To: Department for International Development, 17 Forest Park, Bhubaneshwar 751001, Orissa, India [By e-mail To: dfid-bhubaneswar@dfid.gov.uk cc: r-sharp@dfid.gov.uk]
Dear Sir/Madam,
This has reference to your advertisements in Dharitri and The New Indian Express dated 17 August 2003 on "Expressions of Interest for Civil Society and Poverty Programme". It invites expressions of interest from Orissa-based Civil Society Organizations for developing partnerships with DFID inorder to help strengthen the capacity of poor people to articulate their needs and improve the policies that affect them. DFID wants to support advocacy, training, capacity-building and research initiatives for strengthening decentralised governance.
Decentralised governance is a lofty ideal and the Indian Government has already started taking adequate measures to ensure greater devolution of power. These actions are quite commendable and one can see the instances of the same through various programs trying to strengthen regional Institutions. See for instance the advertisements related to Science and Technology issued by the GoI in the above dailies. Several other Govt, initiatives can be also highlighted where the focus is shifting towards eliminating regional imbalances. DFID is nowhere close in matching up to these efforts made by the Govt. of India (GoI). By targeting poor states like Orissa, does DFID realize the damage it is doing to the people? Does it realize how it is taking away the freedom of our people by making them economically dependent on the DFID aid? Instead of making the people self-reliant it is making them highly dependent.
DFID's role in promoting organizations advocating "limited government" by seeking "economic, social, and cultural independence from the Indian state" may go against the people of our State. Recently I had seen a notice announcing a seminar on Liberty and Society initiated by one Centre for Civil Society at the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar. This organization was advocating on similar lines. It has been often observed that DFID reposes greater faith in the disbursement of funds through the NGOs and other private organizations.
May I know what standards are being used in ensuring greater transparency and accountability from the private sector? Does DFID uphold the same standards for the private organizations as it advocates for the Govt sector in matters related to the Freedom of Information? These are serious questions and cannot be ignored by agencies like DFID and World Bank.
It would be nice if you could respond to these concerns coming from an Orissan who is deeply interested in good governance in all sectors. For all you know, the Civil Society that you may be supporting might be stifling the genuine voice of dissent.
The Indian Democracy has allowed several watchdog Institutions to scrutinize the actions of Govt. functionaries. But do we have strong watchdog Institutions for private organziations? If so, are they doing their jobs properly? Under the liberalized regime, we have not been able to set-up effective regulatory bodies for checking the exploitative advances of the private sector. The poor consumers are the sufferers.
Has DFID ever thought of supporting Civil Societies to set-up regulatory bodies in the private sector? Be it Health, Education or Social Sector development (by NGOs) Orissa needs efficient and effective regulatory mechanisms to safeguard the interest of the common people. The central Government is trying hard to bring in these mechanisms. But, is DFID willing to take up this challenge?
Sincerely,
Kaushik Sahu
=========Your Advt. taken from the DFID Website is attached below===========
PS: This note is marked to a few other stakeholders of Orissa who are perhaps equally unhappy about certain standards being adopted by the partners of DFID in Orissa.
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