'Govt should set up board to regulate NGO funding'

Editor’s note: This is a reader comment we received on the article ‘ Why NGOs must be brought down from their pedestals ’. The comment has been edited for grammar. By Dr Robert Kharsing Thanks, Jaggi, for bringing such clarity to the matter at a time when media, including FP, is going overboard in crying foul and blaming Modi for the IB report on the NGOs. The importance of civil society in the making of a country cannot be denied and it is good that we have a number of these organizations spreading education and health across the country. [caption id=“attachment_1572867” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] But if you look closely, you would find that almost all of them concentrating on education and health raise their resources within the country, except for those who combine these services with proselytisation, too. The fact that huge foreign funding is either available to NGOs working against dam, industries and mining and human rights or for proselytisation should be an eye opener. The government should either ban foreign funding of all NGOs altogether or allow this funding only when routed through a specially created autonomous Civil Society Financing Board, chaired by a retired RBI Governor or somebody similarly statured, for this purpose.