The
Economic Times: Sowmya Kidambi: Sunday, October 21, 2012.
As civil
society organisations and nascent political formations increasingly demand
transparency and accountability from the political establishment and executive,
it is ethically necessary that they develop institutional structures and
systems for their own transparency and accountability.
Amid this
widespread call for transparency there are many questions being raised about
public resources, their use and potential misuse by non-governmental
organisations (NGOs).
There have
always been legitimate questions about public accountability of NGOs to whom
welfare projects are commissioned by funding agencies and the government. Just
as civil society organisations have been demanding citizen monitoring systems
for government funds it is imperative that government funds allocated to NGOs
are also subjected to similar public scrutiny.
When
government outsources programme implementation to NGOs in an attempt to
privatise development efforts through public-private partnership (PPP) we must
ensure that these fall within the ambit of the RTI Act. Public auditing systems
should be developed so that the beneficiaries can monitor the use of funds
meant for them.
Transparency
of the NGO Sector
The prime
minister recently made a statement favouring exemption of PPPs from the purview
of the RTI law. In an era where PPPs are being increasingly promoted, including
in essential service delivery, it is a deliberate attempt to protect them from
mandatory transparency by legitimising unaccountability.
With over 200
centrally-sponsored social sector schemes and a similar number of state
schemes, the Planning Commission has stated often that many programmes have
failed because of poor design, lack of awareness among the beneficiaries,
corruption at various levels and lack of transparency and accountability measures.
In a bid to
increase efficiency in service delivery the thrust has been to involve NGOs to
implement welfare schemes. With NGOs playing a critical role in programme
implementation the important question is whether or not NGOs should be
subjected to similar public scrutiny and audit.
Limited
Scope of CAG Audit
The CAG's
power to audit accounts of bodies, including NGOs, receiving grants or loans
from the Central and state governments are limited to those substantially
financed by government. This covers entities receiving `25 lakh or more funding
during a financial year, where the amount is equal to at least 75% of the
expenditure of the entity. NGOs rarely receive funds of more than 75% of their
expenditure and often have other sources of funding, which effectively takes
them out of CAG's audit.
A proposal
from the CAG to the Government of India for a new Audit Act, providing for
expanded coverage of NGOs funded by government, PPPs etc is pending with the
government. The critical aspect is to bring all PPPs including NGOs through
which government programmes are being outsourced and implemented, directly
under the purview of the RTI Act. Failure to do so is an inherent obstacle to
ensuring transparency as well as public scrutiny. While some NGOs have taken up
the initiative of holding transparency forums and disclosing their expenditure,
many have shied away from disclosure. Sole reliance cannot be on reported
information by the NGO with no third party audit or verification to regulate or
monitor these institutions.
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