Although India has made significant progress in recent years, there are large sections of society that have barely benefited from this progress. While its burgeoning middle class is getting more prosperous, several communities, both rural and urban, still live a marginalized existence, lacking even the most basic health, education and employment facilities. According to 2002 Human Development Index indicators, India ranks 103rd, behind even countries like Mongolia and Gabon.

Many of India's poorer communities have been historically neglected, as they belonged to the lowest rungs of India's social hierarchy. The position of women in our society leaves a lot to be desired. When it is so difficult to get by despite being physically capable, one can well imagine what the situation is for the physically and mentally disabled. For the last decade, another scourge has been the dreaded HIV/AIDS, of which, according to official statistics, there are 5.5 million sufferers today.

Many rural poor often escape to the city to escape drought and minimal employment options. Once there, they have no roof above their heads, nor do they have the minimum access to health and education for their children. They are left to scrape out a living doing manual labour at dictated wages and inhuman working conditions at best, and have to resort to begging, scavenging, crime and commercial sexual activity at worst. They are generally alienated and lonely in their suffering because of being uprooted from their familiar and familial support network. Those who do manage to construct some sort of a living space live under constant fear of eviction, because as far as official records are concerned, they do not exist. Hence, they do not have access to government food programmes and subsidies either. The metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata are full of such slums or jhuggis inhabited by marginalized communities.

In rural areas, many parts of which are badly in need of development themselves, certain communities have been traditionally deprived and kept out of the development and social network. A large number of villages in the country do not even have access to basic sanitation, electricity, education and health services. A number of former hunting and animal handling communities have had their livelihoods banned due to government restrictions and wildlife laws. With little else in terms of employment opportunities, they have to resort to marginal agriculture. A year of drought is enough for them to stake their lives on petty activities.

In rural areas, many parts of which are badly in need of development themselves, certain communities have been traditionally deprived and kept out of the development and social network. A large number of villages in the country do not even have access to basic sanitation, electricity, education and health services. A number of former hunting and animal handling communities have had their livelihoods banned due to government restrictions and wildlife laws. With little else in terms of employment opportunities, they have to resort to marginal agriculture. A year of drought is enough for them to stake their lives on petty activities.

Recognising the need for community development, the government of India launched a pilot community development project, the Etawah Project. In 1952, 55 community development projects were launched, each covering about 300 villages. Then in 1957, the Panchayati Raj system of rural local government was introduced to decentralise the implementation if community development programmes.

Human development is measured not in terms of wealth, but in terms of health, knowledge and general standards of living. It is among the people, both urban and rural, who need it the most that a number of government and non government organizations are actively engaged with, providing health and education and supporting them in their employment needs.


Health: One field where NGOs can actively participate for community development is health and related services. Voluntary organizations can run clinics and health centres where the deprived can meet their basic health requirements. Numerous NGOs run specialized clinics for AIDS patients and for those with serious ailments like tuberculosis, leprosy, disability, and mental sickness. Alongside clinics and health centres, they also run awareness campaigns educating people about various diseases and how to avoid them. AIDS being the most high-profile of these diseases, plenty of opportunities exist for NGOs to make their presence felt by complimenting the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) in providing treatment, awareness and accommodation to patients. Many NGOs are engaged in prevention measures by providing free condoms and syringes. In a society where a debilitating disease is a stigma and victims are often left unattended, NGOs fill this void of care.

Education and literacy: A great number of national and international organizations regularly organize voluntary services for educating children and adults from poor and deprived households, engaging in literacy and vocational training, computer classes, and setting up local schools in slums and rural areas, thereby setting up steps to control child labour and exploitation.

Microcredit and employment opportunities: Some organizations provide loans to enable small-time entrepreneurs and women to get their own business or shop running. Microfinance services provide enough motivation and self-respect to the needy who can then prosper, organize themselves into groups and networks and raise their standards of living. (See Microcredit and microfinance)

Women's groups: NGOs can also take part in educating women about their legal rights and organizing them into self-employment activities.

All these measures can go along way towards empowering the impoverished, enabling them to chart their own course and take their futures in their own hands.

(See also Agriculture and Rural Development)

The Bharatiya Agro-Industries Foundation was founded in Pune in 1967. This NGO implements nationwide community development programmes such as livestock rearing, health, water management, rehabilitation, women, education and energy conservation. One of BAIF’s most illustrious achievements has been its implementation of bio-energy in rural areas, especially in villages that are not even electrified, for pumping drinking water in several districts in Karanataka. It has also promoted smokeless chulhas and solar stoves in kitchens and solar lamps in residences.

Another outstanding project implemented by BAIF, launched in 1982, is its horti-forestry programme of developing orchards or wadis on tribal-owned wastelands in the Valsad district of Gujarat that are run completely by women, staying true to the ancient tribal custom of wavli or woman's authority over vegetable products. With its success, the wavli concept has been implemented in other employment-generating projects as well. These projects have ensured food security and a healthier environment, and have hence been replicated in Karanataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan as well.

BAIF Development Research Foundation
NGO committed to sustainable rural and community development projects, rural empowerment and self-determination.

CARE India
Economic assistance and self-empowerment

Himalayan Volunteer
International voluntary organization carrying out community development projects in Nepal and in India

International Institute for Sustainable Development
Global organization that champions innovation in sustainable development and better living

Child Relief and You (CRY)
Organisation for welfare of children and their education and health