Note from Harsh Jaitli, CEO, VANI

From Partners for Development to Contractors for Development

Since the independence of the country, the voluntary organizations have contributed in the national building as being the partners with the government.  Almost two centuries of colonial rule had left social and economic fabric of India quite weak. The father of Nation, Mahatma Gandhi realized that only government and formal structures will not suffice the demand of the day, therefore he started the social movement along with other leaders of the country to initiate voluntary organizations. The activists and leaders of voluntary organizations contributed in re-building the nation by providing their services not only in the most remote and difficult areas but also worked hand in hand with marginalized to help them gaining their space. It was the period when India was in the lower end of the development chart of the world encountering the threat to health, food, communal harmony etc.  This was the period when voluntary sector became the partner of Indian Government in its journey for development.  Indian voluntary sector supported Indian government in its efforts of not only providing relief and basic services to marginalized but also helped government in re-defining its development goals. The models developed by voluntary organizations became base for many flagship projects of the Indian government.

But slowly things started getting changed, from the beginning of 21st century.  The overall financial health of Indian government improved, which eventually led to showing gate to many bilaterals and dictating terms to remaining donors. Many commercial consultancy firms started venturing into development sector. The concept of partnership changed to contractor ship for development. Today, there is no difference of tenderization for constructing roads than empowerment of marginalized.  Both tenders have same language and criteria.  Now the trends suggest that it is only numbers which matter and there is no recognition of contribution in social development. The wall between market and civil society is being getting blurred by commercialization of development.  Eventually, Voluntary sector is not only pushed to become contractors but also its contribution in providing socio-economic contribution in nation building is not recognized by government.

VANI INITIATIVES @ NOVEMBER, 2009

1. 19th – 20th November, 2009 -Regional Workshop on Good Governance, Chandigarh

Promotion of practices of good governance and management amongst voluntary organizations through standard setting and sensitization is one of the main priorities of Voluntary Action Network India (VANI). In order to take this further VANI along with its partner SOFOSH- Society for Social Health organised a two day Regional workshop in Chandigarh on 19th – 20th November covering the Northern Region States (Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh and Punjab). Read More...

2. 26th November, 2009 -Consultation on State and Direct tax Code held in Bhopal, MP

VANI in collaboration with Samarthan organized a day long discussion on the burning issues like new taxation code of Indian Government, status of state policy for voluntary sector and challenges and opportunities faced by sector in the state of Madhya Pradesh. 42 representatives from various voluntary organizations attended this meeting which was held on November 26, 2009.  The meeting started with Mr. Yogesh Kumar, Director of Samarthan (MP) highlighting the challenges faced by the sector in the state. Afterwards there was presentation by Mr. Avinash on the National Policy on Voluntary Sector adopted by Government of India in 2007. Read More...

3. Commonwealth Professional fellowship awarded to VANI Staff

Ms. Sakina Baker, Programme Manager, VANI was awarded the Commonwealth Professional Fellowship 2009. During this fellowship she was placed at Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), Edinburgh, Scotland. Her experience at SVCO was very fruitful and enriching and helped her gain insight into the processes used by the civil society organizations in a developed country. The main areas of learning were sustainability of voluntary organization in developed country, relationship with the Government, NGO governance and accountability, organizational development and national and international networking. As a VANI team member it was a very valuable opportunity to complete this fellowship and have a first hand experience in knowing how the third sector works in a developed country.

4. 27th – 28th November, 2009 –Meeting held in Goa on Importance of Building and sustaining Networks.

The Don Bosco Institutions want to build a national network under the name of Don Bosco Action India, to raise the issues, liaison, and advocate. Every year they organize national meet of Development Officers to review and strategize their work. This year the meet was organized in Goa and they requested VANI’s input on networking. Read More...

Coming up…..

• Executive Member meeting of VANI and ABHA in Patna, Bihar on 14th December, 09
  
  
• Regional workshop on good governance in Jaipur, Rajasthan on 22nd -23rd  December,09 [Download REGISTRATION FORM ]
  
• State level consultations in Uttarakhand , Gujarat and Chattisgarh in January 2010
  
  
• VANI’s Annual Convention in February 2010 [Download REGISTRATION FORM ]

Direct Tax Code – What others Say?

• Tax axe to chop charities too! religion and politics sheltered as taxman- Mukesh M. Patel(Advocate)
  
  
• Direct taxes code 2009- why go after charities and charitable institutes to improve revenues- T.N. Pandey (EX- Chairman, CBDT)  
  
  
• New tax regime for charitable trusts under direct tax code bill, 2009 by Nisha Bhandari
  
  
• Analysis of Direct tax code for NPOs by Manoj Fogla and Suresh Kejiriwal
  
  
• World Vision India on Direct Tax Code
  
  
• Have heart, Mr. Taxman by Business Line
  
  
• DTC: Hardly charitable to charities by the Economics times

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