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DOWN TO EARTH: The global Quango connection

Sharad Joshi

ON THE threshold of the new millennium, two events took place at opposite ends of the globe that might have a message for the coming century if not the millennium. On December 4, 1999, Khedut Samaj _ the non-political farmers organisation in Gujarat _ ha d planned a symbolic kar seva. It intended to transfer waters from the Sardar Sarovar behind the Narmada dam through human chains to the main canal going towards the drought-affected areas of North Gujarat, Saurashtra, Kutch and Rajasthan. The purpose wa s to draw the attention of the public and the Government to the calamitous drought situation in those areas.

The international community of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), led by Ms. Medha Patkar's Narmada Bachao Andolan, was seriously perturbed. It feared that the massive gathering of the kar sevaks _ mainly farmers from various States _ would awaken th e world to the fact that large masses of poor peasants supported the early completion of the Narmada Dam and, thus, give the lie to the myth propagated over the years that the NBA was their only champion.

It spread the canard that the kar seva was a drama sponsored and supported by the Gujarat Government. In fact, the State Government went all out to suppress the kar seva in a manner that gladdened the NGOs. It refused all logistics support and even decli ned to make arrangements for civic amenities such as drinking water, sanitation and lighting for the over one lakh kar sevaks expected to participate.

The Government went further and gave the whole of the State the look of an occupied territory by widely deploying its police forces. Farmers leaving their villages for the kar seva were stopped, detained, and even beaten to discourage them from assemblin g at the Kevadia Dam site.

Further, the State Government opened the dam's lower gates and drained the waters of the Sardar Sarovar into the sea to prevent the kar sevaks from drawing water. In contrast, pilgrims at Mount Girnar could quench their thirst for Rs. 8 a cup. About a hu ndred kar sevaks succeeded, nevertheless, in escaping the police's dragnet and reached the site of the dam. But the Government had made sure that the kar seva would not take place. It looked as if the Chief Minister was working overtime to gladden the he arts of NBA activists.

At the other end of the globe, the heroine of NBA and her colleagues were participating in a demonstration outside the venue of the Seattle round of the WTO ministerial meet. A crowd of about 40,000, comprising NGO activists of all hues _ Luddites, envir onmentalists, protectionists, shrimp producers and labour leaders concerned about rising unemployment and declining wages in the rich countries _ forced the abandonment of the proceedings. The activists came dressed variously _ as turtles, elephants and tigers; the fancy-dress party made such a din that the Seattle meeting could not even commence.

The demonstrators had one thing in common. They were all opposed to free trade. Their common conviction was that freedom of choice is unhealthy for the consumer. The US President, Mr. Bill Clinton, came out openly in support of the demonstrators. It was clear that the anti-WTO lobby, fearing that it could not control the deliberations of the Seattle round, was trying to use the NGOs against liberalisation to break the talks.

While the Gujarat Government helps NGOs by coming down heavily on a genuine mass demonstration by the peasantry, the governments of the rich countries were trying to wriggle out of their commitment to the liberalisation of international trade by using th eir heavily-funded stables of NGOs. The two events mark a joining of hands by the state and the anti-liberal NGOs.

Initially, the NGOs were manned by genuine and sincere people who wanted to promote education, health and development in other social areas where the state was not really effective. They raised their own funds and resources. The NGOs of today are sponsor ed by people with little competence in their chosen field and they command little mass support.

An NGO activist requires only one basic qualification _ the ability to walk the corridors of power and manipulate national and international funding agencies. Devotion and dedication to the cause are a thing of the past. NGO officials draw salaries and p erks that compare favourably with those in the administrative services. They even get to wear the halo of self-sacrifice.

The World Bank and other organisations of bilateral and multilateral assistance insist on NGOs being associated with the implementation of their projects. In the 1970s, NGO representatives were allowed to sit in on the deliberating sessions of the UN's s pecialised institutions. Today, they have become the principal players through whom the delegates of national governments try to operate.

Project designs are manipulated to suit the conveniences of NGOs. For, very often, they coincide with the interests of the political leaders and the bureaucrats. The Narmada Dam issue, for instance, remains in a limbo because the bureaucracy and the NBA conspired to evolve a package of resettlement in kind rather than compensation in cash. The proposal was gladly accepted by the government because it provided immense scope for corruption in the purchase and allocation of land. The net result is that the political leaders and the government officers have made a lot of money while the oustees are unhappy about the substitute land they got.

The NGO-government axis can be explained by various factors. NGOs provide the social conscience to governments putting through liberalisation programmes. More important, the NGOs are increasingly providing, to use the expression from Yes, Minister, Quang os (quasi autonomous NGOs). These Quangos provide politicians and bureaucrats ample opportunities for lucrative employment for their kith and kin. They are also a tempting prospect for post-retirement jobs. Kevadia and Seattle indicate a global Quango-co nnection.

(The author is founder-president, Shetkari Sanghatana.)