Regulating NGOs : The Evil Nexus

Many NGOs in Bharat have become virtually a threat to security and sovereignty

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently said in a farmers’ rally at Bargarh in Odisha that “conspiracies were being hatched every day to finish and defame him.”
What Modi exactly said was, “Since the day we started seeking details (of foreign funding of NGOs), these people ganged up against me and said ‘Modi ko Maaro, Modi ko Maaro’ (Kill Modi). They are now hatching conspiracies every day to finish and defame me.”

Another Regulating NGOs : Taming the Trojan Horse

What made the PM to say so? He was not naming any terror outfit but NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisa-tions). Without naming organisations, he said that the government wanted the foreign-funded NGOs to be accountable and function within the ambit of law.
Though the Modi government at the Centre has been taking action against various prominent as well as non-entity NGOs, the timing of raising this matter before the beginning of Budget session of Parliament and before the rural mass has its own political reasons and implications.
“It is true. There are so many NGOs working in Bharat are virtually threat to security and sovereignty of our country”, said an official of the government department that monitors the foreign funding of NGOs on the condition of anonymity.
“Take for instance, Teesta Setalvad’s NGO, Citizen for Peace and Justice (CPJ) and that of Ford Foundation. It is a clear example of nexus between forces which do not want to see the prosperity and stability of the country,” he said pointing out at the relationships of vested interests of various organisations and people associated with them.
Here is an explanation how the unholy nexus operates. The contract signed between the funder and recipient of fund shows a clear case of sedition. “Contract asks the CPJ to unite Muslims masses and to mobilise them against the government of that time in Gujarat. It does not stop here. It further says to mobilise, advocate and use media to propagate against the state government of that time,” De facto central probe agency CBI has used matters of contract to file charges against CPJ in courts, said the source.
 It is important to note that CPJ had played a major role in getting Modi black listed in the US when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat. “All the papers which were required by the then US government to put a
blanket ban on Modi’s visit to US were supplied by Setalvad’s NGO. Actually CPJ was the brain child of Congress” claimed the source.
Curious cases of Ford Foundation, Green Peace
Funding organisation Ford Foundation (FF) was initially invited to Bharat by the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the year 1952. “He invited FF to foil the attempts of secret agency of the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) to hold grip on Bharat after it got freedom from Britain. Foundation was initially invited for five years. It got another extension of five years to remain in the country. However, after the expiry of said extension period it did not bother to quit the country”, said the source. Instead of leaving Bharat it remained here and worked without any valid permission. “It has got registered here in our country only in the month of December 2015 last year that too under FEMA in Finance Ministry, when Home Ministry started collecting evidences against its anti-law activities”, said the source further to underline the alleged activity of NGO.
“How an organisation of doubtful sanctity with a history of nefarious activities got registration in Bharat?  It is a matter of probe”, said another source who is aware of developments in the case.
“FF is being seen as supporter of Congress party” said RK Singh who has been working with many multinational NGO uninterruptedly for over twenty years. “Party has always doled favours to the foundation. A prime plot was allotted to it in Lodhi Estate at nominal price. Lodhi Estate is considered to be a prime location in Lutyens Delhi. Presently it has sublet half of its premises to another NGO American Aid without getting any permission from the appropriate authority. It is against the law. An organisation cannot sublet its allotted land or building after getting it from the government at a very low price”, said the source of government agency. Incidentally it also vindicates Singh.
Green Peace (GP) is another NGO which has been caught red handed by probe agency in its anti-national and unlawful activities. “Government has won five cases against GP. It is alleged that this NGO has stashed around Rs 100 crore in the country to fund illegal activities. About Rs 10 to 12 crore have been unearthed. 10 bank accounts have also been frozen, however it managed to get court orders to reopen two of its accounts to run its daily activities,” another official said who did not want to be named.
Besides other agitations GP had backed agitations against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power station and Mahan Coal field in the name of saving environment. Government considers these agitations as anti-development activities. This international organisation has been receiving funds from Britain, USA, Netherlands and Australia along with funds from FF.
In addition to these anti-national NGOs there are other 10,117 organisations which have been facing ban by Home Ministry’s agency established under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). “Despite repeated request to deposit their details of spending of money received by them through foreign donors, they did not deposit the required details. So we have put a ban on them to operate out of Bharat” said another ministry’s source.  
Ulterior motives of NGOs
There are strong allegations that many of these NGOs have been found engaged in conversion activities—conversion of backward Hindus to Christian or to Muslim. We can segregate these NGOs into three categories. One which gets funded by Christian countries, second which get funds from Muslim countries and last is the set of NGOs which work on line of cast and community and to backed by so called left leaning intellectual class of society. Following the extreme ideological path many of these people do not believe in constitutional frame work of Bharat.
 “Some big NGOs prefer to work with anti-BJP governments,” said RK Singh. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation works with Bihar government. State government provides them space to work within state’s boundaries. Without signals from state government they cannot proceed further. After working with anti-BJP governments for long period, their projects get a shape which looks like anti-BJP. In fact his experience says that some foreign NGOs come to Bharat with the sole objective to destabilise ruling governments. They get permission to send funds in Bharat only with this goal from their parent country.

However, it will be unfair to say that every NGO working here is anti-national. Some NGOs do good work for the society. DIFD—a British agency has been working in health sector since 2007 in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. After completing its first phase it had also started second phase of health programme which is going to end in March. Total outlay for project was around 145 million pounds. While 80 percent of the allocation was spent through respective state governments, only 20 percent of outlay was spent on technical aspect of project through three NGOs.

“Many more NGOs are doing good work in their field of operations but unfortunately they were forced to shut down their offices because of non-compliance of FCRA rules”, said the source of ministry.
“While in the case of Ford Foundation funding pattern is entirely different. Foundation first selects people from Bharat and sends them to USA or some other foreign destination. The candidates are trained rather brainwashed. And when these people get back to their country and start working, their approach becomes anti-national, against the nation,” said Hemant Kumar from Bihar, working with a reputed NGO.
Here it will be important to take note of difference in approach of two national parties towards society and its people. “BJP and its associated organisations always make sure that the benefit should reach to down trodden section of society. On the other hand, Congress never wants to reach actual benefits to lower and needy sections of society. It always believes in showcasing schemes started by it instead of transferring benefits of scheme to needy” said Kumar.
Interestingly since the time BJP-led NDA government has been taking actions against erring NGOs, the Congress, the main Opposition party at the Centre opposed the move. In her speech on the occasion of Women day on March 8, Congress President Sonia Gandhi said, “Surely, maximum governance involves giving freedom to civil society, NGOs and activist groups….are seldom heard.” Earlier to her many Congress leaders had expressed their anger and anguish against the move of NDA government.
 “The NGOs which were critical of governmental policies were on the firing line,” senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily said, adding that the present government is “very revengeful” and its actions amounted to curbing the movement of NGOs. Another senior Congress leader said recently, “BJP is muzzling the voice of India’s youth, students, teachers, journalists, opposition and every individual organisation that question dissent, disagreement or paralysis of governance. All such individuals or organisations are conveniently targeted by calling them ‘anti-national’ or Naxalites.”
 Rebutting the attacks of Congress leaders on banning of NGOs senior BJP MP and Chief whip of party in Lok Sabha Arjun Meghwal said “I support the action taken by government. Further probe should be carried out to expose the illegal and anti-national activities of some NGOs.”   

Arun Srivastava