Three American NGOs, including one patronised by George Soros, put on government watch list

NEW DELHI: Days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for a US-plus-four nations visit, his government put three US-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on the watch list. This includes an NGO patronised by billionaire global investor George Soros.


The home ministry, senior officials told ET, has decided that NGOs Open Society Foundations, World Movement for Democracy and National Endowment for Democracy should be under watch.

This means donors can no longer send money directly to these outfits in India. Prior clearance from the home ministry will be required.

Officials who spoke to ET did so on the condition they not be identified. Questions sent by ET to the three NGOs did not receive any response.

With these three added to the watch list, the total number of NGOs being closely monitored by the government has risen to 18. Ten of these NGOs were put on the list by the National Democratic Alliance government while the rest have been under watch since the time of the previous United Progressive Alliance regime.

Ford Foundation had been on the watch list for some time but it was, as ET had reported first, taken off after it agreed to register under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and move from the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). That put Ford Foundation under the ambit of the finance ministry and out of the home ministry’s remit. The FCRA licence of another prominent organisation, Greenpeace, stands suspended.

Officials said the three US-based NGOs were put under the scanner after security agencies raised “some serious concerns”. A senior official said while details of the security agency report were confidential, the broad concern was that these NGOs were active participants in “protests and rallies of anti-national nature”.

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Open Society, of which Soros is a patron, donates to NGOs working in the realms of media, rights and justice, and education, its website says. World Movement for Democracy, according to its website, works closely with civil society and in the past had donated money to Indian NGOs. National Endowment for Democracy, meanwhile, describes itself as a non-profit foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world.

The home ministry also recently suspended the FCRA registration of senior advocate Indira Jaising’s NGO, Lawyers Collective, for six months. Officials said Jaising’s NGO received money from US-based NGOs. Jaising has said the government is “misusing” FCRA.