled without the intervention of the court.
- SOCIETY – A society can be formed under the memorandum of association & rules and regulations. A society can be terminated as per the termination clause in the rules and regulation and after being terminated, the society will be merged with a society with a similar objective.
- SECTION 8 COMPANY- To register a section 8 company, one needs to file a registration under the Central Government through the Registrar of Companies with the required approvals.This process is similar to the set up of a Public Limited Company or Private Limited Company. A Section 8 company is needed to do the annual compliances similar to other registered companies.
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF NGOs IN INDIA ?
Although India has progressed rapidly since independence in all aspects yet there are millions of people whose lives are yet to change due to various factors. Sadly, India’s economic growth has been very uneven and there is a huge gap between the rich and the poor. This is where NGOs come in to work by filling up the gap left by the government. In India, NGOs undertake a variety of activities to help the people deprived of growth by improving their socio-economic status. They provide direct benefits like distributing nutritious food to malnourished children to enable and empower people like making a community realise the importance of sending their children to school. The work of NGOs has a vast impact in helping underprivileged and deprived people to march ahead in life, hence NGOs are very essential for turning India from a developing country to a developed country.