If governments in the past have not been generally friendly to NGOs, the Modi government has been especially hostile to them. A large number of them lost their licences because of stricter rules and regulations in the last five years, and so were unable to access foreign funding. That choked most of them. Now, restrictions are being placed on access to domestic funding, too. States have been told to restrict operations of NGOs in areas where the central government is active and has primary responsibility. Recently, restrictions were placed on two NGOs — Save the Children and Sightsavers India. The first is the India chapter of a global child rights NGO of the same name, and the second is an NGO working in the country since 1966 to provide eye health services for blind and visually-impaired people. Both have been told to stop seeking donations from the public.
A few weeks ago, the Centre asked state governments to take action against Save the Children’s fund-raising drive for malnourished tribal children in India. It also told states to “expose the false information being spread by such NGOs” and “actively disseminate awareness” about the government's own nutrition schemes. Save the Children was told to take down an advertisement that showed a malnourished child, probably because it was thought to show the government in a poor light. Sighsavers India was told not to seek donations because the government thought that was “against the spirit” of the activities of the National Programme for Control for Blindness and Visual Impairment, which provides free services to visually-challenged persons. The government asked the NGO to explain why it had collected donations in the name of the blind and visually-impaired. But it did not explain if laws or regulations had been violated. After the government’s actions started, Save the Children toned down the content of its website and removed some sections on the status of child nutrition in India.
Save the Children has worked with the government in the area in which it is active. Visual impairment and associated problems are widespread in the county and there is the need and scope to go to the aid of people, especially the poor, suffering from them. To disallow such humanitarian assistance and to harass those who are trying to extend it is wrong and cruel. These and many other organisations that reach out to needy people have high reputations earned from genuine work over long periods. To tell them not to violate the spirit of the government’s work is a vague direction and would result in stopping them in their work. It’s the vulnerable people they serve that stand to lose.