Non-governmental organisations (NGOs): India
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An overview
Only 2% NGOs registered with govt
PTI | Mar 23, 2014
NEW DELHI: Despite voluntary organizations receiving over Rs 11,500 crore of foreign funds annually, only two per cent of the 20 lakh odd NGOs operating in the country have been registered, raising eyebrows in the home ministry.
According to a home ministry report, although there is no centralized database on the number of NGOs in the country and the quantum of finance involved in their operations, unofficial figures indicate that there are over 20 lakh NGOs registered under Societies' Registration Act, Trust Act etc.
However, the number of NGOs registered under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act would be less than 2 per cent of the total number of NGOs.
"Though, the number of associations reporting receipt and utilization of foreign contribution is increasing; yet, it is a matter of concern that a large number of registered associations still do not submit their statutory annual returns mandated by the law," the latest Home Ministry report on receipt and utilization of foreign contribution by voluntary associations said.
A total of 43,527 NGOs were registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act up to March 31, 2012. During the year 2011-12, a total of 22,702 NGOs reported receipt of foreign contribution amounting to Rs 11,546.29 crore.
Altogether 9,509 NGOs have reported 'Nil' receipt of foreign contribution while many have not filed their returns.
Top four recipient states
Among all states and Union Territories, Delhi received highest amount of foreign contributions in 2011-12.
While Rs 2285.75 crore of foreign contribution has been received by 1482 NGOs in the national capital, 3341 NGOs in Tamil Nadu received Rs 1704.76 crore, 2527 NGOs in Andhra Pradesh received Rs 1258.52 crore and 2056 voluntary organizations in Maharashtra received Rs 1107.39 crore.
Top five donor countries
The five major donor countries are the US (Rs 3838.23 crore), the UK (Rs 1219.02 crore), Germany (Rs 1096.01 crore), Italy (Rs 528.88 crore) and the Netherlands (Rs 418.37 crore).
Foreign-funded NGOs with malign agendas
Foreign-funded NGOs stalling devpt: IB report
The Times of India Jun 12 2014
To Muzzle Dissent, Say Activists An Intelligence Bureau report has accused “foreign-funded” NGOs such as Greenpeace, Cordaid, Amnesty and ActionAid of “serving as tools for foreign policy interests of western governments” by sponsoring agitations against nuclear and coal-fired power plants across the country.
The NGOs, said to be working through a network of local organizations such as PUCL and Narmada Bachao Andolan, have negatively impacted GDP growth by 2-3%, claims the IB report sent to the PMO and other government agencies.
Environmental activists joined Greenpeace in rubbishing the IB report. Greenpeace said it was a conscious attempt by the country’s premier intelligence agency to crush and stifle opposing voices in civil society. The organization also wrote to the home minister, requesting him to share a copy of the report “to know and understand impacts of this labeling”.
As far as the source of funding is concerned, the NGO said, “Greenpeace India is funded by individual supporters in India. Greenpeace does not accept any donation from corporate or government entities.” Environmentalist Ramesh Agrawal, who recently won the Goldman Environmental Prize for resisting destruction of forests by private mining companies in Chhatisgarh, said the report was an attempt to muzzle dissent. “Environmentalists working on the ground have always been branded as anti-development.
At a time when global warming is threatening us and air pollution is the most serious
public health problem, why is the government suppressing voices of dissent?“ he asked.
The IB report -addressed to PMO, heads of joint intelligence committee and R&AW , national security council secretariat (NSCS), coal and power secretaries, home minister, finance minister and Cabinet secretary , and signed by IB joint director Safi A Rizvi -alleges that the “areas of action“ of these 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 adds.
According to the report dated June 3, these NGOs are allegedly the influence behind “Praful Bidwais and Medha Patkars“. The document, the details of which were accessed by TOI, accuses Greenpeace of having expanded its activities to oppose coal-fired power plants and coal mining and receiving Rs 45 crore from abroad in the last seven years.
“It is using foreign funds to create protest movements under `Coal Network' umbrella at prominent coal block and coal-fired power plant locations in India,“ alleged the IB report.
Since 2013, Greenpeace has undertaken protests in five project-affected villages of Mahaan (in MP) coal block allocated to Essar and Hindalco under the banner of Mahaan Sangarsh Samiti. Its activists have been targeting mining companies, specifically Coal India, Hindalco, Aditya Birla group and Essar as they “stand in their way“, the report alleged.
The report has also raised questions over nearly $40,000 deposited in two bank accounts of S P Udayakumar, convenor of People's Movement against Nuclear Energy that has been at the forefront of the agitation against the Kudankulam N-plant. The money was supposedly transferred by Ohio University for sending in resources and articles in the field of Kudankulam.
