By Fabian Lyngdoh
Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) are supposed to ease societal problems, not to create them. In democratically developed societies, NGOs supplement the works of the government in providing the required services to the people in the society. Besides the NGOs, there are pressure groups of various kinds with definite objectives to serve their own interests as individuals or as a group. In India, or let us take particularly, Meghalaya, there are very few NGOs in the real sense of the term. The various so called NGOs we have now are nothing but pressure groups only. But the strange thing about these pressure groups is that they have no specific objectives on which to put on their pressure. So it happens that every time a certain social issue arises, all join together in what is usually call a Joint Action Committee. Even those organisations with objectives not relevant with the issue also plung into the common pool. Some time, even constitutional institutions like the Autonomous District Council feel the urge of popular attraction to enter into the fray beyond constitutional mandate. Why this is happening so?
I had the opportunity to be the founder general secretary of an organisation called the Confederation of Ri Bhoi People (CORP) for four years, and then as its chief adviser for some other years before resigning. I had also the opportunity to be the chief adviser of the Ri Bhoi Youth Federation (RBYF) for a number of years. Experience has shown that these kinds of organisations exist not because of the objectives they are supposed to achieve but because of the persistent disorder in the society. The present political system that governs us is not perfectly just. Indeed there has never been any perfectly just political system anywhere in the world throughout human history. The agenda of discussion in the meetings of most of these so called NGOs do not concern their aims and objectives but with the disorder in the society: Some minister is involved in a fishy land deal amounting to crores of rupees. A certain MLA and officers are planning to siphon a huge amount of money from a certain supplier or contractor; there is something fishy in the Public Distribution System and the chakki mills etc., the list is endless. Let us be aware that the leaders of these organisations are well informed of every fishy deal in every department of the government as nothing can be hidden from their hawk’s eyes. So what these organisations are demanding is not justice to the people or to stop corruption, but they are demanding for their share in the spoils. Of course everyone who knows of the robbery should get his share to keep his mouth shut.
Fed up with this kind of functioning which is purposeless, a group of responsible and enlightened people formed an organisation called, “Sohpetbneng Development Council” [SDC] for which I happened to be its president. We worked for a number of years in voluntary spirit and sometimes we had to spend from our own personal income and we achieved quite a lot in our objectives and earned heavenly approbation from the ministers and officers. But when it came to providing financial assistance to the organisation or economic opportunity to our members we were not qualified because we were not terrifying or intimidating enough to scare the minister or officer to shiver in fright. This is how a well-intentioned NGO with definite objectives may turn into a pressure group against the government for better or for worse, or how a group of humble and gentle sheep expecting the shepherd to lead them to a grassy field by the stream, may turn into deadly hell hounds. So that is the social environment we are living in now. The whole society right from the rulers down to the hot headed youth in the village are in search of Solomon’s mine. It doesn’t matter whether Solomon hid his treasure under Sheba’s breasts or in her womb, only the rulers and the leaders of the pressure groups know while the general simple folks’ treasures lie in their own vegetable farms and paddy fields. So how can we question the activities of the NGOs when the issue is inseparably linked with the activities of the government? The meaning of the ‘government’ here means any government under any party or under any leader it would all be the same because the fault lies not with a single individual but with the system itself.
All thinkers agree that India, or Meghalaya shall be ruined because of economic corruption. I am not intending here to talk about moral corruption which is worse and which we are all involved in more than in economic corruption. Moral corruption is a phenomenon occurring in the whole world not only in India or Meghalaya. The result of all these kinds of corruptions reflects in the daily events in the country. So the ILP issue or influx issue or tenancy bill issue only provides a situational forum of the game because all these issues are not new but of a hibernating eternal grudge. Some thinkers suggest this or that mechanism to solve the issue or at least to end the stalemate, but I would frankly say that there is no mechanism to end this issue until the shares of the spoils are settled or the elections are over. Then the issue would go again into hibernation. There is a peculiar fact about these organisations (mostly unregistered) and that is, during the time of peace and tranquillity when the gentle breeze blows over these undulating hills they become no more the troublesome pressure groups, but legitimate NGOs whose cooperation the Government (humbly) appeals for implementing various schemes, projects or missions at the grass roots and pours in money into their hands either to earnestly implement the schemes, or to cover up big scams behind the veil. These organisations in the garb of NGOs are well employed by various departments of the Government during peace times and they do perform well either in the actual implementation of the schemes, or knowingly or unknowingly in covering up various scams in the Government departments. So in times of trouble, these same NGOs in the garb of pressure groups react against the Government for reasons best known to them, for they do not need an R.T.I detail report about what are the fishy things occurring all around especially when various political parties are involved.
The problems we are facing in Meghalaya are not local but reflect the national scenario. To stop the problem is to stop corruptions committed by the guardians of the law. If there is corruption by the rulers, the thugs among the ruled would always demand their share. There is a maxim in the society about robbery which says that, “Lakhs at gun point but crores at pen point”. So those who are in authority who hold the pen to sign the files be aware that it is you who cause the havoc in the society if you have a share in the spoils at pen point. The financial mantra of these organisations is, “money is nothing, just talk and get it”. The whole problem is caused by so much black money floating in the air. While sitting at my table writing this article I can see while closing my eyes a lot of black money is floating in the air, but fortunately or unfortunately the majority of us are neither in the position nor in the mood to grasp that floating gold. The social system under which we are living is not perfectly sound and people have to learn to live in an imperfect system and to be ready to expect anything because as I said earlier individual freedom and risk go together. The facts expressed here may seem another round of rhetoric to the scientific ears. But this writer believes that some amount of rhetoric and even poetry are necessary to make the people understand what is happening around in a society in which ninety percent of the population (including thousands of graduates) have not even heard of the words “logic” or “rationality”, and at the same time to smoothen the edges of those who may think that truth can be arrived at only through rational thinking.
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