'Govt scrutinising NGOs defeats its very purpose'

Editor’s note: This is a reader comment we received on the article   Why NGOs need to be brought down from their high pedestal .  The comment has been edited for grammar. By ank123 [caption id=“attachment_1572777” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AP[/caption] The author has slipped on some important basics. He makes a vehement case that the NGOs must be subjected to scrutiny. But they should be subject to whose scrutiny? The government’s? How can the government scrutinise or control an entity that is supposed to be challenging them? It defeats the very purpose of the NGO! Giving the authority to the government over the NGOs is a very dangerous idea. It must be stopped in its tracks. Even though the government can be claimed to be (probably, the only) legitimate body for representing the people, we all know how it works in reality. And who are the NGOs? NGOs are people organised together to take a stand and propagate their views. One may agree or disagree with their views but that is part of the overall discourse. Even people commenting here are the NGOs. You can’t be putting restrictions on them just like that. Thirdly, they don’t and can’t take concrete actions outside the framework of governance and the law. For instance, if an NGO is opposed to a coal plant, it can’t just demolish the plant. At most the NGO can protest against it, file RTIs and file case against it in courts if it has viable legal grounds. In fact, from this perspective we actually need the NGOs, otherwise who else will do these things? That way, all actions of the NGOs actually manifest through the government and legal channels only. It is these channels that need scrutiny, not the people or the NGOs. There is nothing convincing in this article that makes the case for scrutiny of the NGOs. It doesn’t matter from where they get their funding.