SIGH OF RELIEF - Home Min Welcomes NGOs in Disaster Mgmt

Aman Sharma

New Delhi:





Draft guidelines seek to institutionalise, strengthen role of bodies

The home ministry has floated draft guidelines to “institutionalise“ the role of non-governmental organisations or NGOs in disaster management, a move that comes as a sharp contrast to its tough stance on such organisations in general as it cancelled the licence of nearly 1,100 NGOs last month for not filing accounts of their organisations' foreign funding.As per the 65-page guidelines, for which comments were sought from various stakeholders by April 3, the ministry envisages strengthening the “quality, synergy and accountability“ of NGO systems in disaster management. The big idea is to establish a “functional government-NGO platform and taskforce“ during non emergency times to evolve mechanisms for better dialogue and communication among stakeholders.“NGOs have grass-roots presence and strong linkages with the communities, and can readily respond to the needs of the affected community,“ the guidelines say. The government also plans to take the help of NGOs to augment private sector engagement in post disaster situations in distributing relief assistance to the affected communities, which is proposed as part of their corporate social responsibility.
The ministry had in September last year issued notices to 10,331 NGOs asking why their licences should not be cancelled for not filing their returns. The ministry has also been at odds with Greenpeace and had directed the Reserve Bank of India to take prior permission of the ministry's FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) department before clearing any foreign aid to Greenpeace India from Greenpeace International or Climate Works.