Many say that NGOs or societies (registered organizations)deliver services that the corporate sector cannot deliver; they raise awarenessamong the people; deliver services that government agencies can’t. In short,their contribution cannot be computed.
But the statisticians of the government of India say thatthe contribution of NGOs, of VOs (voluntary organizations) or Non-ProfitInstitution (NPI) sector, in monetary terms, is Rs 41,292 crore a year.
The figure is mentioned in the “Final Report on Non-ProfitInstitutions in India A Profile and Satellite Accounts in the Framework ofSystem of National Accounts”, prepared by the National Accounts Division of theCentral Statistics Office, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation,Government of India.
The report, whose title a mouthful in itself, is somewhatambivalent about its task. It says that there are 31.7 lakh societies in India.It complains about its inability to trace them all; it cribs about the meagerresources at its disposal to manage its task, which is to identify the NGOs,compile their financial data, and people employed by them for inclusion inSystem of National Accounts (SNA).
The report was compiled by the ministry, in collaborationwith the directorates of economics and statistics of States, to comply withIndia’s commitment to implement a UN handbook of NPIs in the System of NationalAccounts.
Of the estimates of total value of output of Rs 41, 292 croreinclude salaries, wages, allowances, honorarium, interest, rent, otheroperating expenses (goods and services purchased for current activities ofinstitution), provision for depreciation, taxes and consumption of stocks.
The activities of Non-Profit Institutions are funded byvarious sources such as grants, donations and offerings, income/receipts fromoperations (such as sale of products or services) other incomes/receipts suchas interest, dividend, rent etc, as well as membership subscription. More thanhalf, 53.5% of the funding for the societies comes from grants while 16.4% isfrom donations and offerings and 16.2% from income/receipts from operations.The remaining 13.8% comes from other sources viz. other incomes/receipts,membership subscription and interest, dividend, rent etc.
The survey indicates that of the 31,74,420 NGOs identified18,63,381 societies, comprising of 58.7% of total registered, are located inrural areas. This percentage share is highest in Himachal Pradesh (93%) andlowest in the urban territories of Chandigarh (5%) and Delhi (0%).
Even though most of the NGOs swear by gender sensitivity andgender equity, most of them show that they are managed or run by men. Insocieties registered both rural and urban areas, the number of male governingbody members is significantly higher than their female counterparts. Theoverall male-female ratio of governing body members is 3:1.
The NGOs have 1,55,01,000 volunteers, 1,14,52,000 men, and40,49,000 women. These include governing body members.
According to a national daily, the government has, over thepast one month, prohibited 4,139 NGOs from receiving contributions from sourcesoverseas. The largest block of NGOs who have been shackled ” 794, or about 19percent of the total ” are based in Tamil Nadu.
