EXPLORING THE NON PROFIT SECTOR IN INDIA
SOME GLIMPSES FROM TAMIL NADU
Prepared by PRIA & Anjaneya Associates in Collaboration with the Center for Civil Society Studies, Johns Hopkins University, USA
October 2002 Working Paper Number 4
Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) 42, Tughlakabad Institutional Area New Delhi - 110 062 Phone : (91-011) 608 1908, 608 8508, 606 0931/32/33 Fax : (91-011) 608 0183 Email : [email protected] Website : www.pria.org
49 C O N T E N T S
Preface ii - iii An Executive Summary iv
I. The Context 1 - 2 II. Socio-Economic and Political Scenario of Tamil Nadu 3 - 5 III. Historical Evolution 6 - 11 IV The Legal Framework 12 - 15 V. The Survey Instruments 16 - 24 VI. The Key Findings 25 - 41 VII. Some Suggestions for Future Surveys 42
Annex I 43 - 44 Annex II 45 References 46
Members of The Advisory Committee 47
PRIA Research Team 48 HOPKINS Core Team 48
50 PREFACE
The Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) has been engaged, for some time now, in a rather voluminous exercise on mapping the nonprofit sector in India. The exercise aims to generate systematically as much of the information as feasible about the sector including the size, scope, areas of interest, sources of revenue, expenditure patterns, etc. The study, being carried out at the behest of the Center for Civil Society Studies (CCSS) at the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in the United States, would help in developing a better understanding of the role these organisations play in social and economic development process of the country. A series of working papers are being prepared, under the overall guidance of an Advisory Committee, for wider dissemination of the project output. The present paper is the fourth the series.
During the first year of the project, the PRIA research team had undertaken an exhaustive review of the second- ary sources of data, which included an examination of the employment data generated by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), the national accounts statistics, and the Economic Census; the latter two brought out by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO). It was found that the official statistics system had, de - facto, not recognized, at least till 1998, the non-profit sector as a separately identifiable entity. Sporadic attempts to collect information on the sector were utterly inadequate, since the term ‘non - profit’ had not been even defined in some cases. Indirect estimates of the number of such institutions and employment there - in could perhaps be made, but their authenticity would be any body’s guess, since the estimates will have to be based on several assumptions. More importantly, even such an exercise could not give clue on a large number of parameters of serious interest to the sector’s planning needs such as the size of the informal sector and activities of groups engaged in sub-sectors e.g. community services and environment. In this background, the question of collecting primary data through sample surveys could not be eschewed.
The organisational surveys of non - profit institutions have never been attempted before in India. There- fore, the work is truly pioneering. As it happens with all the pioneering efforts, there is bound to be scope for improvements in the approach and the methodologies used for implementing the adopted approach. It is common knowledge that the NGO leaders as well as the government planners make statements on various dimensions of the sector and the sector’s capabilities based on their perceptions. The reason for this is not difficult to comprehend; there is utter lack of scientifically developed literature on the subject. It is hoped that the present report is considered as providing more authentic information than available hitherto, which can honestly be treated as benchmark estimates in various debates.
We are grateful to the Institute for Policy Studies, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, for inviting PRIA to undertake the Study in India. We gratefully acknowledge continuous guidance of the core project team at the JHU and that of the Indian Advisory Committee. ii 51 The overall leadership to the study has been ably provided by Dr. S. S. Srivastava, Principal Researcher.
The pilot survey and the fieldwork for the main survey (s) were organised by the Anjaneya Associates, a Chennai based organisation, who also undertook data entry, tabulations & analyses with the assistance of M / S Shreyas Systems based in Chennai. The first draft of this Working Paper was prepared by Dr. M. Padmanabhan and Mr. N. M. Swamy, which was extensively gone into by Dr. Srivastava.
The JHU, the Ford Foundation (New Delhi), the Aga Khan Foundation and the Action Aid have sup- ported the Study. Sir Ratan Tata Trust has supported this publication.
Dr. Rajesh Tandon President, PRIA October 2002
iii 52 AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
To sum up, the overall picture of the NPO sector in Tamil Nadu which emerges from the survey, is one of voluntary efforts encompassing l Approximately 88,689 organisations; l Manpower engaged of the order of 15 lakh (1.5 million) persons, out of which 10.73 lakhs were working as volunteers. The finding that the sector is dependent on such high number of volun- teers is one of the more important findings of the survey; l The total manpower engaged in the sector is equivalent to full time employment of 6.40 lakhs, which is about 4.3% of total non-agricultural employment in the State; l Annual receipts of the order of Rs.2056 crores (Rs. 20.56 billions); l Annual receipts from foreign sources of the order of Rs.270 crores (Rs.2.70 billions); · The main areas of activities of the societies are Community Services, health, and education and ‘others’. They accounted for over 80% of the societies in 1999 – 2000. A large number of societies registered during the last two decades were local associations of residents, traders, coolie workers and the like serving the interests of small groups of persons. · The chances of a society ceasing to function in the first five years are 20%, which indicates that the infant mortality rate is rather high.
The sector is sizeable by any reckoning. It would be even bigger if account is taken of government-sponsored non-profit institutions, which are excluded from purview of the definition of an NPO adopted in this report.
The sector is wide, complex and heterogeneous. The activities of NPOs cover a wide range, from education to sports. A special feature of the survey was that it attempted to capture the non-formal segment of the sector, which turned out to be very large and mostly dependent on the volunteer force. The Survey throws out the concept that structurally the NPO sector may be conceived of consisting of three segments –
- A ‘large’ segment of non-formal units, - Another ‘large’ segment of formal (registered) units and - A ‘small’ segment of very large units, both registered and non-registered.
It is this last segment, which contributes almost the entire paid employment, receipts and expenditure of the sector. Although the major contribution to the economy will come from the large well established units, the other two segments are important in that they help to inculcate the spirit of voluntarism among small groups of persons at the grass root level all over the State. iv 53 EXPLORING THE NON PROFIT SECTOR IN INDIA Some Glimpses from Tamil Nadu
I. THE CONTEXT
Social organizations operating outside the confines of the market and the State play a significant role in social and economic development. These institutions are known variously as Voluntary Organizations, Community Based organizations, Voluntary Development Organizations, Non-Government Organizations, Self-help Groups, etc., depending on the area of activities they are involved in. The number of such organizations has grown steeply in the post independence era and the range of activities they cover encompasses almost all aspects of economic and social concerns of the communities at large. Despite their growing numbers and importance, these institutions remain dimly understood, making it difficult to determine what their capabilities actually are and how exactly can they share the output of major players in the economy. A similar phenomenon is being witnessed almost across the globe.
In response to the above concerns, the Johns Hopkins University launched (JHU), back in 1990, a Comparative Non – Profit Sector project (CNPS) designed to delineate the definitional boundaries of the sector and to develop systematically as much of the information base about the sector as was feasible. The project was aimed at providing information, which would help gain understanding into the role that these organizations play in social and economic development processes of various countries. Initially, the project was undertaken in eight countries viz. France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the UK and the USA. The geographical coverage of the project was being ever enlarged by progressively bringing within its fold as many countries as possible. By the year 1995, some 22 counties had been brought within the ambit of the project. India joined the project in late 1998.
Broadly, the project had two parts, an empirical part envisaging building up statistical base for gauging the key dimensions of the sector and a non – empirical part envisaging an understanding of the interplay between different stakeholders, discussions on how to evolve policies for the sector and related questions. For the empirical part of the study, secondary sources of data were examined at length in the first instance. Important macro – economic data series, generated by the Official Statistics system of the country, comprise annual surveys of employment and unemployment conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) and Economic Census undertaken periodically by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO). Both these data series contain information on non-agricultural employment and its break up by major economic activities. The latter data also give the corresponding number of enterprises and establishments. What can be learnt from the analyses of these data have been summarized in the paper ‘Defining the Sector in India’ (PRIA, 2000).
Essentially, secondary sources did not seem to contain information of relevance to a study of non-profit sector in India. In fact, the official statistics have never attempted to collect information on the sector. Even re-analyses of the existing data could not throw any light what so ever on several important parameters of concern to policy planning issues. For example, quantum or extent of volunteerism in the society, scope and coverage of the non-formal institutions, type & kind of movements undertaken by the sector from time to time, etc., are areas where the official statistics is unable to throw any light. However, the government machinery has, of late, started addressing the issue. In this background, it was considered necessary to collect primary data through statistically designed sample surveys. The objective of the JHU CNPS was to build up all-India estimates for which the country could have been considered as a single large entity from which a random sample of primary units could be drawn and a survey conducted. However, in the Indian context, States are important administrative units for governance of the country. Moreover, there are wide inter-state disparities in socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Therefore, any study, which can not document inter-state variations, can not be of much use to the Indian academicians, civil society activists and government policy makers. On the other hand, it was simply impossible for an organization like PRIA to conduct sample surveys in all the States of India. On balance of considerations, it was decided to choose One State each from all the Four Corners of the country and also a State, which had peculiar population characteristics. Accordingly, the surveys were organized in five States of India viz. West Bengal, Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Meghalaya. The first four States are representative of the Four regions of the country and Meghalaya is a relatively small State with mountainous terrain and with significantly different religious and ethnic composition of its population.
A statistically designed sample survey of the magnitude of the present exercise has never been attempted before outside the governmental and the corporate sectors. Further more, no agency, government or non-government, has ever undertaken a survey covering solely the non-profit sector. In this sense, the exercise undertaken by PRIA is truly pioneering in nature, content and context. All survey instruments were developed based on the guidelines issued by the JHU and keeping in view the methodologies adopted by the NSSO for generating primary information in the socio-economic sector. Pilot surveys to test the concepts, definitions, and the schedules of inquiry were conducted, in the year 2000, in four districts of Uttar Pradesh and two districts of Tamil Nadu. Based on the experience of these pilot surveys, the approach to the main survey and its instruments were given a final shape.
This Working Paper summarizes the findings of the survey of non-profit organizations in the State of Tamil Nadu. The survey in the State was conducted in the year 2001, reference period being the year 2000 (1999 - 2000 for some variables).
2 EXPLORING THE NON PROFIT SECTOR IN INDIA Some Glimpses from Tamil Nadu
II. SOCIO – ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL SCENARIO IN TAMIL NADU
Located in the south - eastern corner of the country, Tamil Nadu is considered a relatively advanced State of India from many angles - demographic, economic, social and cultural. Despite being not richly endowed with natural resources, it has the fifth largest economy for any State in the country. This is because its human resources are relatively better developed.
According to provisional data of the 2001 Census of India, the population of the State was 62.11 millions, accounting for 6% of the country’s population. Of them, 31.27 millions were males and 30.84 millions females. The resulting sex ratio of 986 is not as against the female population of the State as is the case with the national average. The population density of 478 persons per square kilometer in the State is nearly one and a half times the national density. The rate of growth of population in Tamil Nadu has been brought down steeply to about half of that for India as a whole - 11.19% as compared to 21.34% over the decade 1991 - 2001. This remarkable control of population growth is attributable to the strenuous efforts of the government administration as well as of non-governmental organizations in spreading knowledge on advantages of a small family and in getting the idea accepted by the people.
The economy of Tamil Nadu is fairly well developed and diversified. The average growth rate has been consistently above the national rate. The per capita state domestic product in 1999-2000 has been estimated at Rs. 12,314, which was 20% higher than the per capita national income of Rs. 10,321. The composition of the state domestic product shows that the contribution of agriculture and allied activities was 24%, industry 28% and services 48%. Agriculture is the mainstay of the population providing employment to nearly two-thirds of the work force. Dry farming conditions prevail in about half the land holdings, which are fragmented in nature and sub-marginal in size. Even so, agricultural sector has recorded progress due to increased exploitation of ground water for irrigation and deployment of seed – fertilizer technology for crop production. The main food crops grown are rice, pulses and oilseeds; sugarcane, cotton and tea are among the cash crops grown; major forest products include timber, sandalwood, pulpwood and fuel wood.
In industry, Tamil Nadu occupies an important place among the States in terms of the number of factories and value of output. Major industries of the State include textiles, leather, chemicals, automobiles and ancillaries. The industrial sector is witnessing significant changes following the policy of liberalization and globalization introduced in 1991. Foreign investors have shown interest to invest in the State, particularly in information technology and automobiles.
3 Tamil Nadu is an important exporter of tanned skins, hides, leather goods, cotton yarn, textiles, engineering goods, tea and coffee.
Judged by indicators of social development too, the State stands in a better position. According to the 2001 Population Census, the literacy rate was 73.5%, a full 8 percentage points above the national literacy rate. The difference is even larger at 10 percentage points in female literacy rate. The State has the second lowest birth rate and the fourth lowest infant mortality rate. Tamil Nadu is becoming well known for its institutions of higher learning and multi-speciality hospitals.
Tamil Nadu is the abode of an ancient civilisation. It is estimated that a full-fledged Mesolithic type of culture existed around 4000 B.C. The main language of the State is Tamil, which is one of the oldest languages of the world with a long literary tradition. The towering temples that dot the land, the Tamil and Carnatic systems of music and the Bharathanatyam style of dance bear testimony to the high cultural standards of the Tamils.
Beginning the second half of the nineteenth century, there has been an organised effort among the Tamils to revitalise the Tamil language and culture, introduce social reform and attain political autonomy. These activities, labelled the Dravidian movement, have been directed against the Brahminical priesthood and the varna hierarchy. In 1926, Periyar E.V.Ramaswamy Naicker started the Self-respect Movement to give pride and dignity to non-brahmin youth. In 1944, the Dravida Kazhagam (D.K.) came into existence and in 1949 C.N. Annadurai formed the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (D.M.K.). Despite all efforts at reform, the caste system and its associative discriminatory practices are still fairly strong in Tamil Nadu.
An important medium of the Dravidian movement was the Tamil cinema. In fact, even today, cinema and politics hold great sway over the masses, one reinforcing the influence of the other. Tamil Nadu was the first State in India to come under the rule of a regional party, when the DMK won the elections of 1967. Since then, the State politics has been dominated by the two dravidian parties, the DMK and the AIDMK. The latter is an offshoot of the DMK and was formed by M.G. Ramachandran, a matinee-idol, who broke away from the DMK. The differences between the two parties are more due to the personal animosities of their leaders rather than due to any ideology. These two parties have been forming the government almost alternately, each party winning one election with a landslide majority and losing the next one equally disastrously. The national parties like the Congress and the B.J.P. have to ally themselves with one of the two parties to record their presence in the legislature. There is no patterns for forging alliances, it being a free walk for the national as well as the numerous State level parties. Splitting of political parties due to personal ambitions of individual leaders is a common
4 feature in the State, as is the case in other parts of the country. A recent trend in the political scenario is the formation of caste-based parties.
For administrative purposes, the State is divided into 30 units called the districts. In 1991, there were only 21 districts and the increase in their number since then is due to the division of larger districts into two or more during the intervening period. Chennai, the capital of the State, is a purely urban district, while all the others have rural and urban areas. Although there are differences among the districts in the level socio-economic development, the gap among them cannot be considered as too yawning.
5 EXPLORING THE NON PROFIT SECTOR IN INDIA Some Glimpses from Tamil Nadu
III. HISTORICAL EVOLUTION
Although the term ‘Non Profit Organization’ (NPO) is relatively new in the Indian context, the sector is closely inter-linked with voluntary action, roots of which can be traced to philanthropy and religious obligations enjoined on individuals to help the needy. The ancient Indian dictum ‘Paropakarartham Idam Shareeram’ (This body is for the service of others) encapsulates the basic ideology of an NPO. An NPO is essentially a human change agent and is different from business in as much as that it does not supply goods and services and is also different from government since it does not control. What it does is to change human beings. “Its product is a changed human being – a cured patient, a child that learns, a young man or woman grown into a self-respecting adult” (Drucker, 1992). Religious injunctions and codes of social conduct enjoining the citizens to care for the weak and the needy have been the inspiration for the origin and growth of NPOs in the country over millennia. Voluntary action, charitable initiative and non-governmental organization (NGO) are some of the names by which non-profit organizations are known.
The history of nonprofit organizations in India is usually considered in four phases – the pre-colonial phase (1500 BC to late eighteenth century AD), the colonial phase (late eighteenth century to 1947), the post-independence phase up to the Emergency (1947 – 1975) and the post-Emergency phase (PRIA, 2001). Such a classification is applicable to Tamil Nadu too.
Pre-colonial Phase
In ancient India, although the responsibility for welfare activities and social services rested largely with the king and the religious institutions, social organizations of the people also played a role. These organizations performed a wide range of activities. There is historical evidence to show that in the Chola kingdom of Tamil Nadu, village and district councils functioned with considerable autonomy over local matters. The system of panchayat, an assembly of village elders, who arbitered on local disputes and whose ruling was accepted by all concerned, is a social organization, which continues to the present day. Social organizations were active in normal-time socio-economic matters and also in crisis situations like floods, drought, fire and foreign invasion. They played important roles in the preservation and propagation of musical, dance and drama traditions of the land. In literature, the Tamil Sangam, an assembly of poets, acted as a watchdog for the maintenance of literary standards. Associations and guilds of professionals like architects, artisans and workers also existed in the pre-colonial phase.
6 Colonial Phase
Even before the start of the next phase, India came under the Muslim rule, which was followed by the British rule. Consequently, religious and social values of Islam and Christianity got introduced in institutions involved in charity, philanthropy and volunteerism. The Christian missions, with the support of the colonial administration, started doing social work in rural and tribal areas. Partly in response to such efforts, Indian organizations such as the Ramakrishna Mission were formed, which undertook voluntary work (Vijay Mahajan, 2000). Even, some Indians with western education, like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, were able to appreciate the shortcomings of the then Indian society. They began to advocate reforms in social, religious, educational and political arena, which became new areas for voluntary work. In Tamil Nadu, an important reform movement was the Samarasa Sanmarga Sangam established by Ramalinga Swamigal, an ascetic, who campaigned against the practice of animal sacrifice and social inequalities. The Ramakrishna Mission established institutions in various parts of the State for carrying out a wide variety of activities ranging from service to the poor to education and health.
The colonial period also saw some standardization in the style of functioning of the social organizations. The passing of the Societies Registration Act in 1860 provided certain common guidelines for the establishment and running of the registered societies. Again, the foreign missions introduced management systems for running hospitals, schools and colleges and these were adopted by others.
Another major influence on the NPO sector during the colonial phase was the freedom movement. After Mahatma Gandhi assumed leadership of the movement, he initiated programmes for alleviation of suffering and social and economic development of the deprived sections of the society. The constructive programme, which he formulated for the purpose, covered a wide range of issues like promotion of khadi and village industries, eradication of untouchability, prohibition, emancipation of women and promotion of communal harmony. To promote the programme, many Gandhian organizations were formed in all parts of the country. In Tamil Nadu, the programme was implemented with great enthusiasm under the leadership of Rajaji and other leaders. Gandhiji’s established various activities around interested individuals, some of whom eventually established organizations such as the Harijan Sewak Sangh, the Hindustani Talimi Sangh and the All India Spinners Association. These organizations constituted the beginning of indigenous voluntary action in India (Vijay Mahajan, 2000).
Post-independence Phase (up to the emergency)
An important feature of this phase, covering the years from 1947 to 1975, was launching, in 1951, of the economic planning process by the government, which resulted in the State
7 taking a leading role in all development matters. A number of development NGOs sprung up during this period. Some of the institutions inspired by Gandhiji, such as Harijan Sewak Sangh, began receiving government grants, while others became formal organs of the government such as the Khadi and Village Industries Commission and its State level counterparts (Vijay Mahajan, 2000). The development also spelled out some kind of relationship between the government and the voluntary sector. A number of other State institutions like the Central Social Welfare Board and Sangeet Natak Akademi were also set up during this period.
During this phase, the older organizations like the Christian missions and the Ramakrishna Mission continued and even expanded their activities. A landmark event of this phase was the establishment of the Missionary of Charities by Mother Teresa, an institution which is doing yeomen service to the poor and the neglected all over the country. Some Gandhians, who resisted institutionalization, initiated individual voluntary action. Acharya Vinoba Bhave, who set up Bhoodan movement in 1954, was leading among them. Another such movement was Sarvodaya movement, for commissioning constructive work. Sarvodaya organizations in Tamil Nadu are still quite active. There was a sort of upsurge of such voluntary activities during this period.
By mid-seventies, the powerful system of political and economic administration erected in the country after Independence had come under attack. Its failure to tackle in any significant manner the pressing problems of the country like poverty, unemployment, deprivation and corruption led to disillusionment among the people, particularly the youth. The public anger manifested in many forms, one of which was the Total Revolution Movement of Jaya Prakash Narain. Unable to face the fury of public disenchantment, the government imposed a State of Emergency in 1975, under which the fundamental rights of the citizen were suspended and all political activities banned. The working of the NGO sector was also affected. The rigours of the Emergency were felt in Tamil Nadu, where an opposition party, the DMK, was in power. However, the Emergency ended in 1977, when fresh elections brought to power a new party consisting of its opponents.
Post-emergency Phase
Significant changes marked the functioning of the non- profit sector in the post-Emergency phase. First, a new relationship between the State and the NPO sector emerged. The Seventh Five-year Plan recognized the potential role of the voluntary sector in the development process and began associating it in implementation of various rural development, poverty alleviation, adult literacy, health, housing and other programmes. Over the years, this pattern of relationship tended to become complementary. It provided the government with grass root level agencies,
8 whose services were necessary for implementing the programmes all over a country as large as India. Many new NGOs came up to take advantage of this relationship and function with financial assistance provided by the government. In the mid-nineties, there were more than 600 NGOs all over the country registered with the Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB), about 900 with the Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) and over 4,750 institutions with the Khadi and Village Industries Commission. In Tamil Nadu alone, there were 230 NGOs registered with CAPART. Thus, ‘development’ became a new area of NPO activity as distinct from ‘social service’ of the earlier phases.
Second, foreign agencies began to show interest in financing social activities in the country. The foreign sources consisted mainly of bilateral and international agencies like the Ford Foundation and Oxfam and private individuals, corporations, foundations, religious and charity organizations. With an increasing number of Indians working abroad and earning attractive incomes, there has been a larger inflow of funds from them to welfare activities in India. They consider such contributions as an expression of their love and gratitude to their parent country. Another important source is the foreign religious and charity organizations, which are interested in reducing human suffering all over the world.
Third, the frightful experience of the country with the Emergency led to a need to protect the democratic ideal. Non-government activity spread to many new areas. These include civil rights, consumer interest, environmental protection, removal of illiteracy, AIDS awareness, etc. In Tamil Nadu, they took the form of organized protests against police atrocities, employment of child labour, particularly in hazardous industries like the match industry, female foeticide, illegal quarrying of stones and digging of sand in riverbeds, letting industrial pollution into rivers, aquaculture, and similar activities inimical to common interests.
Fourth, a number of trusts and religious institutions began to start medical, engineering and other institutions of higher learning and also multi-specialty hospitals. Among these may be mentioned the Sathya Sai Trust, the Adi Parasakthi Peedam and the Mata Amritanandamayi Trust. Many private professional colleges are run by Charitable Trusts.
Fifth, there has been a trend in the last decade or two for small groups of persons to come together and form associations or societies to serve their common interests. Such associations can be of residents of a small locality or of even an apartment building; of persons belonging to same occupation such as auto rickshaw drivers; of professionals such as lawyers; of youth such as cricket clubs; of persons organizing religious functions in a small area and the like. Such associations are generally formed for specific purposes like ventilating the grievances of the concerned groups to the authorities and observance of a religious festival. Some of these associations cease to exist after the specific issue is highlighted. They are often small in size,
9 depending mainly on the subscriptions of the members. A vast majority of the societies registered during the last two decades are of this type.
These changes have had implications for the NPO sector. The availability of funds from both the government agencies and foreign sources has led to a growth of the sector. Some analysts feel that that the growth has been mushroom-like. The relationship between the NGOs and the State, while being mutually beneficial, has not always been smooth or problem-free. While the State is anxious to ensure that the funds provided by it are properly utilized by the voluntary organizations, there is a feeling among some NGOs that steps taken by the government for the purpose are of a ‘limiting, controlling and dependence-creating’ type. “It seems that increasing bureaucratization and control of mechanisms of funding has considerably undermined their autonomous functioning and, therefore, those voluntary organizations in a recipient- donor relationship with the state find themselves in an uneasy situation” (PRIA, 1991).
In regard to receipt of foreign funds too, there are differences between the State and the NPO sector. The feeling that foreign funds may not always be used in a manner consistent with the values of a sovereign democratic republic has been there and a Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) was passed in 1976 to regulate receipt of foreign funds by Indian organizations, including voluntary and non-profit ones. Under the Act, organizations receiving foreign funds have to register themselves with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India and also to submit regular reports on the funds received by them. As on 31 March 2000, there were 21,244 organizations registered under the Act. Nearly 14,000 organizations, which had filed their annual statements, reported receipt of foreign contributions totaling Rs. 3,925 crores. Among the States, Tamil Nadu had the second largest receipt of Rs. 572 crores. While the voluntary organizations feel that FCRA is restrictive and have formed a national campaign committee for repealing/ amending its restrictive clauses, the Government is thinking of making it more stringent.
Despite the growing recognition of the role played by the voluntary sector, there are no reliable data about it. Available information even on a basic parameter like the number of NPOs is incomplete, partial, overlapping and not based on uniform concepts and definitions. One reason for this is that the NPO is a very wide sector encompassing innumerable activities from running a local sports club to managing a multi-specialty hospital. Even on the large- sized NPOs, which are visible, the database is weak. Directories of NGOs brought out by different agencies provide varying figures of the number of NPOs. The Charity Aid Foundation India (CAF-India) is attempting to build a NGO directory. A total of 2,350 voluntary organizations are listed in the Directory, of which 228 are in Tamil Nadu. A classification of these voluntary organizations in Tamil Nadu, according to the field of operations shows that nearly two-third
10 of them are engaged in the five categories of rural development (22%), general development (16%), health (11%), welfare of women and children (8%) and welfare of handicapped (7%).
Table 3.1 Voluntary Organisations in Tamil Nadu By Field of Operations
Field No. % 1. Rural Development 51 22 2. General Development 37 16 3. Health 24 11 4. Welfare of the Handicapped 18 8 5. Welfare of Women & Children 16 7 6. Tribal Welfare 8 4 7. Networking, Training & Research 12 5 8. Human Rights 6 3 9. Education 6 3 10. Welfare of Dalits 5 2 11. Others 45 19
Total 228 100 Based on CAF-India NGO Directory
To sum up, Tamil Nadu is a major State for non-profit activities. Organizations engaged in such activities have grown rapidly in the last two decades. They are of different sizes and their activities cover a wide range. They also differ in their organizational structure, style of functioning and management systems. This heterogeneous and amorphous nature of NPOs acts as a constraint in conceiving them as belonging to one sector. “Despite the vast array of voluntary initiatives and association, India does not have a sense of a voluntary or non-profit sector as yet. The identity of a sector is yet to emerge.” (PRIA, 2000)
11 EXPLORING THE NON PROFIT SECTOR IN INDIA Some Glimpses from Tamil Nadu
IV. THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK
At present, non-profit organisations in Tamil Nadu can be registered/ incorporated under any one or more of the following statutes. .
i) Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975. ii) Indian Trust Act, 1882, iii) Section 25 of the Indian Companies Act, 1956, iv) Co-operative Societies Act, 1904, v) Trade Union Act, 1926.
An overview of the functioning of these Acts has been brought out in the following paragraphs.
Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975
A legal basis for the functioning of NPOs in modern period was first laid with the enactment of the Societies Registration Act in 1860 by the Government of India, which was adapted with suitable modifications by some of the Provincial Governments. Under the Constitution of India, which came into force in 1950, charities, charitable institutions, charitable and religious endowments and religious institutions find a place in List III, which is the concurrent list for both the Union of India and the States. By virtue of Article 372 of the Constitution, which provides that all laws, in force on the date of coming into force of the Constitution, shall continue to be in force until repealed or altered by the Centre or the States, the Societies Registration Act, 1860 continues to be in force.
The Societies Registration Act, 1860 was enacted at a time, when the system of regulation of non-profit institutions was non existent. The working of the Societies Registration Act, 1860 brought to light many adequacies such as the absence of provisions for matters like a change in the name of a society, maintenance of registers of members and of committee members, keeping a registered office, alteration of bye-laws, holding of the Annual General Meetings, winding up of the Society under the orders of the Registrar, etc. With a view to meeting some of the aforesaid short comings, the legislature of Tamil Nadu enacted the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act in 1975, which came into force on 22 April 1978.
The Act provides for registration of literary, scientific, religious, charitable and other societies in the State. More specifically, the Act mentions the following purposes for which a Society may be registered under it.
12 (1) Education, (2) literature, (3) science, (4) religion, (5) charity, (6) social reforms, (7) arts and crafts, (8) cottage industry, (9) athletics, (10) sports, (11) public health, (12) social service, (13) cultural activities, (14) diffusion of useful knowledge, and (15) such other useful objects for which the State has powers to make laws.
The Rules framed under the Act have enumerated the other useful objects as serving the
a) interests of consumers in the supply and distribution of essential objects, b) interests of passengers using buses, taxis, auto rickshaws and similar vehicles of public conveyance, c) welfare of the physically handicapped, d) welfare of the unemployed, e) interests of residents in the matter of provision of civic amenities, f) interests of pilgrims and tourists, g) welfare of animals, birds and similar living beings, h) welfare of displaced persons, i) welfare of the downtrodden, economically and socially backward.
Some of the special features of the Act are: i) Provision for compulsory registration of societies having not less than 20 members or whose annual income or expenditure is not less than Rs.10,000. If unregistered, they can be prosecuted before a magistrate and a fine of up to Rs.500 can be imposed. ii) Every society must have a registered office in the name of the Society in a conspicuous place, in one or more language of which Tamil must be one. iii) Maintenance of a Register of Members with addresses and occupations, which must be open for inspection during office hours. iv) Holding of an Annual General Meeting with 21 days prior notice to the members. The Registrar may nominate an officer, subordinate to him, to attend the meeting. v) Provision for the calling .of an Extraordinary General Body Meeting on a special requisition with a notice of one month to the members. vi) Filing of the Memorandum and Bye-laws with the Registrar for the purpose of registration. What the Bye-laws should contain is prescribed in Rule 6 of the Tamil Nadu Society Registration Rules. vi) Requirements relating to accounts and audit and also supply of copies of Bye-laws to members are specific.
13 vii) Vesting the Registrar of Societies with powers under Section 36 to enquire into the affairs of a registered Society either suo moto or on application by a majority of the members of the Committee or on an application by not less than one-third of the members of the society. ix) Power given to the Registrar to cancel the registration of a Society under certain circumstances. x) Procedure for winding up of a Society under the Act with powers given to the Registrar to strike off a defunct society and publish the same in the official Gazette.
Although the 1975 Act was passed to remove the defects of the 1860 Central Act, informed opinion is that this object remains unfulfilled. The main reason cited is the absence of adequate administrative machinery to enforce its provisions. (G. Sitaraman & Co., 2000)
Indian Trust Act, 1882
Trusts are of two types – private and public. The emphasis of the Indian Trust Act is on private trusts. Several states have enacted their own independent Public Trust Acts. The Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950 and the Rajasthan Public Trust Act, 1959 are examples of State Acts covering ‘public trusts’ under their jurisdiction. Public trusts are constituted for the benefit of either the public at large or some considerable portion of it answering a particular description. They, thus, fulfil the description of an NPO. For forming a public trust, a Deed of Trust is to be framed and registered with the Sub- Registrar of the Registration Department. The application for registration of a public trust must contain particulars about the creation of the trust, its objects, sources of income, schemes to be implemented, properties and names of the trustees in possession thereof. For making an application for the appointment of a trustee details about the name, address, occupation, interest in the trust, etc. are to be furnished.
Section 25 of the Indian Companies Act, 1956
The Indian Company Act, 1956 is an all India Act and States have no jurisdiction over it. Section 25 of the Companies Act provides for the grant of license by the Central government for formation of ‘non profit’ companies. Such companies can have directors who are also trustees. Directors or trustees manage the company and can be reimbursed for their management activities, but cannot accept remuneration or share a profit.
Co-operative Societies Act, 1904
Tamil Nadu has a long history of the co-operative movement since the enactment of the Act in 1904. The societies are registered with the State Director of Co-operative Societies.
14 Although the Co-operative Societies Act, 1904 relates to institutions, which function for the sole benefit of their members and not for the larger public good, they may sometimes be considered as non-profit institutions by virtue of the spirit underlying their operations, provided they are not engaged market transactions of goods and services generating profits for the benefit of the members.
Trade Union Act, 1926
Tamil Nadu has also been in the forefront of the trade union movement in India even before the enactment of the Act in 1926. The Societies Registration Act, the Co-operative Societies Act and the Companies Act are not applicable to registered trade unions.
Foreign Contributions Regulation Act, 1976
The FCRA had its origin in the Emergency period and was passed in the wake of allegations that contributions from abroad were being used to destabilise the government. In 1984-85, the provisions of the Act were tightened. The Act requires all associations and organisations receiving foreign contributions to register themselves with the Ministry of Home affairs for receiving any money from foreign sources. The government can also grant prior permission to receive foreign contributions. Institutions and organisations permitted to receive foreign contributions are required to maintain separate bank accounts and account books in respect of all foreign money received by them. Also they are required to submit yearly accounts duly certified by a chartered accountant along with the balance sheet and statement of receipt and payment to the Ministry of home Affairs.
15 EXPLORING THE NON PROFIT SECTOR IN INDIA Some Glimpses from Tamil Nadu
V. THE SURVEY INSTRUMENTS
There are a number preparatory steps which need be taken before actually launching a large scale sample survey in the field. First of all, survey objectives have to be spelled out. This will determine what queries/ questions and items of information ought to be included in the survey schedules. The survey design has also to be evolved, which will determine as to what kind of respondents will be approached for furnishing the needed information. Finally, sample size has to be fixed, keeping in view the margin of errors which can be tolerated as well as the time and cost constraints. Usually, primary data in such surveys are collected with the assistance of a large band of field investigators, who actually contact the respondents for soliciting the required information. These investigators have to be given formal and detailed training (and often re-training) on concepts and definitions of various terms used in the survey schedules, for which purpose a Training Manual has to be prepared. This chapter outlines the details of the survey objectives, the sample design proposed and actually used and the survey schedules.
The survey of non-profit organizations, sometimes referred to as ‘organizational survey’ in the literature, has the following objectives.
(i) To estimate the total number of formalised NPOs together with associated estimates of their employment, revenue and expenditure;
(ii) to estimate the distribution of non-formalised (including transient) NPOs together with associated estimates of their employment, revenue and expenditure;
(iii) to estimate the distribution of formalised and non-formalised institutions into major activities as listed in NIC groups/sub-groups;
(iv) to estimate the mortality rates of institutions (both formalised and non-formalised) that will help validate the registration data emanating from the implementation of the Societies Act; and v) to estimate the number of volunteers employed in the non-profit sector, quantum of time spent by them and to estimate employment and output generated by volunteers.
Concepts and Definitions
Apparently, it is necessary to adopt uniform and easily applicable set of definitions of various terminology, which can be comprehended by data collectors at various sample points with ease. The first and most important term used in the study is ‘Non-profit Organization’,
16 a term which is relatively new in the Indian context, although it is in greater use in the western countries. For the present survey, the structural-operational definition of an NPO developed by the Center for Civil Society Studies of the Johns Hopkins University has been adopted. According to this definition, a Non Profit Organization is an institution/ organization (i.e. a non-household entity), which meets five criteria simultaneously viz, it is (a) organized, (b) private, (c) non- profit distributing, (d) self-governing and (e) voluntary.
The above definition has been operationalised in the present survey by describing the five qualifying attributes as under:
(a) Organized: Any institution which has its own constitution/ charter for its functioning is considered organized, irrespective of whether it is formally registered under any one of the statutory provisions. Large scale people’s movements, such as Women’s Movement, Human Rights Movement, Anti-nuclear Movement, launched and spearheaded by groups, which are formally well-organized but not registered, would be covered under this definition. So also, the large number of unregistered yet formal associations at the grassroots level, such as the youth clubs, mahila mandals and residents welfare associations, would be included under the definition.
(b) Private: means institutionally separate from government. This does not mean that such organizations can not receive government grant or financial support in other forms or that government officials cannot sit on their boards. However, institutions set up and fully owned by any department of the Central or State governments, like Council for Advancement of Peoples Action and Rural Technology (CAPART), National Dairy development Board (NDDB), etc. would not form part of the NPO sector.
(c) Self-governing: The organisation should be equipped to control its own activities and should not have its internal procedures for governance controlled by any outside entity (government or for-profit business entities), which may have provided funds to it.
As mentioned above, the Central and the State governments have set up several NPOs under the Societies Act, 1860 or the Co-operative Societies Act, 1904. Such organisations have governing boards constituted by the government with the government nominating their officers on the Board. Often, the government also posts their personnel in these organizations. Sometimes, the governments have the right to supersede the governing boards. Like-wise, under the Co-operatives Act, the Registrar has powers to amalgamate, divide or reorganise a co-operative in public interest. Such institutions are not to be treated as self-governing, unless warranted by specific circumstances. Trade unions, by and large, would form part of the sector and are included under the survey, unless warranted by specific circumstances.
17 (d) Non-Profit distributing: Income generating activities, which the societies, charitable or other institutions may be engaged in, may lead to profits accruing to them. However, registration of an organization under the five Acts mentioned earlier is possible only if it is engaged in non-profit making activities. Therefore, by definition, such profits, savings, or retained surplus are not to be available for distribution among the members of the governing board or other persons engaged in promoting the institution but are reinvested for the activities of the organization.
(e) Voluntary: A simple way of defining the term ‘voluntary’ is “any activity undertaken on one’s own volition and with no benefit to the doer”. In no circumstances can a voluntary worker be paid at his / her market rate. Essentially such payments are made to meet part of the expenditure on transport and the like. One of the attributes of a non-profit institution is that at least some part of human resources it deploys, either at the management level or programme level, is obtained without remuneration or at less than the market rate of remuneration.
Sampling Design & Sample Size
All along the intention had been to choose a sample design which could net the NPOs effectively. Since an organizational survey of NPOs had never been attempted before, there was no model to go by. Therefore, a generalised sample design modelled on the design used in the NSSO surveys was developed. A provision was to made to use population as weights for selection of units at different stages under the assumption that more heavily populated areas will have greater concentration of NPOs. This design was pre-tested through pilot surveys undertaken in six districts drawn from two different states. An analysis of results of pilot enquiry showed that the variable population size was not helpful in locating areas of concentration of NPOs.
In the mean time, the results of the Fourth Economic Census* 1998, commissioned by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), had started becoming available. It was thought by the Technical Committee advising on sampling aspects of the survey that it would be more appropriate to develop a design where-in sampling units in different stages were selected with probability proportional to estimated number of NPOs.
*The Economic Census is the official count of all entrepreneurial units involved in any economic activities of either agricultural (excluding crop production or plantation) or non-agricultural sectors of the economy, engaged in the production or distribution of goods or services not for the sole purpose of own consumption. Economic Census are conducted periodically by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Accordingly, a three stage stratified sampling design was adopted, the first stage units being
18 Districts in the State, second stage involved selection of CD Blocks in each sampled district and finally, villages in rural areas and Urban Frame Survey (UFS) blocks** constituted the third stage sampling units. In the first stage, four districts were selected in a manner that they represented all the geographical regions in the State. These were Madurai, Tuticorin, Coimbatore and Thanjavoor. In addition, the only Metropolitan city in the State, constituting a district by itself, viz. Chennai was also included in the sample. Of these, Chennai is a purely urban district. Among the remaining districts, Madurai has since been bifurcated into two, Madurai and Theni, and Thanjavur has been divided into three, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam and Thiruvarur. However, the composite districts (as earlier defined) were surveyed. A map of Tamil Nadu, with sample areas demarcated, is shown on the next page.
**In large-scale sample surveys, dividing large cities and towns into standard units facilitates easy sample selection. For this purpose, the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), the premier statistical survey agency of the country, conducts a continuing survey called the Urban Frame Survey (UFS), which attempts to divide all cities and towns into standard, compact and easily-identifiable units called ‘Urban Frame blocks” (UFS) with a population of 600-800 (or 120-160 households). The UFS was first conducted in 1959-63 and is being updated since then once in five years.
19 However, the prescribed procedure, as outlined above, could not be operationalised in totality. The frame based on the Economic Census 1998 turned out to be too problematic to be used. The original design called for listing of CD blocks, as per the EC 98 in the first step, together with the estimated number of NPOs in each of them. Right at this stage, it was detected that the number of CD Blocks in these lists were rather different from the actual numbers (of CD Blocks) as existing in the revenue records. In the second stage of the present project’s envisaged sample design, villages in rural areas were to be listed in the selected CD Blocks together with the estimated numbers of NPOs in each of them, as per the EC 98. The real impasse was faced when it was found that the some villages in the EC 98 based frame were often classified and placed in CD Blocks other than the ones where they were classified in the revenue records. Similar problems were faced in the identification, in the ground, of UFS blocks. In this scenario, it was considered prudent to give up the envisaged sample design in favour of a simple random
20 sampling of second and third stage units, keeping the numbers of these units fixed at the levels determined earlier.
The specific design used for selecting the sampling units within districts was as follows: i) The sample size for each district was pre-fixed at 1 % of total number of villages in the district for the rural sample and at 1 % of the total of UFS Blocks in the district for the urban sample; ii) In regard to the second stage units, 50% of the CD blocks in a district were selected randomly (SRS without replacement); (iii) The total sample size was then allocated proportionately to the number of NPOs in them; (iv) Urban samples were to be drawn from the headquarters of the CD blocks.
The list of selected CD Blocks, villages and towns in the five districts is given in Annex I. The table below gives the actual distribution of the sample (villages & UFS Blocks).
TABLE 5.1: DISTRIBUTION OF SAMPLE SIZE AT DIFFERENT STAGES
RURAL URBAN Total CD Total Village Total No. of Total Sample Districts No. of Blocks No. of in Sample No. of Towns No. of Size CD in village Towns in the UFS Block Sample
Chennai - - - - 1 1 6,232 63 Madurai 21 3 668 11 24 11 2,370 24 Tuticorin 12 4 428 5 28 14 1,032 10 Coimbatore 21 3 438 5 40 8 2,805 28 Thanjavoor 34 12 1,769 18 32 10 1,463 15
All Districts 88 22 3,303 39 125 44 13,902 140
It would be seen from the above table that, ultimately, 39 villages in the rural sector and 140 UFS blocks in the urban sector were surveyed. In the aforesaid, ultimate stage sampling units, a total of 6,743 households in the rural sector and 15,302 households in the urban sector were contacted and listed. This lead to identification of 67 and 97 NPOs in rural and urban samples respectively.
21 An Additive Exploration
As the project activities were being planned, an overwhelming view had been that registration records should ideally be exploited for preparing a detailed list of NPOs and then commissioning an organizational survey using a statistically designed random sample of NPOs. In this background, an exercise to study the registration machineries existent in various States of the country and the records maintained by them was undertaken. Two conclusions emerged. The first was that the registration records in most States (Tamil Nadu was not one of them) was maintained rather haphazardly. In no State were these records computerised; the registers in the Office of the Registrars clearly had far fewer entries than the numbers of institutions actually registered; there were no information on institutions, which ceased to exist after being registered and registers for several years were totally non- – traceable. Secondly, it became abundantly clear that informal sector in most Indian States was fairly large and the contribution of this important sector could not be netted if the study was based on the registration frames. The best course, it was thought, would be to generate the required information through sample surveys of geographic areas. However, it was important to understand the functioning of the registration system of the country on the one hand and to validate the estimates of size and other related characteristics of the formal sector though use of registration records on the other. With a view to meeting these objectives, an exploratory exercise to collect information from a small random sample of NPOs from the frames of institutions registered under the Societies Registration Act was undertaken.
In Tamil Nadu, the Societies Registration Act, 1860 is implemented by the Office of the Inspector – General of Registration. There are 90 offices of District Registrar of Societies (DROs) in the State for 30 revenue districts. In the 5 districts selected for inclusion in the main survey, there were a total of 13 DROs and the present “registration frame based” survey was confined to these districts only. According to the sample design used, the post-1900 period was divided into six groups – 1901-25, 1926-50, 1951-65, 1966-80, 1981-95 and 1996-99. From each of the six groups of years, one year was to be chosen at random with the condition that two consecutive years were not chosen. Then, from the registers of the selected years, a sample of 5% of the societies was drawn following a procedure of linear systematic sampling.
It was observed during the sample selection that generally all registers, including those relating to the earlier periods, were maintained well in the DROs. Thus, there were no particular difficulties in implementing the envisaged sample design. It would not be out of place to bring out here some of the features of data collection. First, it would be noted that, because the number of DROs exceeded the number of revenue districts, more than one DRO in several districts had to be contacted and surveyed. Second, although instructions exist for removal of de-registered societies from the registers, it was found that only societies de-registered up to
22 the 1970’s had been removed from the registers. The registers for the subsequent periods contained a large number of de-registered societies, although the remark ‘de-registered’ was entered in red ink against the names of such societies; these continued to be counted in the total numbers. Third, in some of the DROs, special subsidiary registers were being maintained. In one office, there was a special register for societies receiving foreign donations and another for societies running educational institutions with aid from the government. Fourth, the number of registered societies for the two early groups, namely, 1901-25 and 1926-50, was very small with no society existing for many years.
A total of 370 registered societies were sampled in the five districts from the records of the DROs. However, only 234 societies provided information, as the remaining 136 societies were either closed or non-existent at the registered address or refused to furnish the required data. The effective response was thus 63%. The district - wise distribution of sampled and responding units is given in the table below.
TABLE 5.2: DISTRIBUTION OF SAMPLE NPOS IN THE REGISTRATION FRAME DESIGN
Districts Sample Canvassed Effective Response
Chennai 186 186 145 Madurai 54 54 15 Tuticorin 32 32 12 Coimbatore 38 38 21 Thanjavur 60 60 41 Total 370 370 234
Schedules of Enquiry
The primary data in organisational surveys of Non Profit Organisations were gathered though the use of four schedules of enquiry viz.:
Schedule 0.1: Listing of households and NPOs Schedule 0.2: Collection of Information relating to NPOs listed in Sch. 0.1 Schedule 0.3: Listing of sample NPOs selected from the registers of DROs Schedule 0.4: Collection of Information relating to NPOs listed in Sch. 0.3
23 Schedule 0.1 was canvassed in the households of selected sample villages/ UFS blocks. Generally, all households in the primary sampling units (e.g. villages/ UFS blocks) were covered. However, in case of very large villages, the number of households covered was restricted to around 200 with due care taken to ensure that these were spread across the village. The Schedule had three blocks – Block 1 for recording Identification particulars of the sampled village/ UFS block, Block 2 for recording the important information about members of the household and Block 3 for recording the names and addresses of the NPOs identified in the primary sampling unit. In Block 2, apart from information on the household size and number of employed persons in each household, particulars of each adult employed in non- agricultural activities were collected. These particulars included name, age, sex, activity description of the concerned non-agricultural enterprise, its location (i.e., whether inside or outside the sample) and type of ownership of the institution where they were employed. Besides, information on whether any member of the household was engaged during the last one year in ‘Giving’ or ‘Volunteering’ activities was also collected. This information was intended to be used for preparing sampling frames for Surveys on Giving and Volunteering, undertaken concurrently.
Schedule 0.2 was the main instrument for collecting detailed information from specific NPOs identified in the sample; a separate schedule being used for each NPO. This schedule had 10 blocks, covering identification particulars of the NPO, general Information on membership and Governing Board, activities of the NPO and its target groups, employment particulars, details of receipts generated and expenditures incurred, fixed assets owned/ acquired, project- specific details and particulars of other NPOs in the area. The schedule was the key schedule for the survey.
Schedule 0.3 was used for listing names and addresses of the institutions selected from the registers of the District Registration Offices.
Schedule 0.4 was a replica of schedule 0.2 and was used for collecting information from NPOs in the sample drawn from the Registration frames.
Reference Period
The fieldwork of collection of primary data was organised during the first four months of 2001, till about April 2001; the reference period being the year 2000.
24 EXPLORING THE NON PROFIT SECTOR IN INDIA Some Glimpses from Tamil Nadu
VI. THE KEY FINDINGS
Attention is now turned to a presentation of important findings from the main and adjunct organisational surveys of the non-profit institutions in the State of Tamil Nadu. The statistical estimates of various parameters have been prepared first for each of the five districts in the State, which then have been weighted by the district – wise shares of the State’s population as per the 2001 population census of India to arrive at the State – level estimates. The main parameters for which estimates have been compiled and presented in the following sections are the size of the sector, the employment and volunteerism there-in, information on issues of governance, activities in which the sector engages itself, sources of revenues generated, patterns of expenditure and a few other related parameters. Hopefully, the estimates now summarised in this section will enable the researchers, policy makers, and the Civil Society leaders to have, a feel of important dimensions of the sector in the State, arrived at through a scientifically designed study, first ever of its kind. Since the district estimates were based on small sample sizes and were liable to undue influence of extreme observations, only the State level estimates, which are relatively more stable, have been presented in this report.
The Size of the Sector
There are an estimated number of 88,689 NPOs in the State, of which 46,070 (or 52%) are in rural areas and 31,344 (or 48%) are in urban areas. Thus, the number of rural NPOs in the State exceeds the number of urban NPOs. It would appear that voluntary action is pervasive all over the State (Table 6.1). The informal sector is clearly larger than the formal sector. Not even 50% of the institutions in the State are registered under any of the legislations. Therefore, large chunks of institutions, even in sectors like education and health, are totally outside the legislative framework. Although district-wise distributions are not presented here, data show that there are areas in the state where NPO activities are largely non – formal, both in rural and urban areas.
TABLE 6.1: ESTIMATED NUMBERS OF REGISTERED & UNREGISTERED NPOS BY RURAL-URBAN BREAK-UP
Registered Unregistered Total Rural 13,115 32,955 46,070 Urban 28,194 14,425 42,619 Total 41,309 47,380 88,689
25 Legal Status and Issues of Governance
General Particulars
Data for the Survey were collected from a large majority of sample NPOs (90%) at their headquarters. The percentage was even higher at 98% in the rural sector as compared to 85% in the urban sector (Table 6.2). This would indicate that, while NPOs in both rural and urban sectors, by and large, have only one office, more urban NPOs tend to have branches. Similarly, 80% of the NPOs had their founders as the Chief Executives and the percentage of such NPOs was higher in rural areas. This may be indicative of a slightly better tendency on the part of urban NPOs to create a second line of command and controls.
Table 6.2 shows that 66% of NPOs in urban areas and 28% in rural areas were registered under one Act or the other, the overall percentage of registered NPOs in the State being 47%. In other words, a majority of the NPOs in rural areas (72%) and a significant proportion in urban areas (34%) are of the non-formal type. The unregistered organisations are non-formal in nature and are associations of small groups of persons having some common interests and operating within a limited geographical area. Associations of residents of a locality or even of an apartment building, of auto-rickshaw drivers operating from a common stand, of traders in a market, of youths for playing games and of members of a locality formed for observing specific religious or cultural functions are examples of such NPOs. There is trend for them to get themselves registered and a majority of the societies registered under the Societies Act in recent decades belongs to this category.
26 TABLE 6.2: REGISTRATION AND RELATED PARTICULARS OF NPOS
Rural Urban Total 1) Contacted at Hqrs. (%) 98 85 92 2) Founder as Chief Executive (%) 89 71 80 3) Registered 13,115 (28) 28,194 (66) 41,309 (47) a) Societies Act 12,855 (27) 26,208 (61) 39,063 (44) b) Trust Act 260 (1) 1,472 (3) 1,732 (2) c) Trade Union Act - 257 (1) 257 (0.5) d) Other Acts - 257 (1) 257 (0.5) 4) Unregistered 32,995 (72) 14,425 (34) 47,380 (53)
Total 46,070 42,619 88,689
Figures in brackets indicate percentages to total number of NPOs in the respective sectors.
Among the various Acts, the Societies Registration Act was the most preferred one. Almost 95% of the formal institutions were registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. Only 1,732 NPOs out a total of 41, 309 were found to be registered under the Trust Act and most of the Trusts were located in urban areas. The institutions registered under the Trade Union Act (257 i.e. about 0.5%) were negligible in number.
Membership
The NPOs in Tamil Nadu, whether registered or unregistered, are overwhelmingly membership-based. Such organisations accounted for 99% in the rural sector and 93% in the urban sector. There are different forms of membership, such as patron, life, donor and annual. The form ‘others’ consists mainly of members who pay their subscriptions half-yearly or quarterly or monthly. The prominent form of membership is the ‘annual’, followed by ‘life’, ‘donor’ and ‘patron’ in that order. Rural institutions generally do not have ‘Donor members’.
27 TABLE 6.3: DISTRIBUTION OF NPOS BY TYPE OF MEMBERSHIP
No. of No. of membership NPOs with type of Total No. Membership membership Sector of NPOs based NPOs Patron Life Donor Annual Others
Rural 46,070 45,490 (99) 1,695 260 - 30,610 5,150 (4) (1) (67) (33)
Urban 42,619 39,653 (93) 1,030 9,524 4,693 26,685 9,763 (3) (24) (12) (67) (25)
Total 88,689 85,143 (96) 2,725 9,784 4,693 56,295 24,913 (3) (12) (6) (67) (29)
Figures in brackets represent percentages to total NPOs. Percentages are not additive to 100.
Governance
Generally each NPO has a Governing Board to manage its affairs. The membership of the Governing Board ranges from 7 to over 20 in terms of number of board members. From the percentage distribution of organisations according to number of Board members given in Table 6.4, it is seen that, while a majority of organisations have Governing Boards with a membership of about 7 members, a sizeable proportion (35%) have rather large membership of these Boards, ranging from 8 to 20 and some Boards (about 6%) have even more than 20 members. The term of Board members varies from one year to ‘life’, but is commonly one or two years. The Governing Boards meet periodically, 34% of them once in three months, 26% once in six months and 12% once in a year.
28 TABLE 6.4: SOME INDICATORS OF GOVERNANCE
Rural Urban Total
1. No. of Institutions with Governing Body 45,110 39,934 85,044 2. Percentage Distribution of NPOs (i) By no. of G.B. members: 7 or less 60 58 59 8 – 10 17 21 19 11 – 20 21 11 16 21 & above 2 10 6 Total 100 100 100 (ii) By term of members: 1 year 57 53 55 2 – 3 years 32 29 31 3+ 8 4 6 Life 3 14 8 Total 100 100 100 (iii) By periodicity of meetings Once in 3 months 38 27 34 Once in 6 months 24 29 26 Once in a year 8 20 12 Others 30 24 28 Total 100 100 100
Activities of NPOs
With a view to finding out as to what were the work areas, which were of interest to voluntary initiatives in the State, the survey schedules had questions on ‘areas of activities’ in which the sampled NPOs were engaged. It was found that the NPOs in Tamil Nadu were engaged in a wide range of activities. On classifying them into broad groups, adopting the 3- digit level classification of the National Industrial Classification (NIC), 1987, it turned out that the three leading groups of activities in which NPOs were predominantly active were ‘Community Services’, ‘Education’, and ‘Health’ in that order, the percentage of organisations engaged in these sectors being 35, 32, and 13 respectively.
29 ‘Community Services’ is a very broad group comprising a wide range of welfare services activities undertaken for promotion of community welfare such as running of crèches, homes for the aged and physically handicapped, etc. In recent decades, there has been a growing trend for formation of institutions, which serve specific groups of people having common interests and functioning in a small area. For example, Residents’ Welfare Associations, Auto-rickshaw Drivers Associations, Fans’ Clubs of popular cinema stars, etc. are organisations included in the group ‘Community Services’, irrespective of whether they are registered. The group ‘Education’ covers services like running of non-formal institutions like night schools, adult education centres, etc. as also formal institutions from primary schools to engineering and medical colleges. The activity ‘health’ covers provision of heath and medical services such as hospitals. The category ‘Others’ consists of newly emerging activities like environment, AIDS awareness and similar activities. The number of institutions in these areas is small.
A classification of NPOs according by their rural / urban location shows more or less similar pattern of distribution in both the locations. However, in rural areas, a relatively larger number of NPOs were engaged in ‘Community Services’ as against ;’Education’ occupying a more predominant place in urban areas (Table 6.5). If the distribution of NPOs by their registration status is looked into, it turns out that while registered organisations have ‘Education’ as the main activity, the unregistered ones are more active in ‘Community Services’ (Table 6.6).
TABLE 6.5: ACTIVITIES OF NPOS BY LOCATION
Area of Activity NIC Code Rural Urban Total
1. Education 13,321 (28.9) 15,045 (35.3) 28,366 (32.0) a. Technical 920 2,345 ( 5.1) 4,442 (10.4) 6,787 ( 7.6) b. General 921 10,322 (22.4) 6,629 (15.6) 16,961 (19.1) c. Scientific 922 644 ( 1.4) 3,974 ( 9.3) 4,618 ( 5.2 ) 2. Health 930 4,956 (10.8) 6,412 (15.1) 11,368 (12.8) 3. Culture 959 578 ( 1.2) 1,280 ( 3.0) 1,858 ( 2.1) 4. Sports 959 3,444 ( 7.5) 358 ( 0.8) 3,802 ( 4.4) 5. Community Services 19,632 (42.6) 11,696 (27.5) 31,328 (35.3) a. Welfare 941 5,040 (10.9) 6,797 (16.0) 11,837 (13.3) b. Others 949 14,592 (31.7) 4,899 (11.5) 19,491 (22.0) 6. Housing 500 - 3,107 ( 7.3) 3,107 ( 3.5) 7. Religion 940 3,304 ( 7.2) 3,527 ( 8.3) 6,831 ( 7.7) 8. Others 835 ( 1.8) 1,194 ( 2.8) 2,029 ( 2.2)
TOTAL 46,070 42,619 88,689 Figures in brackets indicate percentages.
30 TABLE 6.6: ACTIVITIES OF NPOS BY REGISTRATION STATUS
Area of Activity NIC Code Registered Unregistered Total 1. Education 19,774 (47.8) 8,592 (18.1) 28,366 (32.0) a. Technical 920 5,612 (13.6) 1,175 ( 2.5) 6,787 ( 7.6) b. General 921 9,803 (23.7) 7,158 (15.1) 16,961 (19.1) c. Scientific 922 4,359 (10.5) 259 ( 0.5) 4,618 ( 5.2 ) 2. Health 930 5,627 (13.6) 5,741 (12.1) 11,368 (12.8) 3. Culture 959 578 ( 1.2) 1,280 ( 2.7) 1,858 ( 2.1) 4. Sports 959 - 3,802 ( 8.0) 3,802 ( 4.4) 5. Community Services 11,390 (27.6) 19,938 (42.1) 31,328 (35.3) a. Welfare 941 6,303 (15.3) 5,534 (11.7) 11,837 (13.3) b. Others 949 5,087 (12.3) 14,404 (30.4) 19,491 (22.0) 6. Housing 500 2,749 ( 6.7) 358 ( 0.8) 3,107 ( 3.5) 7. Religion 940 - 6,831 (14.4) 6,831 ( 7.7) 8. Others 1,190 ( 2.9) 838 ( 1.8) 2,029 ( 2.2)
TOTAL 41,309 47,380 88,689 Figures in brackets indicate percentages.
31 Employees and Volunteers
Table 6.7 below gives the estimates of employment and the number of volunteers deployed by the non – profit sector in Tamil Nadu. It would be seen that the survey puts these estimates at 4.18 lakhs paid employees and 10.73 lakhs volunteers working in the NPO sector during 1999-2000, giving a total of 14.91 lakh persons engaged in the sector. Two main features of the NPO employment scene emerging from the table are predominance of volunteer force and of part-time employment. Volunteers at 10.73 lakhs were two and a half times the paid employees (4.18 lakhs) and constituted the mainstay of manpower in the sector. Also, 24% of paid employees and 84% of volunteers worked on a part – time basis. Further, amongst the paid employees, nearly 90% were regular workers and only 10% were contract workers.
Rural NPOs, despite their larger numbers, accounted for only 4% of the paid employment and 49% of the volunteers. While volunteers formed the mainstay of manpower in both rural & urban sectors, it is significant to note that paid employment in the urban sector was nearly three-fourths of volunteers, whereas in the rural sector, it was only 3%. Again, full time employment was more in the urban sector. An Urban NPOs, on an average, had 22.3 persons (9.4 paid employees and 12.9 volunteers), which was nearly double that of a rural NPO- 11.7 (0.4 paid employees and 11.3 volunteers).
TABLE 6.7: EMPLOYMENT IN NPOS BY LOCATION & REGISTRATION STATUS
Paid Employees Volunteers Full Time Part Time Total Full Time Part Time Total Rural 14,588 2,996 17,584 69,053 4,54,663 5,23,716 Urban 3,03,691 96,909 4,00,600 1,06,751 4,42,733 5,49,484 TOTAL 3,18,279 99,905 4,18,184 1,75,804 8,97,396 10,73,200 Registered 3,06,452 94,061 3,97,513 1,37,716 4,77,280 6,14,996 Unregistered 11,827 8,844 20,671 38,088 4,20,116 4,58,204 Professional/Non Professional
Professional 1,24,144 48,143 1,72,287 8,336 81,691 90,027 Non Prof. 1,94,135 51,762 2,45,897 1,67,468 81,575 9,83,173
32 RATIO OF PAID EMPLOYEES & VOLUNTEERS
A second point emerging from data in Table 6.7 is that formal institutions accounted for a major share of paid employees and of volunteers, the respective shares being 95% and 57%. A classification of employees and volunteers into professional and non-professional categories showed that, while non-professionals formed the major group for both paid employment & volunteers, the share of professionals was at 41% amongst paid employees was rather high.
These different aspects of employment patterns need to be viewed in the background of the nature and structure of the sector as a whole. As noted already, 53% of the NPOs are unregistered. A significant proportion of the registered sector institutions are associations of small groups of persons operating in a limited geographical area and function in an informal manner. A few of them like some Residents’ Welfare Associations do not have a fixed office, as it changes with the change in the secretary. They employ no paid staff and the unpaid volunteers look after all the work connected with running them. It is only some of the urban registered NPOs, whose style of functioning is similar to that of the corporate sector organisations, which employ paid workers and professionals. The structure of the NPO sector consists of two broad categories – a large number of small units and a small number of large units.
33 Paid Employees & Volunteers by NPO Activity
The distribution paid employees and volunteers by areas of activity, where they are employed has been presented in Table 6.8 below. A quick perusal of the table shows that ‘health’ is the leading group accounting for maximum share of paid employment; the sector generated about 36% of paid employment. This is not surprising since ‘health’ involves running of hospitals and provision of medical services requiring highly qualified professional staff. The latter are more often paid employees rather than volunteers. For volunteers, the major area of activity is education (37%), which is closely followed by ‘community services’ with 36% of volunteers. Both ‘education’ and ‘community services’ have a good mix of paid employees and volunteers.
TABLE 6.8: ACTIVITY-WISE DISTRIBUTION OF EMPLOYEES & VOLUNTEERS
Area of Activity NIC Code Paid Employees Volunteers 1. Education 1,02,587 (24,5) 3,99,602 (37.2) a. Technical 920 18,056 ( 4.3) 92,596 ( 8.6) b. General 921 63,949 (15.3) 2,34,775 (21.9) c. Scientific 922 20,582 ( 4.9) 72,231 ( 6.7) 2. Health 930 1,42,658 (35.6) 1,35,433 (12.6) 3. Culture 959 257 ( 0.1) 11,018 ( 1.0) 4. Sports 959 - 50,941 ( 4.7) 5. Community Services 1,26,776 (30.3) 3,80,854 (35.5) a. Welfare 941 43,824 (10.5) 1,54,980 (14.4) b. Others 949 82,952 (19.8) 2,25,874 (21.1) 6. Housing 500 40,651 ( 9.7) 42,366 ( 3.9) 7. Religion 940 5,255 ( 1.9) 36,968 ( 3.4) 8. Others - 18,021 ( 1.7)
TOTAL 4,18,184 10,73,200 Figures in brackets indicate percentages to total.
Adjustments to full time equivalent
With predominance of part time employment, it is important to know as to what would be the full time equivalent of part-time work put in by the persons engaged in the sector. The full time equivalent of total employment is the variable which needs to be considered if one
34 is assessing the employment potential of the sector to the total economy. It is also the variable, which shall go into an assessment of the contribution of the sector to the State or even the national economy. The survey had solicited information on the average number of days put in by a part-time worker in a year and the average number of hours of work per day put in by him/her. It turned out that part time volunteers in rural areas worked, on an average, for 14.13 days in a year and 3.67 hours per day, while in urban areas, these figures were 87.13 days and 3.39 hours per day respectively. In so far as paid employment was concerned, it was assumed that part-time paid employees worked on an average for half a day on every working day. Based on these averages, adjustments to total employment figures presented in Table 6.7 have been made. The adjusted full – time equivalent employments of paid employment and of volunteer force have been given in Table 6.9 below.
TABLE 6.9: ADJUSTED ESTIMATES OF NUMBER OF PERSONS ENGAGED
Paid Employees Volunteers Full Time Part Time Total Full Time Part Time Total Rural 14,588 1,498 16,086 69,053 14,736 83,789 Urban 303,691 48,455 352,146 106,751 81,731 188,482 Total 318,279 49,953 368,232 175,804 96,467 272,271
The employment scene now has undergone a drastic change. Particularly, the number of full time equivalent of volunteering work has come down steeply to 2.72 lakhs (for a volunteer force of 10.73 lakhs). The full time equivalent of paid employment has worked out at 3.68 lakhs. Thus, the total full time employment generated in the sector is 6.40 lakhs (3.68
35 lakhs +2,72 lakhs). This is sizeable by any reckoning and has far reaching implications for the economy. It may be noted that the contribution of volunteers to labour force is not accounted for at all in the official statistics system of India. The non-agricultural workforce in Tamil Nadu is estimated at, by the NSSO, about 150 lakhs. Therefore, approximately 4.3% the non-agricultural employment will be originating from the non-profit sector. The total non-agricultural employment includes industrial employment as also employment in other sectors where there are insignificant non-profit activities. If only the sectors, where the non-profit activities are predominant, are taken into account, it is obvious that the share of non-profit employment will go up substantially. Secondly, the Central Statistical Organisation of the Government of India estimates the State Domestic Product of Tamil Nadu at Rs. 117,825 Crores in the year 1999-2000, out of which almost Rs. 102, 000 Crores comes from non-agricultural sectors of the economy. Therefore, it would appear that at least Rs.4,000 Crores was contributed by the non-profit sector.
Receipts of the Non - Profits l Receipts constitute another index of the scale of operations of an NPO. Table 6.10 gives the estimates of funds received / generated by the NPOs in Tamil Nadu over the three year period viz. 1997 - 98, 1998 - 99, and 1999 - 2000. The main features of the estimates are: l Total receipts of the NPO sector in Tamil Nadu during 1997-98 was estimated at Rs. 16, 309 millions ( Rs. 16.3 billions). The funds generated show an increasing trend over time. The sector was able to generate funds to the tune of Rs. 20. 6 billions in the year 1999 – 2000; l There was an overall increase of 26% in receipts during the period 1997-98 to 1999-2000, which implies an average of growth rate of about 12.2% per year; l Average receipts per NPO during 1999-2000 was around Rs. 231,800 (or about Rs. 2.3 lakhs); l Analysis of receipts by broad group of sources shows that a major portion (68% in 1999- 2000) was from self-generated sources; Grants accounted for 17% of total receipts and donations brought another 15% funds.
TABLE 6.10: ESTIMATED RECEIPTS OF FUNDS BY
36 SOURCES (IN RUPEES MILLIONS)
Source 1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 Amount % Amount % Amount %
Self-Generated 11,286 69.20 13,308 71.87 14,074 68.47 Loans - - - - 96 0.46 Grants* 2,307 14.15 2,110 11.40 3,374 16.41 Donations** 2,716 16.65 3,098 16.73 3,014 14.66
Total 16,309 100.00 18,516 100.00 20,558 100.00 * Include international grants. ** Include foreign grants.
More details of components of the sources of funds generated by the sector in year 1999
37 – 2000 have been presented in a table at Annex II. The importance of relatively large share of self-generated funds by the NPO sector is often not given the due importance by the policy makers in the government. In the present survey, it was found that the registered organisations, particularly the larger ones, which run hospitals and educational institutions, receive considerable amounts for the services they render. This has lead to the two items ‘fees & service charges’ and ‘sale of products and other business incomes’ together accounting for as much as 52% of total receipts in the year 1999-2000. Other major sources of income were found to be donations from foreign sources and grants from the Central Government. Foreign contributions received in 1999-2000 are estimated at Rs. 2,710 millions, consisting of grants of Rs. 483 millions from international agencies and Rs. 456 millions from other foreign agencies bringing a total of foreign grants to Rs. 938 millions. Foreign donations were estimated at 1,771 millions. It may be pointed out that estimates of foreign contributions presented here are lower than the FCRA figures published by he Ministry of Home Affairs. This disparity is attributable to the fact that the sampling design used in the survey was a generalized design, not geared to specifically netting very large NPOs (which receive Foreign contributions & which are few in number) and more often than not, in a general survey the responding NPOs do not report the foreign contributions they receive from net-working organisations.
Expenditure Patterns
The estimates of expenditure given in Table 6.11 show that the total expenditure incurred by the non – profits in the State was Rs. 15,001 millions during the year 1997 – 98. The figure rose to a sum of was Rs. 22,806 millions in 1999-2000. The total quantum of expenditure showed an increasing trend with the passage of time, like in the case of receipt patterns. Expenditure estimates were slightly lower than the corresponding receipt estimates for the years 1997-98 and 1998-99, but were somewhat higher for the year 1999-2000. The slight differences are not statistically significant and have arisen due to normal sampling variations; some of the differences may perhaps be attributable to the time lag between receipts and expenditure experienced in some years. It needs be noted that the total estimated expenditure during the three years at Rs. 55,472 millions almost equalled the total estimated receipts of Rs. 55,383 millions. The estimates on the whole appear consistent with the corresponding estimates of revenue receipts presented in Table 6.10.
TABLE 6.11: ESTIMATED EXPENDITURE BY PURPOSE
38 Purpose 1997-98 1998-99 1999-20000 1. Salary and other benefits 4,150 (28) 4,596 (26) 6,334 (28) 2. Operating expenses 6,209 (41) 7,591 (43) 7,960 (35) 3. Rent 536 ( 4) 644 ( 4) 715 ( 3) 4. Travel 193 ( 1) 239 ( 1) 266 ( 1) 5. Administrative Cost 1,617 (11) 1,597 ( 9) 1,755 ( 8) 6. Interest Paid 9 ( -) 101 ( -) 11( -) 7. Charity/donations 350 ( 2) 417 ( 2) 521 ( 2) 8. Others 1,937 (13) 2,571 (15) 5,244 (23) Total 15,001 17,665 22,806 Figures in brackets indicate percentages to total
A further perusal of information in Table 6.11 brings out that the two items of expenditure, viz. operating expenses and salary and other benefits together, accounted for slightly less than two-thirds of the total expenditure. These two items together with travel expenses can, by and large, be viewed as expenditure going directly into running of various programmes of the sector. Such a large proportion of total expenditure going into the programme costs demonstrates that the sector is utilising the funds efficiently and effectively.
Fixed Assets
Fixed assets possessed by the NPOs e.g. lands, building, machinery & tools and transport equipment, and their status i.e. (owned, hired, rent-free, etc.), and their approximate value were the last set of items related with the overall health of the sector on which the Survey attempted to collect information. The basic estimates of these parameters have been given in Table 6.12 below. The table shows that 48% of the NPOs had some fixed asset or the other. However, the bulk of these organisations were urban and registered. The present worth of all the assets owned worked out at Rs. 20, 186 millions. While the overall average value of assets per NPO was Rs.227, 600, it was Rs. 477,720 for those organisations, which owned fixed assets. Of the total present worth of these assets, buildings accounted for 38% (Rs.7,576 m.), land for 32% (Rs. 6,419 m.) and machines & tools for 20% (Rs.4,070 m).
TABLE 6.12: FIXED ASSETS
39 Asset Type 1. Total No. of NPOs 88,689 2. No. of NPOs with any asset 42,255 (48) 3. Value of Assets (Rs. millions) (i) Land 6,419 (32) (ii) Buildings 7,576 (38) (iii) Machinery & Tools 4,070 (20) (iv) Transport Equipment 525 ( 2) (v) Others 1,596 ( 8) Total 20,186 (100) Figures in brackets indicate percentages to total (no. of NPOs/Value of Assets.
Survey of Registration Frame – Results of Additional Explorations
As mentioned in Chapter V, a small explorative survey of NPOs listed in the registers of the Office of Registrars implementing the Societies Registration Act was also undertaken. An attempt was made to compile all estimates parallel to the ones presented in this Chapter, which may be construed as collateral estimates giving collateral evidence of the reliability of various inferences drawn. It has already been pointed out in Chapter V that the registration system in Tamil Nadu was found to be functioning well. Therefore, obtaining the relevant registers, preparing registration frames, and drawing of random samples of NPOs proved to be a hassle free exercise. Amongst various estimates prepared, the most important estimate related to the number of functioning societies. This number turned out to be 56,465 as against a figure 41,309 thrown up by the main survey. The difference would give an estimate of the number of societies falling outside the definitional boundaries of the NPOs. Of – course, a part of the difference will be accounted for by the fact that the sampling designs used in two approaches are different. All the other estimates and patterns of their distributions were strikingly close to the ones presented in this chapter, which gave a tremendous confidence in the brad order of various estimates. For example, here again, almost all societies were contacted at their Head Offices, indicating that most organisations have generally only one office. Similarly, most societies had founders functioning as Chief Executives. All societies were membership based; predominant form of membership being ‘annual’. The membership of Governing Boards of different institutions varied from 7 to 20 and there were 28% societies (as against 22% estimated earlier), which had Board membership exceeding 11. Needles to re-iterate that all other estimates were found to be, more or less, statistically very close.
40 The most important contribution of the exploratory exercise was its capability to give insights into the mortality patters of the registered institutions, something, which could not be learnt from the main survey. It was discovered through the registration frame survey that the State had 1,06,503 societies on the registers of the Office of Registrars of Societies. However, the estimates put the number of functioning societies at only 56,465, as on 31 December 2000. Thus, only 53%, or a little more than half, of the societies in the registers were functioning and the remaining 47% were not active. The main reason for the non-functioning of societies was their closure or non-existence at the registered address. The mortality pattern of the societies can be studied by finding out the percentage of non-functioning societies in the samples for different years. However, as the sets of years chosen for different sample districts were not the same, there were not enough observations for some of the years. Even so, by taking the sample data for a period as a whole and by centring them against mid-years of different period chosen for the study, an attempt to arrive at the broad picture of probable mortality patterns was made. Table 6.13 gives the percentage of the number of sample NPOs found functioning during different periods. It appears that the chances of societies formed during the periods (1996-2000), (1981 – 1995) & (1966 – 1980) not surviving till the year 2000 is 20%, 40% & 59% respectively. The chances of mortality for societies formed in earlier periods is seen to be relatively lower, but that is clearly because the lists of societies for those years had already excluded societies de-registered till the seventies. It is seen from the table that the chances of a society ceasing to function in the first five years of existence is rather high at 20%, or in other words, the infant mortality rate is rather high.
TABLE 6.13: SURVIVAL OF SOCIETIES
Period Mid-year Sample No. % Montality Functioning Functioning % 1901-1925 1913 7 3 42 58 1926-1950 1938 15 9 60 40 1951-1965 1958 22 10 45 55 1966-1980 1973 64 26 41 59 1981-1995 1988 126 76 60 40 1996-2000 1998 110 89 80 20
41 EXPLORING THE NON PROFIT SECTOR IN INDIA Some Glimpses from Tamil Nadu
VII. SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE SURVEYS
The organisation and conduct of the first ever statistically designed sample survey on a complex subject like the NPO Sector has provided valuable experience, the lessons from which will be useful for planning similar surveys in future. With this end in view, a few suggestions have been made in this section.
The survey has brought to light structural complexities of the NPO sector. The extreme heterogeneity of the units underlines the need for pre-stratification of the sector into segments like the small, the medium and the large and devising appropriate sampling strategies for each of them.
A lot of preliminary work needs to be done to understand the special characteristics of different segments and, if possible, to delineate their boundaries.
An immediate task concerning the large segment, which is the economic backbone of the sector, is to collect all the lists and directories of such units, scrutinise them and prepare a Consolidated Directory of Large NPOs free from duplicate entries. Such lists and Directories, which are now available with various agencies, are partial and incomplete and are either subject-specific or area-specific. Hard and concerted work will be required for contacting the agencies and collecting these lists. Although laborious, this is an essential task, which needs to be taken up seriously.
(4) The present approach of identifying NPOs through household listing proved to be circumlocutory. No doubt the main purpose of house listing was to collect non-agricultural employment data. However, if non-agricultural employment data are not essentially required, much time and energy can be saved by making only intensive enquiries in the sample about the existence of NPOs. The time saved can be used for covering more sample units.
(5) The approach in exploratory exercise of dividing the 20th Century into six periods and selecting one year from each period had proved inadequate for netting large units. This aspect needs to be kept in view in planning surveys based on registration data.
(6) For surveying the large segment, the Consolidated Directory suggested in (3) above, can be used as the frame.
(7) Operationally, there is need for completing the planning for all aspects of the survey right from design to release of results before launching the fieldwork. In particular, software for data entry and data analysis should be ready before completion of fieldwork and should be common for all the States in which the survey is to be conducted.
42 ANNEX 1
SAMPLE SELECTION IN TAMIL NADU
DISTRICT / C.D. BLOCK VILLAGE TOWN
01 – CHENNAI Chennai (63)
02 – MADURAI 01. Madurai North 01. Sembianendal Madurai (24) 02. Nattarmangalam 03. Kalikappam 04. Anaiyur 02. Madurai South 01. Vilacheri bit I 02. Vilacheri bit II 03. Thoppur 04. Pappanodai 03. Usilampatti 01. Kalluthu 02. Karumathur
03 – TUTICORIN 01. Tuticorin Tuticorin (5) 02. Srivaikuntam 01. Perunkulam Srivaikuntam (1) 02. Velur Aditchanallur 03. Alwar Thirunagari 01. Nadumavadi Alwar Thirunagari (1) 04. Kayathar 01. Karadikulam 05. Vilthikulam 01. Melmandi 06. Thiruchendur Thiruchendur (1) 07. Koilpatti Koilpatti (2)
04 – COIMBATORE 01. Coimbatore Coimbatore (18) 02. Sarkar Samakulam 01. Vellaikinaru 03. Udumalaipet 01. Andigoundanur Udumalaipet (4) 02. Periappanuthu 04. Gudimangalam 01. Kondampatti 02. Pannaikinaru 05. Coimbatore UA Kurichi (1) Kuniamuthur (1) Sulur (1) Madukkarai (1) P’palayam (10) Vellalur (1)
43 05 – THANJAVUR 01. Papanasam 01. Kabisthalam 02. Ramanujapuram 03. Budalur 01.Bavanamangalam 02. Thiruvalampozhil 04. Mannargudi 01. Nemeli Mannargudi (1) 02. Maravakadu 05. Mayiladuthurai 01. Keelaiyur Mayiladuthurai (2) 06. Nagapattinam 01. Ivanallur Nagapattinam (2) 02. Chinnathambur 07. Pattukottai 01. Naduvakurichi Pattukottai (1) 08. Sirkali 01. Thirunagari 09. Sethubavachatram 01. Sethubavachatram 10. Tarangambadi 01. Parasalur 11. Kumbakonam Kumbakonam (3) 12. Thiruvaiyaru 01. Nagathi 02. Varanangudi 13. Nannilam 01. Sembianallur 02. Peralam 14. Thiruvarur Thiruvarur (2) 15. Thiruthuripoondi 01. Kattimedu 16. Thanjavur Thanjavur (4)
44 ANNEX II
ESTIMATED RECEIPTS OF FUNDS BY SOURCES, 1999-2000 (IN RUPEES MILLIONS)
SOURCE RECEIPTS
I. Self-Generated 14,073 (68) 1. Fees & Service Charges 4,836 (24) 2. Sale of Products & other Business Income 5,690 (28) 3. Membership Fees 508 ( 2) 4. Interest Income 1,484 ( 7) 5. Community Voluntary Contribution 974 ( 5) 6. Rental Income 92 ( -) 7. Other Sources 489 ( 2)
II. Loans 96 ( 1) 8. National Sources 96 ( 1)
III. Grants 3,374 (16)
9. Central Government 1,198 ( 6) 10. State Government 646 ( 3) 11. Local Bodies 10 ( -) 12. Others 582 ( 3) Indian Sources (Total) 2,436 (12) 13. International Agencies 483 ( 2) 14. Others 455 ( 2) Foreign Sources (Total) 938 ( 4)
IV. Donations 3,014 (15) 15. Individuals 588 ( 3) 16. Corporations 387 ( 2) 17. Foundations 154 ( 1) 18. Others 114 ( 1) Indian Sources (Total) 1,243 ( 7) 19. Others (Foreign) 1,771 ( 8) Foreign Sources (Total) 1,771 ( 8) TOTAL 20,558
45 REFERENCES
1) CAF-India (1999), Dimensions of Civil Society - Some Qualitative Aspects, New Delhi.
2) Director of Census Operations, Tamil Nadu, Census of India 2001, Provisional Population Totals, Paprs 1 and 2, Chennai
3) Drucker (1992), Managing the Non Profit Organisations, harper Business.
4) PRIA (1999), Organisational Surveys of Non Profit Sector in India, New Delhi (mimeo)
5) PRIA (2000), Defining the Sector in India, Voluntary, Civil or Non Profit, New Delhi.
6) PRIA (2001), Legal Framework for Non Profit Institutions in India, New Delhi.
7) PRIA (2001), Histoical Background of the Non Profit Institutions in India, New Delhi.
8) Mahjan, Vijay (2000), ‘Voluntary Action in India, A retrospective Overview’; published in Voluntary Organizations, Responsible Partners in Nation Building; VANI (2000).
9) PRIA (1991), Voluntary Development Organisation in India: A study of History, Roles and Future challenges.
10)Salamon, Lester M. and Anheier Helmet K. and Associates (1999), The Emerging Sector Revisited, A Summary, The Johns Hopkins University.
11)Sitaraman G & Co., (2000), The Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975, Chennai.
12)Tamil Nadu Government, Evaluation and Applied Research Department, Economic Appraisal 1997-98, Chennai.
46 MEMBERS OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
1. Dr. Swapan Garain 8. Ms. Pushpa Sundar Tata Institute of Social Sciences Executive Director Deonar, Mumbai. Indian Centre for Philanthropy New Delhi
2. Dr. Gowher Rizvi 9 Ms. Indu Capoor Resident Representative Director Ford Foundation Centre for Health Education, Training New Delhi and Nutrition Awareness (CHETNA) Ahmedabad 3. Mr. Mathew Cherian Country Representative 10. Mr. Ajay Mehta Charities Aid Foundation Executive Director New Delhi National Foundation for India New Delhi 4. Mr. Nicholas Mckinlay Chief Executive Officer 11. Mr. Murray Culshaw Aga Khan Foundation Murray Culshaw Advisory New Delhi Services Bangalore 5. Mr. Noshir Dadrawala Executive Secretary 12. Mr. Jagadananda Centre for Advancement Member Secretary of Philanthropy Mumbai Centre for Youth and Social Developement 6. Mr. Joe Madiath Bhubaneshwar Executive Director Gram Vikas Berhampur; Orissa
7. Mr. Cherian K. Mathews Regional Manager Action Aid New Delhi
47 PRIA RESEARCH TEAM HOPKINS CORE TEAM
1. Dr. Rajesh Tandon 1. Dr. Lester M. Salamon President, PRIA Director Centre for Civil Society Studies 2. Dr. S.S. Srivastatva Johns Hopkins University Principal Researcher Baltimore, USA Project Director 3. Dr. Shailendra K. Dwivedi * 2. Mr. Leslie C. Hems 4. Dr. M. Padmanabhan** Director Centre for Voluntary Sector Policy 5. Mr. N M Swamy** University College of London London, UK 6. Chandra Shekhar Joshi Coordinator, Data Collection Strategy
3. Dr. Wojciech Sokolowski Centre for Civil Society Studies Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, USA Data Manager
4. Dr. Andrew Green Centre for Civil Society Studies * Since 1 August 2000 Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, USA
** From Anjaneya Associates, Chennai Coordinator, Legal Aspects
5. Ms. Mimi Bilzor Centre for Civil Society Studies Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, USA Communications Associate
48