Need for accountability

Those sending relief material for the earthquake- affected are dogged by one doubt: how much of it is actually going to reach the people it is meant for? MARI MARCEL THAKAEKARA writes on the need for financial transparency.

I HAVE not been to Bhuj. At least, not yet. But I did not need to. This time the information came pouring in to my study in faraway Gudalur, in the Nilgiris, over the e-mail network and the internet, while television images beamed the horror of the earthquake to millions of Indian homes, shaking us out of our customary stupor.

I had friends in Gujarat. So we phoned immediately. Yes, everyone we knew was safe but the devastation was unbelievable and the death toll was rising. "Was there anything we could do?" we asked Martin Macwan, a leading Gujarat activist and founder of the Navsarjan Trust. "We have formed a network of over 200 Gujarati non governmental organisations, the Janpath Citizens Initiative. There is total chaos in Kutch, so we are advising volunteers not to rush there. We are working through the Kutch Navnirman Abhiyan, a network of NGOs, which worked during the Kutch cyclone in June 1998. We will e-mail lists of things needed and what has to be done."

Within an hour, the information arrived to sleepy Gudalur from Gujarat through Martin via Orissa from Dr. Devadasan who forwarded the Medico Friends Circle info from his WHO office in Bhubaneshwar. In Gudalur, everyone in ACCORD, our NGO office , felt personally concerned because Krishna ,our architect, had a narow escape. Unbelievably, he had been in Bhuj, the epicentre. When the earthquake occurred, he had gone on a village trip. All of us heaved a collective sigh of relief.

We relayed the information to everyone whom we knew would want to help. Non-resident Indian friends Geetha and Raju Rajagopal were wondering what they could do, when our e-mail reached them. Raju connected with the Janpath Initiative and left for Ahmedabad with a group of doctors from Apollo Hospital while Geetha sat at the computer coordinating fund raising and sending information to their Indians for Collective Action circle, in the United States.

Back in Gudalur, we spread the information and called a meeting to circulate the Gujarat wish list. The response was overwhelming. The Government was coordinating collection of money but people began arriving with blankets and clothes. Somehow word had got around that someone from ACCORD was going to Gujarat. Ordinary people - teachers, housewives, students - responded. They brought new blankets and clothes, saris, shirts, salwar sets. Everyone said the same thing: "we know if you take it, it will reach the people who need it."

Raju returned from Gujarat on Monday with the same message. The need for accountability. I would support the Prime Minister's Fund and NRIs would send crores if they knew how it would be spent.

If the Government wants credibility, it should make the financial inflow transparent. It should form a monitoring committee with people on it who have the confidence and respect of the public. I would add eminent and active people, respected judges, media personalities, educationists and academicians, people who are admired and respected, but who will stand up and object when anything shady happens.

Raju reported NGO concerns voiced in Gujarat. There was widespread fear that the Government would attempt to forcibly resettle people in quickly constructed, poor housing. The people are capable of building their own houses. But they need time to emerge from their trauma to take control of their lives. Quick fix solutions where once again contractors and the corrupt capitalise on human misery to make dirty money will not work. The rehabilitation plans should be made in consultation with the people using their creative ability and their inputs before formulating band-aid measures.

Currently, Raju reported, politicians persist in interfering in NGO efforts, hijacking money and materials and moving them to rich villages where their relatives or vote banks reside. The poor, especially those in the south of Gujarat, face a more immediate danger because their resources are scarce and their livelihoods has been put in jeopardy. They do not have rich relatives abroad who will help them to spring back and restart their lives. These people should be on the priority list.

Can the Government declare a national emergency during disaster situations so that politics can be pushed behind and collective action involving the government machinery, the armed forces, NGOs and religious groups be initiated? Can we draw up an emergency plan with the people's welfare as the basis of all decisions?

The people of Chennai have launched the Chennai Initiative to direct resources to Janpath which is seen as reliable. Loyola College will be a collecting point for relief material which will be despatched by Oxfam India.

The people of India, even the poorest of the poor, have responded magnificently. Will their money reach Gujarat? It is a question at the back of everyone's minds. Will the Government of India respond by cleaning up its act?

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