Voluntary Organisations, NGOs and the ‘Politics of Development’ in India: A Critical Exploration

This essay studies the domain of politics of development constituted by the state, and attempts to plot the emergence of the voluntary sector, NGOs in particular, as a representative in this contested domain. It argues that the critique of NGOs cannot be simply directed at foreign aid, but to NGOs’ capacity to absorb ‘intellectuals’, by providing a secured livelihood and thereby co-opting them within the fold of international development discourse. The depoliticising effect of NGOs then actually relates to the crisis faced by the ‘intellectuals’ and their role in society, rather than the real deprived section of the population.