Foreign funds help NGOs fuel unrest India – The Pioneer – 10.3.12

I n the midst of the raging controversy over alleged financial support by foreign-funded NGOs to the anti-nuclear protests in Kudankulam, a recent Home Ministry report shows that such  voluntary organisations are gaining massive funding from abroad for their activities in tribal-dominated States and North East.  According to the Home Ministry’s annual report of foreign contributions, approved by Union Home Secretary RK Singh on January 2012, as many as 2,325 NGOs are registered in the sensitive tribaldominated States like Odisha, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. These NGOs received around  600 crore during 2009-2010.

In North Eastern States, 816 NGOs have secured permission to accept foreign funds and they received 251 crore during the same period. It is interesting to note that vast majority of these NGOs are engaged in running indirect evangelic activities. Among these States, the highest money flowed into Odisha, which was ravaged by communal clashes over religious conversion of ethnic tribals in 2008. 215 crore has been pumped into Odisha through 1,240 NGOs registered in the State. In addition, much more money is understood to have been pumped into Odisha from similar NGOs registered in other States and metro cities. I n   t h e   r e p o r t ,   t he government admits that thorough checking of the accounts had been conducted only in the case of 12 NGOs nationwide.   T h e   c o n c e r  n   t  h a t   t  h e NGOs may have been engaged in money laundering and terror financing does not look farfetched. While tribal-dominated States are in the grip of Maoist violence, the North East is a veritable play ground for the anti-India insurgent groups.  As many as 465 NGOs a c  t i v e   i n   t  h e   N a x a l - h i t Jharkhand received around 160 crore during 2009-10. Similarly, NGOs operating in Chhattisgarh received  65 crore while those in the adjoining Madhya Pradesh received 143 crore from abroad. Among the North Eastern States, the highest foreign fund — 94 crore — came to Assam where as many as 253 organisations have permission to receive funds from abroad. The Centre has given permission to 500 NGOs to receive foreign funds for their activities — in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Manipur and Mizoram.  These NGOs got around 140 crores in 2009-10 period. More NGOs are likely to face the Kudankulam backlash in the coming weeks.