The Voluntary Action Cell at India’s
Planning Commission, the nodal agency for the country’s voluntary sector, launched an
online system for NGOs to access information on various schemes of the participating Ministries/ Departments/ Government Bodies open for grants. Later on NGOs would also be able to apply online for government grants to the participating Ministries/Departments/Government Bodies and track the status of their applications through this system. Over 18,000 NGOs have registered on the site within 4 months of its launch! Mathew Cherian, Founder Trustee and Pushpa Aman Singh, CEO of GuideStar India had an encouraging meeting with Ms Firoza Mehrotra, IAS, Special Consultant of the Planning Commission. Some of the suggestions put forward by GuideStar India have already been implemented. GuideStar India views the NGO Partnership System as a positive development for the voluntary sector in India. This system generates a unique identifier for NGOs, for the first time in India. GuideStar India encourages NGOs to quote this identity number.