NGO'S Foreign Funding - A Security Threat

[Vishwarupa]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...-track-foreign-funds/articleshow/47730648.cms

Home Ministry brings in tighter norms for NGOs to track foreign funds

NEW DELHI: Non-governmental organisations will soon have to start furnishing details of foreign funds received and utilised by them for 'civil rights advocacy', a new category created by the home ministry to ascertain whether NGOs are using funds specifically for issues such as human rights, democratic rights, natural resources and religious discrimination.

In addition to this, every NGO in the country will have to put out details on its website within a week of getting foreign contribution of any value while banks will have to report all such receipts to the government within 48 hours of the transfer from abroad.

These requirements are part of the proposals under an exercise initiated by the Prime Minister's Office to tighten monitoring of NGOs. A fortnight after ETfirst reported on June 4 the planned move on PMO's instructions to amend the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules (FCRR), 2011, the home ministry has put in public domain the proposed changes to these rules following the Intelligence Bureau's inputs to it to "improve oversight and increase transparency" in the working of the NGO sector in India.

As per existing norms, NGOs are required to inform the government through their annual returns under 55 heads of 'purposes' for which foreign aid has been received and utilised by them. There was a 56th 'purpose', 'of activities other' than the 55 purposes. The home ministry has created a new category of such 'purposes', Civil Rights Advocacy, increasing the total number of purposes to 84.

Under the new category, NGOs will have to specify whether they received any funds and utilised them for purposes such as "human rights, caste/religious discrimination, tribal/indigenous people's rights, democratic rights, public accountability, issues regarding natural resources, climate change, cyber security, internet freedom, criminal justice system, communication strategy etc".

The ministry has created yet another category, 'Research', under which NGOs will have to specify spending of foreign funds on research, seminars, conferences, publications and lectures. "The effort is to ascertain specifically for what a NGO is getting foreign funds and what is it being spent on rather than leaving it uncertain," a senior home ministry official said.

The government has a provision to act against an NGO if any false information or concealment of material facts comes to light. The ministry had earlier suspended Greenpeace India's foreign funding saying the NGO derailed the Mahan coal project and would indulge next in "protest-creation" to target eight other plants, potentially impacting 40,000 mw of power generation.

hat also reflects in another proposed change in FCCR rules in the form which has to be filled up online for registration or renewal of licence for NGOs. The government has introduced a new declaration that NGOs must make that the foreign aid received by them will not be used for any activities "detrimental to national interest, likely to affect public interest, or likely to prejudicially affect the security, scientific, strategic or economic interest of the state", leaving it to the discretion of the state to determine a violation.

NGOs will have to also submit details of any social media account on Facebook or Twitter that it is operating, an apparent effort to keep tabs on social media campaigns.

 

[Rowdy]

We have to keep up the pressure until they mend their ways.

a snake never mends it's ways.
It has to be crushed.

 

[indiatester]

a snake never mends it's ways.
It has to be crushed.

The animal lover in me curses you.

 

[Abhijat]

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/repor...ernationalis-on-prior-permission-list-2097208

Stepping up crackdown on NGOs, India has put Caritas Internationalis India, an arm of the Vatican, under the prior permission category list. Caritas India partners with 350 NGOs across India and boasts of a force of over 250,000 volunteers.

 

[OneGrimPilgrim]

its maddening how the congress regime had given a free hand to such subversive entities! cruel misery & brutal death be upon it!

 

[rock127]

Govt cancels licences of 2,406 NGOs

In a fresh move, the government has cancelled the licences of 2,406 Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) across the country, which includes entities that run schools and hospitals.In the wake of the cancellation of their registrations, the NGOs would not be able to receive foreign funds.

According to official data, Maharashtra tops the list with the cancellation of licences of 964 NGOs followed by Uttar Pradesh with 740 and Karnataka with 614. The licences of 88 NGOs were cancelled in Tamil Nadu.

These cancellations have taken place between June 19 till today, officials said.The decision to cancel the registration of these entities under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act was taken by the Union Home Ministry after the NGOs allegedly failed to submit their annual returns and in view of other anomalies.

All the organisations were given proper notice by the Foreigners’ Division of the Home Ministry with adequate time to reply before their FCRA licences were cancelled, official sources said.

Meanwhile, in a related move, Caritas International, linked to the Vatican, may be put on a watch list and it would have to seek prior permission before receiving funds from abroad, official sources said, adding that the bankers of the NGO would be notifying them.

However, a spokesman for the NGO denied having received any such notice and said that the organisation has complied with all laid-down norms.

In two earlier rounds of crackdown this year, licences of nearly 13,470 NGOs were cancelled for alleged violation of FCRA.

 

[power_monger]

26 medals... I cant get over how hilarious that is ROTFLMAO.

This thread is going nowhete. Once more, read my lips:

STOP WITCHHUNTING THOSE NGOs!

Why is that banning NGO's get such reaction from you? Was any of your pal's missionary activity disturbed because of that?

I dont see any reason why a finland guy should get angry on Indian govt banning NGO's.

 

[Bheeshma]

The way the euro turds are squealing you know the govt is doing the right thing.

 

[pmaitra]

@jouni,

I will give you the benefit of doubt and assume that you truly believe that these NGOs are trying to help India.

I say, instead of feeding us fish, please let us learn to catch fish, so that we can live through our own hard work, and thereby with dignity, instead of receiving handouts.

One way to help us learn to fish would be if these western countries stop lending us this crutch of feeding us fish. Please take this crutch away, and let us live with dignity.

Personally, I believe these NGOs are just sitting sleeper cells ready to pounce and add fuel to fire once some type of political or economic upheaval takes place. We have seen this in Kiev. We don't want any of it.

 

[pmaitra]

Under Fire: NGOs Face Increasing Hostility
Long accustomed to occupying the moral high ground, NGOs are coming in for increasing criticism.

By Luke Hunt
June 26, 2015

Excerpts:

“A toothless bloke fishing in Indonesia whose livelihood is threatened by global warming is not as attractive as a bikini clad chick on the Great Barrier Reef, snorkeling,” he said. “Working with them showed me how the other side works and how agendas are pushed and pushed hard.”

In Australia, it was caught using photographs from a devastated reef in The Philippines as part of its campaign to have the Great Barrier Reef listed as endangered by UNESCO at next week’s annual meeting of the World Heritage Committee in Bonn.

Another long-term observer said that Greenpeace was unethical in publishing photographs taken from somewhere else and using misleading numbers, adding that it was a questionable decision to combine the future of the Great Barrier Reef with the entire coal industry.

Last year the Indian government singled out Greenpeace as a “threat to national economic security.”

But Greenpeace is not the only NGO in trouble. Far from it. Even the hallowed Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is under attack.

“The government can’t monitor everyone outside of Australia. And the industry agrees there are some who don’t kill animals humanely, although I still can’t quite get my head around a humane way of killing something. But it is a legitimate business and it employs people.”

In countries like China – where attitudes to the environment and human rights are like a red rag to an NGO bull – and in Cambodia – where more than 4,000 NGOs sprouted in the aftermath of war – groups like New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Greenpeace, are incensed by new NGOlaws which they say will curtail their activities.

Etcheson said the humanitarian situation in countries like Cambodia had changed as they no longer suffered the same vulnerabilities as 30 years ago, when incapable governments desperately needed NGOs to deliver basic services to their people.

 

[Vishwarupa]

http://www.jagritbharat.com/index.p...-is-responsible-for-anti-india-campaign-in-us

The terrorist-activist axis

In recent years, the Indian police and press have started to pay attention to certain groups with 'peace,' 'civil liberties' and 'human rights' identities.

Often, the scholars'/activists' assistance is by legitimizing a radical group through endorsement, such as when the Communist Party of India, Marxist Leninist Liberation honored the kin of about 1,000 'comrade martyrs', i e terrorists, at an event graced by several prominent 'social activists, environmentalists, and writers-turned-activists.'

There are various cross-ideological alliances for activism in India where separatists of various kinds, Islamists, Christian fundamentalists and Leftists converge for collaborations. They blame Indian culture and Hinduism in particular as the fabric that holds India together, and wish to see it dismantled.

US-based Indian intellectuals

What has not been investigated adequately is the role of US-based intellectuals. Often, such 'activism' to champion the 'downtrodden' brings together well-known South Asian Studies scholars from powerful institutions, journalists and individuals linked to various Washington, DC based groups. There are numerous campus seminars and conferences promoting the 'human rights' face of these alliances. The funding mechanisms are complex and tough to unravel, because of dual-purpose
work of individuals and groups.

A well-established coterie of Indian-Americans has been actively filing one-sided complaints against India's alleged human rights violations to US authorities, with varying degrees of authenticity. Such activism has led to the recent blacklisting of India by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. This Commission itself exists largely to protect the
freedom of Christian evangelists to convert internationally. Rarely, if ever, has it condemned Christian countries over freedom of religion or investigated allegations against the proselytizers' practices.

The US State Department declared in a recent report that India is a flawed democracy. Certain Indian Americans have played a pivotal role over the past decade in bringing about such condemnation, and they see this as the mere tip of the iceberg of what they wish to achieve in 'exposing' India, and in intellectually undermining India as a nation-state. Indeed, some of them insist that India is nothing more than an undesirable collection of conflicting groups.

In the reverse direction, these US-based scholars supply academic 'theories' and 'strategies' that feed the ground campaigns in India via Indian intellectuals and NGOs. Many of them are also members of political parties back in India, and hence their work tends to be dual-purpose. Yet, the potential violations of US laws that prevent funding of foreign political parties by US citizens have apparently not been looked into.

Ironically, many of these intellectuals are also aggressively raising millions of dollars from wealthy Indians in USA and India for these South Asian Studies programmes.

Geopolitical consequences

In critical geopolitical moments, these Indian Americans against India have diluted the USA's pressure against Pakistan, by making the average American hyphenate India and Pakistan as 'equal and same' in socio-political respects. The recent Outlook article by Seema Sirohi gives a concrete example to illustrate how this is happening.

The Fellowship

The reason for the lack of introspection by those involved is that many 'enlightened NGOs' see themselves as a fellowship of different kinds of rings of the heroic, wise and powerful. This 'association for a new humanity' is today's equivalent of mythical Arthurian roundtables, secret societies (such as Freemasons and esoteric groups) and councils of the wise. But these forged alliances, no matter how well intended initially, tend to attract disparate tricksters who corrupt other minions into becoming 'behind the scenes' power mongers. The ethics of deceit and treachery becomes the collective shadow and feeds 'structural violence,' i e destabilisation.

The real challenge facing the 'save the world' movement is the problem of recognising and dealing with the shadowy subversive ties of such fellowships.

Finally, every monopolistic fellowship develops both defensive and offensive strategies and tends to overreact when threatened in unanticipated ways: Hence, whistleblowers are often vilified, and their reputations and persons attacked to keep the wall of silence intact in the world of Human Rights Laundering.

Practical issues

I leave the reader to ponder the following questions:

1. Is there a need to investigate the potential existence of a transnational axis to undermine India, involving certain South Asian Studies scholar-activists in America, Indian NGOs and major US funding institutions, potentially with complicity or lack of knowledge of the full consequences?
2. Should there be a US Congressional hearing into the use of US taxpayer money to favor and spread one religion out of the many American religions in foreign lands?
3. Should there be a conflict-of-interest policy and code of ethics that will focus attention on 'dual use' human rights activities, and also prevent abuses of the power that givers have over receivers? Should there be restrictions against co-mingling of funds, people or other resources between secular apolitical philanthropy on the one hand, and either religious activity or political activity on the other? As in the case of airport security and in the case of policing money-laundering, the inconveniences caused by adopting measures of transparency in human rights work would be outweighed by the benefits to society.
4. Should there be voluntary disclosure by all individuals and organisations in the human rights and charity fields, concerning their transnational funding and links, such that the public and other organisations have the information to be able to make their own evaluations?
5. Are the numerous instances of US originated anti-Hinduism and anti-India scholarship merely random cases of the individual prejudices and personal bigotry of scholars, or are they a part of entrenched systemic biases?

 

[Vishwarupa]

Chandigarh child rights activist arrested over sodomy charges

The victims said accused Zulfiqar Khan, who runs NGO Theatre Age group, has been having unnatural sex with the inmates of a school being run by his NGO since the past six-seven years.

Child rights activist Zulfiqar Khan. Photo: Mail Today
A Chandigarh-based child rights activist and theatre artist has been arrested over charges of sodomy and attempt to murder.

Acting on a complaint filed by six victims and the accused's former partner, the Chandigarh police arrested Zulfiqar Khan (45) on Saturday.

The victims - in their complaint to the Chandigarh State Commission for Protection of Child Rights - said that the accused, who runs NGO Theatre Age group, has been having unnatural sex with the inmates of a school being run by his NGO since the past six-seven years.

The victims also alleged that Zulfiqar used to threaten the children.

The boys, who are now adults, recently lodged the complaint against Khan. The State Commission for Protection of Child Rights had asked the Chandigarh police to probe the allegations which were corroborated by the victims and other inmates during the probe.

The medical examination confirmed that the victims were sodomised. They have also submitted videos and photos which shows the accused sexually abusing the children.

"Zulfiqar Khan has been arrested under various sections of the IPC. He was produced in a court on Sunday."

"We are investigating the case to find out whether the accused abused more children," Sector 11 SHO Narinder Patial said.

Another person who exposed Khan was Kanwarpal. He was sacked by Khan when he objected to his wrongdoings.

https://in.news.yahoo.com/chandigar...t-arrested-over-sodomy-charges-051850650.html

 

[thethinker]

Aftermath of crackdown is showing.

Ford Foundation head in India moves on, hints at discord with government | Reuters

NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The head of the Indian operations of the U.S.-based Ford Foundation, one of the world's largest charitable funds, has announced she is moving roles, hinting at discord between the organisation and the government over its handling of charities.


The foundation has had its funding frozen after the government announced a probe into a $250,000 grant it had given to a vocal critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.


Since Modi's right-wing government swept to power, it has sought to tighten surveillance on foreign-funded charities, saying some have not disclosed details of their donations or used overseas money to engage in "anti-national" activities.


The home ministry has cancelled the foreign-funding licenses of more than 13,000 organisations since April including Greenpeace India. Charities say the move aims to muzzle criticism of initiatives such as industrial projects affecting the poor and the environment.


In a message to the foundation's grantees, Kavita Ramdas said she had completed her three-year term as the foundation's representative to India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, and was moving to a more senior post within the organisation in New York.


But she also alluded to the current challenges faced in India, saying civil society in India had faced a "rapidly changing context and new challenges" over the past year.



"The foundation has sought to navigate these times by maintaining a direct, constructive, and ongoing engagement with the Indian government," said Ramdas in a message sent this week and provided by the Ford Foundation in New York late on Friday.


She said the foundation had recently submitted an application to be registered in "keeping with the requirements of other philanthropic organizations".


"We continue to work hard to resolve these matters, and look forward to renewing our work with committed partners across all sectors to advance the aspirations of a new generation," she said.



The Ford Foundation, which has donated more than $500 million to India since 1952, provides grants to organisations working in areas ranging from child marriage and women's empowerment to the provision of clean water in slums.


In April, the home ministry put the $12.5 billion Ford Foundation on a watch list over funding it gave to Sabrang Communications and Publishing which is run by activist Teesta Setalvad and works on conflict resolution between communities.


At the time, Setalvad was pursuing legal cases against Modi, accusing him of failing to stop anti-Muslim rioting that killed at least 1,000 people when he was chief minister of Gujarat.



Modi has denied the charges and was exonerated in 2012 in a Supreme Court inquiry.


Setalvad herself is facing charges of criminal conspiracy for illegal acceptance of foreign contribution without registration and prior permission of the home ministry.


A statement from the Ford Foundation in New York confirmed Ramdas' departure from India to work as senior advisor to the president, adding the foundation's Indonesia representative David Hulse will temporarily serve as India head.



(Reporting by Nita Bhalla, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)

 

[OneGrimPilgrim]

Aftermath of crackdown is showing.

Ford Foundation head in India moves on, hints at discord with government | Reuters

NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The head of the Indian operations of the U.S.-based Ford Foundation, one of the world's largest charitable funds, has announced she is moving roles, hinting at discord between the organisation and the government over its handling of charities.


The foundation has had its funding frozen after the government announced a probe into a $250,000 grant it had given to a vocal critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.


Since Modi's right-wing government swept to power, it has sought to tighten surveillance on foreign-funded charities, saying some have not disclosed details of their donations or used overseas money to engage in "anti-national" activities.


The home ministry has cancelled the foreign-funding licenses of more than 13,000 organisations since April including Greenpeace India. Charities say the move aims to muzzle criticism of initiatives such as industrial projects affecting the poor and the environment.


In a message to the foundation's grantees, Kavita Ramdas said she had completed her three-year term as the foundation's representative to India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, and was moving to a more senior post within the organisation in New York.


But she also alluded to the current challenges faced in India, saying civil society in India had faced a "rapidly changing context and new challenges" over the past year.



"The foundation has sought to navigate these times by maintaining a direct, constructive, and ongoing engagement with the Indian government," said Ramdas in a message sent this week and provided by the Ford Foundation in New York late on Friday.


She said the foundation had recently submitted an application to be registered in "keeping with the requirements of other philanthropic organizations".


"We continue to work hard to resolve these matters, and look forward to renewing our work with committed partners across all sectors to advance the aspirations of a new generation," she said.



The Ford Foundation, which has donated more than $500 million to India since 1952, provides grants to organisations working in areas ranging from child marriage and women's empowerment to the provision of clean water in slums.


In April, the home ministry put the $12.5 billion Ford Foundation on a watch list over funding it gave to Sabrang Communications and Publishing which is run by activist Teesta Setalvad and works on conflict resolution between communities.


At the time, Setalvad was pursuing legal cases against Modi, accusing him of failing to stop anti-Muslim rioting that killed at least 1,000 people when he was chief minister of Gujarat.



Modi has denied the charges and was exonerated in 2012 in a Supreme Court inquiry.


Setalvad herself is facing charges of criminal conspiracy for illegal acceptance of foreign contribution without registration and prior permission of the home ministry.


A statement from the Ford Foundation in New York confirmed Ramdas' departure from India to work as senior advisor to the president, adding the foundation's Indonesia representative David Hulse will temporarily serve as India head.



(Reporting by Nita Bhalla, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)

i sense a lot of arses on fire, particularly from the jholachhAAP camp! my umpteen heartfelt good wishes to the GoI; and yes, please keep the pests-smothering drive going on with full force and increased intensity! even if everyone else were to be afflicted by some mental illness and were to come to criticize you and oppose your move(s), i would stand by you till the last leech is squashed, and also thereafter! <(- -)

 

[rock127]

Good riddance of these anti-national NGO's and their sold out local dogs.

 

[A chauhan]

Personally, I believe these NGOs are just sitting sleeper cells ready to pounce and add fuel to fire once some type of political or economic upheaval takes place. We have seen this in Kiev. We don't want any of it.

Same here ! they delay the projects of national interest. Majority of NGOs are vested interest and they don't have public interest. working for earning govt funds through scams or "commission" or false bills, not for welfare of the people.

 

[sorcerer]

French Secret Agent Apologizes for Sinking Greenpeace Ship 30 Years Later

A former French combat diver of the DGSE secret service who was in charge of sinking the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in 1985 apologized on New Zealand TV, revealing details of the clandestine operation.
The two blasts occurred in the harbor of Auckland, New Zealand on the night of July 10th 1985. The Greenpeace ship was heading for Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia to protest against nuclear tests. The French President François Mitterrand gave a direct order to stop the ship by any means, as Le Monde daily investigated after the event.



.

© AFP 2015/ ROSS WHITE
File photo dated 01 August 1985 shows the bombed hull of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior, following its sabotage by the French secret service in the port of Auckland 09 July 1985 to stop it from protesting against nuclear testing at France's Pacific Mururoa Atoll


A clandestine operation was planned and conducted by combat divers of the secret service DGSE. They were told Greenpeace is infiltrated by Communist agents and posed a threat to French national security, Jean-Luc Kister, the team leader who claimed himself responsible for the 1985 act of sabotage confessed to NZTV in a program this Sunday.

© AFP 2015
Undated picture of Portuguese photographer Fernando Pereira who died during explosions on board of Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior

Kister, who continued his military service after the Auckland sabotage, said the act was weighing on his conscience for the past three decades so he felt the need to apologize to the family of the Portuguese photographer Fernando Pereira, the only “accidental” and “innocent” victim of the explosions aboard the Rainbow Warrior.

“I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest regret,” the French colonel and former secret agent, addressed the family, the Rainbow Warrior crew and even the people of New Zealand, when he offered his apology.


He said he considers the sabotage of the vessel a great mistake by the French government and “an unfair, clandestine operation conducted in an allied, friendly and peaceful country.”

He noted the operation was “like using boxing gloves to crush a mosquito” but he and fellow frogmen had to obey orders because they were soldiers.

© Photo: YouTube/Mediapart
Jean-Luc Kister
Kister was the leader of a smaller team inside a group of 12 secret agents which planted and detonated the two limpet mines that winter night. Two members of the group, Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart, were caught by Kiwi detectives and later sentenced to ten and seven years, but served only two years each.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/world/20150907/1026672265.html#ixzz3l0eNaqdM

===

 

[jackprince]

See that woman at 4.09. She says that she felt sorry when she heard of the Mars Mission. Peddling poverty of India as her business. Just listen to her, I feel like thrashing her! Bastard! I wish her NGO is one of the banned ones, now.

 

[OneGrimPilgrim]

ladies and gentlemen, teesta pharjiwaad's ngo 'sabrang' also goes down! license cancelled by the HM (done as soon as the new secy. assumed his office)!

 

[salute]

See that woman at 4.09. She says that she felt sorry when she heard of the Mars Mission. Peddling poverty of India as her business. Just listen to her, I feel like thrashing her! Bastard! I wish her NGO is one of the banned ones, now.

she is probably only woman in that slum who can speak fluent english,
her masters must have taught her english so she can stir shit on bbc in english and britards can understand her bs.