Land of too many NGO: ‘Nagaland has one NGO for every 66 persons’

Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, May 4: There are 30,000 non-governmental organisations (NGO) in Nagaland—one for every 66 persons.

According to the 2011 Nagaland census, there is one NGO for every 66 persons, which means 545 NGO are being registered with the Nagaland govt. every year.

This startling detail was reported by the Indigenous Cultural Society’s Director Dr. Hesheto Chishi who is also the chairman of the Nagaland NGO Forum.

Chishi was addressing a Northeast Institute of Social Science and Research (NEISSR) programme, on Sat. May 4 at the Don Bosco in Dimapur. The programme discussed the NGO culture and the challenges to this curious aspect of the community in Nagaland.

The forum’s chairman pointed out: When these NGO are examined, ‘only’ 293 are registered with the government of India. Out of the 293, only about 40-50 of them are genuinely functioning.

In India alone, there are about six lakh NGO, Chishi remarked.
“According to the UN survey conducted in 1995, there are 29, 000 international NGOs and one should understand that NGOs are categorised (as) local, national and international,” he explained.

Chishi remarked that people in Nagaland have no clear picture about what an NGO is. It is important to differentiate between NGO and civil society ‘so that we are not confused with the concept of NGO and civil society.’

NGO, he said, has to assist the government to address issues. The purpose of the NGO may vary from one to the other.

“Some NGOs are relief/service oriented, religion or secular oriented and public and private oriented (sic). And there are two categories of NGO activities: lobbyist and activist. Lobbyist pursue the govt. to execute projects while the activist do not bother about funding but are more ministerial,” he asserted.

Further, NGO have an own categories of project management, diversity and participation. In diversity management, the NGO focus on empowering the employed from different communities while in the participatory aspect, they focus on ideas and concepts that help them to exercise their concerns or causes.

‘We need these two managements to deliver the services diligently,’ Chishi opined.
Chishi urged the participants to work together ‘if we love Nagaland.’