Seminar on Global Philanthropy and Social Change in India

The Centre for Global Philanthropy and New England International Donors convened a seminar in Boston on September 7, 2011 where Dr Rajesh Tandon (President, PRIA)was the keynote speaker. Nearly 20 philanthropists attended the two hour seminar where Dr Tandon presented the emerging realities of both growth and stagnation in India today. He emphasised how rapid economic growth had created a growing middle class, and opened new vistas of economic opportunities in the country. Yet, India continued to stagnate on Human Development Index despite increased public expenditure on basic social sectors. Poverty and exclusion had become entrenched in eastern and northern regions where most of the indigenous and scheduled caste families live. As a consequence, conflicts had increased, and violence had engulfed nearly 20 % of the districts in the country.

While more and more public resources were being applied to new social services in education, health, water and sanitation, the actual delivery of these services remained weak and ineffective. Archaic administrative machinery of the government, growing corruption in public bodies and officials and weak political leadership for modernizing India contributed to this serious malaise. At the heart of India’s current problematic are the deficits in democratic governance at all spheres of public institutions. Therefore, role of citizen actions and civil society is to ensure greater transparency, accountability and speedy reforms of the governments’ machinery. Such civil society roles need to be funded urgently in India. It is here that international philanthropy can make an important contribution at this juncture. Official Development assistance has moved away from India now as it is deemed to have developed; international NGOs dependent on bilateral funds have no more programmes for NGOs in India; Indian government’s funds for NGOs are mostly meant for delivery of services.

Dr Tandon therefore underscored the urgent need for national and international philanthropy to support civil society initiatives for reforming democratic governance in India today.