NGO row: Home ministry braces for action against Teesta Seetalvad’s Sabrang Trust over Ford Foundation grant

NEW DELHI: After putting donor Ford Foundation on its watchlist, the home ministry is bracing for action against a prominent recipient of its funds — Teesta Setalvad's Sabrang Trust. The trust, found to have diverted a $2.9 lakh grant from Ford Foundation to the non-FCRA registered Sabrang Communication and Publishing Pvt Limited, may be asked to seek prior permission for funding from all its foreign sources, or even face suspension of its FCRA registration.

According to home ministry sources, the nature of action against Sabrang Trust for violating FCRA provisions by utilizing funds for purposes other than that permitted by the donor, is still being debated. It is expected to be finalized in the next few days.

A senior home ministry official said while the violations by the NGO, accused by the Gujarat government of "direct interference ... in the internal affairs of the country and also abetting communal disharmony in India", were serious enough to consider suspension of its FCRA certificate, there was a stronger possibility that the home ministry may invoke the rarely-used Section 11(3)(iv) of the FCRA, 2010, mandating prior clearance of its funding, irrespective of the foreign source.

The MHA had inspected the accounts of Sabrang Trust and Citizens for Justice & Peace after Gujarat government wrote to it alleging "serious" FCRA violations by the two NGOs. These include utilization of over 50% of foreign contribution from Ford Foundation for office expenses.



Ford Foundation, in an earlier statement to TOI, said it had officially learned that "the ministry of home affairs is reviewing information related to their ongoing investigation of Sabrang Communications and Publishing Pvt Ltd".

The Gujarat government alleged that diversion of Ford Foundation's grant to SCPPL was to "address communalism, caste-based discrimination in India, including media strategies".