Mission AHIMSA – An Overview

Is AHIMSA an NGO of Honest Indians?

How wonderful if AHIMSA could be something like “Association of Honest Indians for Management of Social Action” or “Alliance of Honest Individuals/Institutions for Management of Social Action”! It would then have served as a Super NGO (a nationwide network) for unified, organized & constructive action against corruption. Professing some grand ideas, collecting 8 to 10 people and registering an NGO is the easiest thing that can be done by anybody today in this country (That’s why we have more NGOs per 1000 Indians than we have toilets, schools or hospitals). Such easy methods as forming associations, organizing protests, sloganeering etc., will not help weed out corruption from this country. Combating corruption and putting a check on it requires patience, perseverance, hard work and unified action. It requires above all (and foremost amongst all) awakening awareness amongst the masses. So AHIMSA is not an NGO but it has and will have much to do with honesty and honest Indians.

So, what does AHIMSA stand for, actually?

Awakening Honest Indians for Management of Social Action

Awakening Honesty amongst Indians for Management of Social Action

Awakening Honesty Internationally for Management of Service to All

Yes, it is all these and more!

Mahatma Gandhi had boldly demonstrated that Ahimsa is not weakness, but strength. AHIMSA will be a positive movement aimed at awakening and harnessing positives values such as honesty, social commitment and courage amongst the people, especially amongst students and youth. It’s a dynamic, concerted, peaceful uprising of all the good forces within society for constructive action. 

Is AHIMSA concerned with tackling corruption in the political sector so much as it is with the social sector? If not, why?

For a long time now, we have been hearing voices mainly from the social service sector clamoring against corruption in the political and administrative sectors of our country. While the head of a nation lies in its political system, its heart lies in its social sector. And for the health of a nation it is important that both its head and heart function as sanely and purely as possible. When that heart loses its sense of justice, integrity, propriety and compassion it is that which needs to be remedied first. And so, the need amongst us today for something as Mission AHIMSA which caters to the management of social service activities, whether run by GOs or NGOs.

Is the NGO sector really in such a bad condition as the need for Mission AHIMSA seems to suggest?

There are many NGOs who are doing nothing more than sheer business. The plight of disadvantaged people, including children, living within many Charitable Institutions in India is really pitiable. Human right violations, setting up of bogus projects and programmes, misappropriation of funds, forging of documents, distortion of facts, exploitation, deception, cheating, torturing, and several such crimes and anti-national activities are taking place today on a growing scale within the social service sector. Most such crimes taking place within some such crooked and corrupt NGOs lie hidden from the public eye because of several reasons. The reasons include the deception these NGOs play by putting up an outwardly humanitarian face to their activities; the inability and helplessness of the disadvantaged inmates and beneficiaries of these institutions to fight against their purported guardians; the public’s ignorance about the real happenings within the sector, its association with these NGOs being mostly at a superficial level; the hand-in-glove nature of relationship the functionaries of these NGOs enjoy with their auditors and certain other governmental authorities; and the apathy/unwillingness on the part of even the Media to find out the truth and voice against such NGOs, there being some sensitive issues involved. Therefore, an intervention as this has become quite imperative mainly to safeguard the interests of millions of disadvantaged people dependent on this sector.  

How does Mission AHIMSA aim to tackle these problems?

A lot of issues in this regard need to be seriously addressed and solutions sought out & implemented at various levels. At the Governmental level, actions that can be taken include strict enforcement of existing machinery to monitor and regulate NGOs, legal reforms including revamping of existing laws regarding governance of NGOs (Trusts, Societies, etc) and corruption-free implementation of various social service schemes. At the Non-Governmental front, all honest social workers and organizations need to take initiatives to reform the sector. Those NGOs who are honest, transparent and accountable need to come forward to support and spread AHIMSA. For all these to happen, first and foremost, a nationwide awakening as to the problems, reforms and regulations required needs to be generated amongst the masses. And, the conventional and social media have a big role to play in generating this awareness. Mission AHIMSA is more about getting all good people to act consciously, in whatever small way they can, to safeguard honesty in public and social lives than wage a direct war against the evil of corruption. Mission AHIMSA in its preliminary phase aims to raise a nationwide debate on the various ills plaguing the social service sector of contemporary India and on practical solutions to resolve the same.

Does Mission AHIMSA make a total condemnation of all NGOs?

No. The Mission aims to draw our attention to some unholy things happening within the sector. But it does also recognize the presence of many good NGOs, dedicated social workers and their valuable services too. The Mission aims to safeguard the masses from falling prey to appearances and hypocrisies, to enlighten them to see the good and the bad, and to help them support the really deserving. The Mission aims to inspire mature social thinking amongst the masses in its efforts to tackle the negative issues plaguing the sector. Mission AHIMSA aims to educate, enlighten and equip the masses, especially the youth, to weed out all bad elements from the system and to give our country a sane, strong and sensitive social service sector. Since most of the disadvantaged persons who get exploited and tortured by corrupt and cruel NGOs remain helpless and voiceless a movement as AHIMSA becomes of great humanitarian significance.

How is AHIMSA going to impact the poverty and development of the country?

Just see, how many crores of hard-earned money gets allotted each year for the welfare of our country and its countrymen! But how much of it really hits the target? How much of it reaches the deserving beneficiaries? Corruption is at the root of all these inadequacies and AHIMSA aims to strike right at the root of this corruption and consequently help eradicate poverty. By cleansing the social service sector it becomes strong enough to ameliorate the effects of poverty, both at the governmental and non-governmental levels. And, as for the development of the country, it’s not something the social service sector needs to be bothered about much. Development and economic growth are the agenda of the political system, and at a time when we have such a powerful man of vision and action as Shri Narendra Modi leading the nation, I think there is absolutely nothing to be worried about. As our highly positive and dynamic Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi assures us, Mission AHIMSA (MA) too believes that good days are approaching.

Wouldn’t the existing NGO sector raise some threats to Mission AHIMSA?

India has one of the strongest NGO sectors in the world when it comes to numbers. But when it comes to the quality of the NGOs, when it comes to things such as the quality of their services, honesty, transparency and accountability, is there enough reason for us to be proud about? Certainly not, and that’s why something as Mission AHIMSA has now taken birth in this land. Standard Accounting Practices, a Common Code of Conduct, Inclusive Management Bodies, Transparent Fund Management Systems etc., can be adopted and brought into effect easily only if NGOs make themselves ready for such things by themselves. All honest social workers and NGOs will certainly contribute constructively to the debate and help carry forward Mission AHIMSA to success. But it’s also true that a number of dishonest social workers and corrupt NGOs will try to ignore, injure or destroy the Mission, in all ways possible to them to safeguard their self interests. Today I may be the only person to speak for Mission AHIMSA. But I’m sure in the months and years to come, there will be millions and millions who will embrace Mission AHIMSA. The beginning will be a bit slow but once it strikes the right chords, then there will be no stopping the Mission. I can be destroyed but my thoughts cannot be destroyed. It’s right and powerful thoughts that transform into right actions over a period of time.

What are the ways in which anybody can support Mission AHIMSA and be a part of it?

It doesn’t matter if you are a teacher or a student, a doctor or a patient, an employer or an employee, a writer or an artist, professional or amateur, young or old, rich or poor… just see if you are somebody who loves honesty and cares to see that our social service sector stays corruption-free… if you are one such person, then Mission AHIMSA is yours. Mission AHIMSA doesn’t need your money, but it needs your mind. Write comments, share messages through social media, create new posts, blog, write articles, speak, sing, discuss, do whatever you can to help spread the Mission far and wide, do all or any of these and you would be a valuable part of the movement. It’s with the fuel that you lend the mission thus, that it will go farther and farther. As more and more people start talking about and sharing thoughts about the Mission, serious discussions will start taking place at appropriate forums, and that in turn will lead to right solutions.