ABSTRACT
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in India have a rich and vibrant history, but one which has been characterized by a fluid relationship with the state and state instrumentalities. Over the past 150 years Indian governments, both colonial and postcolonial, have played a key role in shaping Indian NGOs, both in terms of how they function in society and their often fraught relationships with the state. Likewise, at key times in India's history, NGOs themselves have played a part in shaping the state. Generally, though, Indian NGOs are reluctant to admit that the state determines both the scope and nature of the work that they can undertake, and to some extent their structural forms - but like it or not, the relationship with the state is a defining feature of Indian NGOs. So who or what are these NGOs? Put simply, in India NGOs are those organizations that have some form of institutional base, are private, non-profit, self-governing, voluntary in nature, and registered with the government (Nandedkar 1987). The problem is that it is difficult to assess the range of NGOs in India that have NGO status from government, as there is no central mechanism to determine those that have been registered with the various local, state and national government instrumentalities (Sen 1993). This simple definition I have used hides a rather complex reality, which is the Indian NGO scene.
