NGOs
Civil Society News, New Delhi
Published: Jul. 20, 2020
The idea of having a Social Stock Exchange in India has been circulating since it was proposed by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech last year.
Dr R. Balasubramaniam has done a detailed report on the concerns and opportunities that emerge from a Social Stock Exchange. He is a physician by training and is the founder of GRAAM (Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement) (GRAAM) and of the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM).
The concept of a Social Stock Exchange (SSE) is very different. The essential difference is that companies on such an exchange don’t exist for the profits of any person. Instead their purpose is a larger social good. But the exchange plays a role similar to that of a stock market regulator. It gets entities listed, the investment, financial instruments validated whether it’s a debenture, an equity investment, or a debt instrument. The companies transparently disclose if they are making profits and the investor’s interest is also protected. While the investor can expect near market returns, the intent and primacy of the listed entity is social change and development.
the United Nations proposed the idea of the Social Stock Exchange Initiative (in 2009) where such disclosures would be mandated, and companies would get returns along with declaring the social good they were creating. So private gains began getting merged with the notion of social gains. Different companies have attempted this, essentially creating social enterprises whose primary terms of existence is to create social good and also ensure that the investor gets some fair returns.
There are close to 14 Social Stock Exchanges globally in several countries in different stages of evolution. Not a single one can be called fully functional and successful.
The ideal is if you can list, declare and trade. Let’s say you invest in the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement and we give you shares and a certain amount of dividends. Tomorrow say someone is interested in buying those shares from you. If they can do it then that’s a well- functioning stock exchange. It’s only in the Canadian Stock Exchange that a reasonable amount of trading is being transacted. Most of the other stock exchanges haven’t fully evolved to this stage.
NGOs are one of the largest employers in this country. Just because we don’t formally declare how many people, we employ we don’t get support. Everybody else, like small and medium enterprises get support. They are all seen as wealth creators. We are also wealth creators. You don’t monetize the social wealth that we create.
A huge number of people are getting laid off in the NGO sector. About 30 to 40 percent of NGOs will disappear next year because the entire financial spectrum is going to change. Let’s look at options of strengthening the sector because civil society is a very mature representation of democracy. It is not a threat to democracy. It is integral to our growth and evolution.
https://thewire.in/rights/who-loses-when-fcra-licences-get-cancelled
When 70 Indian start-ups laid off 17,000 employees (including 2,500 people at EdTech firm Byju’s) in the first six months of 2023, much newsprint and digital ink was devoted to analysing what it meant for the companies, their employees, the start-up ecosystem and the economy.
Compare this to the more than 100 nonprofits that have lost their FCRA in a seven-month period. Approximately 4,000 people at CARE, one of the larger global nonprofits operating in India, were reportedly rendered unemployed versus the 2,500 people at Byju’s.
And yet, there is no conversation on what this means for the economy – nonprofits contribute to 2% of the country’s GDP; on the viability of the nonprofits themselves; on the debilitating impact on their staff, most of whom are employed in the smaller towns and villages; and, above all, on the millions of vulnerable families that are now deprived of the critical services these organisations provide them.
Different kinds of work have come to a halt due to the FCRA cancellations. Efforts around child protection, immunisation, prevention of neonatal deaths, provision of health and nutrition facilities in schools and anganwadis, creating material for teacher training for early childhood learning, engaging with parents on their children’s schooling, providing skilling and livelihood opportunities for the young, enabling access to government entitlements – all of these have stopped in the regions where these nonprofits were operating. An estimated 4,000 to 8 lakh people per organisation no longer have access to the services provided by these nonprofits whose FCRA licences have been cancelled.
by Rajika Seth and Smarinita Shetty
16/08/2023
First FCRA, now think tank CPR loses its tax-exempt status https://indianexpress.com/article/india/first-fcra-now-think-tank-cpr-loses-its-tax-exempt-status-8779945/ Ritu Sarin July 6, 2023 The crux of the IT Department’s argument is that supporting litigation is not a charitable activity and, thus, CPR stands to lose its tax exemption.
Debilitating blow to an independent, highly regarded research institution that strikes at the core of its ability to function., says president; denies allegations, to appeal in ITAT.
The IT also claimed “discrepancies” in CPR’s tax filings to the tune of Rs 1.43 crore for the year 2017-2018 and Rs 81.45 lakh for the year 2021-2022. It alleged that the CPR “mixed up” funds received by it under provisions of the FCRA with its core funds. The IT also cited seven books the CPR had published and alleged that the think tank was “subsidizing” the authors but did not have any revenue from or hold ownership of the books. These grounds, listed in the show-cause notice received by the CPR on December 22, 2022 are the very same for which it has lost its IT exemption under Section 12A of the Income Tax Act.
2018 - Convocation, Gagan Sethi On Role Of Voluntary Organization https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQs2rqW7Np4 May 13, 2019
Gagan Bhai Sethi is a development educator, an organizational development expert and a gender trainer. As a founder of Janvikas, he has helped set up several strategic organizations such as Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan, Sahjeevan, Drishti and Centre for Social Justice to name a few. His professional expertise lies in human and institutional development training and design. In this video, during an India Fellow convocation ceremony, he talks about the transition of the voluntary organization into an NGO and the role of India Fellows in active citizenship.
Why Karnataka rejected the BJP https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/why-karnataka-rejected-the-bjp-8608512/ Janaki Nair . May 15, 2023 Win for Congress presents opportunity to rethink styles of political leadership, reimagine economic development, reinvent democratic norms
perhaps for the first time in the history of the state of Karnataka, civil society groups felt compelled to put aside their aversion to politics and pledge to turf out the party that was mutilating Karnataka’s historical legacies, whether in ensuring social justice (especially but not only under Devaraj Urs), decentralised democracy (especially but not only under Ramakrishna Hegde) or in ending the stranglehold of the dominant asset-owning classes over political representation. To many, the constant refrain of following the “UP model of governance” was a threat, not a promise.
In addition to the groups that had long worked in electoral matters (such as the Association for Democratic Rights), others sprang up. Bahutva Karnataka produced a set of “report cards” on the previous government, reminding voters of the extraordinary alacrity with which it passed legislation related to cattle slaughter and conversion, while openly “contracting” out its law and order functions to vigilante groups.
A movement called “Eddelu Karnataka” (Wake Up Karnataka) enjoined citizens to slough off their (political) slumber, and exercise forethought in the run-up to this election. EK drew on the moral authority of several well-known litterateurs, scholars and activists to set off a campaign blitz that reached deep into rural areas as much as cities. As a result, there was not a little borrowing of ideas and slogans of civil society groups by political parties.
The new government, which has raised expectations among a wide range of groups, can accept the new political consciousness of its people as an asset, and commit itself to new forms of accountability that no longer exist.