Activists bristle as India cracks down on foreign funding of NGOs

Japan and India were likely to agree at their summit meeting this month to resume talks toward a civilian nuclear cooperation pact.The pact would pave the way for exporting Japan’s nuclear technology to the massive market.

“All our work has come to a stop,” said Henri Tiphagne, head of a human rights group called People’s Watch. “I had visited [the] Koodankulam protest site once. Is that a banned territory?”

But the government’s action appears to have had its desired effect. “NGOs are too scared to visit Koodankulam or associate with us now,” said anti-nuclear activist S. P. Udayakumar.

Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said many NGOs are afraid to speak up about the suspension of their foreign funding approval, which is “being used to intimidate organizations and activists.”

Imagr source ; http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/udayakumar-to-sue-manmohan/article2934069.ece

By Rama Lakshmi, Monday, May 20, 2:44 AM

NEW DELHI — Amid an intensifying crackdown on nongovernmental groups that receive foreign funding, Indian activists are accusing the government of stifling their right to dissent in the world’s largest democracy.India has tightened the rules on nongovernmental organizations over the past two years, following protests that delayed several important industrial projects. About a dozen NGOs that the government said engaged in activities that harm the public interest have seen their permission to receive foreign donations revoked, as have nearly 4,000 small NGOs for what officials said was inadequate compliance with reporting requirements.

The government stepped up its campaign this month, suspending the permission that Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF), a network of more than 700 NGOs across India, had to receive foreign funds. Groups in the network campaign for indigenous peoples’ rights over their mineral-rich land and against nuclear energy, human rights violations and religious fundamentalism; nearly 90 percent of the network’s funding comes from overseas.“The government’s action is aimed at curbing our democratic right to dissent and disagree,” Anil Chaudhary, who heads an NGO that trains activists and is part of the INSAF network, said Tuesday. “We dared to challenge the government’s new foreign donation rules in the court. We opposed nuclear energy, we campaigned against genetically modified food. We have spoiled the sleep of our prime minister.”In its letter to INSAF, the Home Ministry said the group’s bank accounts were frozen and foreign funding approval suspended because it was likely to “prejudicially affect the public interest.”

A government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said the government is not against criticism. But when an NGO uses foreign donations to criticize Indian policies, “things get complicated, and you never know what the plot is,” the official said, adding that NGOs should use foreign donations to do development work instead.

The United States is the top donor nation to Indian NGOs, followed by Britain and Germany, according to figures compiled by the Indian government, with Indian NGOs receiving funds from both the U.S. government and private U.S. institutions. In the year ending in March 2011, the most recent period for which data are available, about 22,000 NGOs received a total of more than $2 billion from abroad, of which $650 million came from the United States.

Asked last week about the Indian government’s moves against foreign-funded NGOs, a U.S. State Department spokesman said the department was not aware of any U.S. government involvement in the cases. The spokesman said such civil society groups around the world “are among the essential building blocks of any healthy democracy.”

The situation in India is not unlike the problems that similar groups face in Russia, where a law passed last year requires foreign-funded NGOs that engage in loosely defined political activities to register as “foreign agents.”

Tokyo stocks rise 1.38pc by break

Monday, 20 May 2013

“….Providers of nuclear power generation systems rose after a report in the Nikkei business daily that Japan and India were likely to agree at their summit meeting this month to resume talks toward a civilian nuclear cooperation pact.

The pact would pave the way for exporting Japan’s nuclear technology to the massive market. Toshiba jumped 3.83 percent to 541 yen and Hitachi was up 3.39 percent to 792 yen.

Talks with India have been suspended following the March 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Japan signed nuclear pacts with Turkey and the United Arab Emirates earlier this month, the first since the accident…..”

http://www.brecorder.com/top-news/108-pakistan-top-news/120234-tokyo-stocks-rise-138pc-by-break.html