Lens on foreign funds to NGOs featuring on IB report

NEW DELHI: There is more trouble for NGOs receiving foreign funds in India. The government has decided to closely scrutinize flow of funds to all such NGOs against whom an adverse report has been received from IB. A meeting was held by home minister Rajnath Singh on Friday where a presentation on visa policy and Foreign Contribution Regulation Act ( FCRA) was made by foreigners division of the ministry.

The government has already put Greenpeace International and Climate Works Foundation under scanner and made it mandatory for them to take permission from MHA before pumping any funds in India.

A leaked IB report had recently alleged that protests against development projects fuelled by certain foreign-funded NGOs had caused a presumptive loss of 2-3% to India's GDP. It had also named a string of NGOs including Greenpeace India, Cordaid, Amnesty and ActionAid as those fuelling such protests through a network of local organizations such as PUCL and Narmada Bachao Andolan among others.

A senior home ministry official said, "During the meeting it was discussed that FCRA implementation should be tightened and there should be greater scrutiny of those NGOs about whom the government has an adverse report."

Government has also asked for a sensitisation programme to be initiated for NGOs to coax them to conform to FCRA regulations. "The home minister appreciated the FCRA Outreach Seminars in different parts of the country and desired that all Non Government Organisations (NGOs) receiving foreign funds are sensitized about the compliance with FCRA Act and rules," said a home ministry spokesperson.

The meeting also discussed visa policy in detail and stressed on developmental aspects of the same to promote tourism and other economic activities. "Rajnath Singh appreciated the need to strengthen security while facilitating legitimate travelers and instructed that Immigration, Visa, Foreigners Registration and Tracking (IVRFT) Project should be implemented at the earliest," the spokesperson said.

During the meeting, it was explained to the Minister that the integrated online visa system presently covers 148 Indian Missions and the online foreigners' registration system inside India has reached 80 per cent coverage.

NGOs in India receive foreign donations in excess of Rs 10,000 crore annually from over 150 countries. The IB report alleged that the "areas of action" of the foreign-funded NGOs include anti-nuclear, anti-coal and anti-Genetically Modified Organisms protests. Apart from stalling mega industrial projects including those floated by POSCO and Vedanta, these NGOs have also been working to the detriment of mining, dam and oil drilling projects in north-eastern India, it said.