MHA says it will not compromise on national interest
After taking action against the international environment group
Greenpeace, the government has clamped down on four American NGOs
working in the same field — Avaaz, Bank Information Centre (BIC), Sierra
Club and 350.org.
Over the past month, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has directed the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to stop all foreign funding into the
accounts of these NGOs or their representatives without MHA clearance. A
letter issued by the Director of the Monitoring unit for NGOs said it
had been decided “to keep a watch on all the activities funded by
U.S.-based donor agencies” and lists the four groups.
The order could create a controversy ahead of U.S. President Barack
Obama’s visit to India this month, given that the U.S. has in the past
issued statements regarding India’s restrictions on international NGOs.
In 2013, after India took similar action against anti-nuclear groups in
Kudankulam, the U.S. State Department had denied it was linked to the
NGOs, but said such groups “are among the essential building blocks of
any healthy democracy.” Later, the funding for Greenpeace was also
frozen.
As a result of the latest MHA order, every fund transfer from abroad for
their activists in India will be held back pending clearance.
According to RBI records, the international NGOs were not registered
with the government. Neither had their employees in India applied for
FCRA clearance. The MHA is also going to inquire into all remittances
into India from these groups since January 2013.
Last year also saw the leak of an IB report titled “Concerted efforts by
select foreign-funded NGOs to take down Indian development projects.”
It contended that several foreign-funded environmental NGOs were
targeting development projects across the country. Apart from
Greenpeace, Sierra Club and 350.org were mentioned in Annexure B of the
IB report in a graph.
Home Ministry and Foreign Ministry officials did not comment on the
order and declined to speak about why U.S.-based NGOs had been singled
out for scrutiny.
Reason to worry, says NGO representative
A representative of an American green NGO, one of four whose foreign
funding will be stopped unless they are cleared by the Ministry of Home
Affairs (MHA), told TheHindu that the move appeared to question
democratic effort that individuals and organisations could exercise in
the country. “False allegations against activists of political
subversion are becoming commonplace and that is enough reason to worry,”
he said.
A letter the representative received dated December 10 said the MHA
Foreigners Division (FCRA wing) regulates receipt of foreign
contribution by NGOs to ensure that it is utilised for bonafide welfare
activities, without compromising on concerns about national interest and
security.
The government has clamped down on four American NGOs — Avaaz, Bank
Information Centre (BIC), Sierra Club and 350.org. Earlier it had acted
against Greenpeace.
With a claimed membership of about 40 million worldwide, New York-based
Avaaz works on several public issues and in September 2014, it had
organised a ‘People’s climate march’ in Delhi.
The Bank Information Centre (BIC) is an NGO-based in Washington that
tracks World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded projects
worldwide, but has a special focus on India. According to a description
on its website, its work involves public debate on coal and energy
projects in India, as “there is a complete lack of transparency and the
agencies who receive these borrowings are not accountable to the
people.”
BIC was particularly critical of the Tata Mundhra 4,000 MW Ultra Mega
Power Project in Gujarat, a key project for the Gujarat government.
New York-based NGO 350.org which works on climate-change and the
California-based Sierra Club have been opposing coal imports from
Australia for Indian thermal plants, including deals that were finalised
during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Australia in November
2014.
