Leaked report on India's NGOs: All conjecture, no teeth?

In late October, India’s Ministry of Home Affairs issued notices to more than 500 nongovernmental organizations in the country, asking them to justify keeping their licenses despite not filing annual returns of their foreign receipts. Properly filing receipts is one of the requirements of India’s Foreign Contributions (Regulations) Act of 2010, and the ministry has been strictly monitoring compliance over the past few years. NGOs that fail to meet this requirement often lose their license to operate. While not a new development, this latest announcement has only added to the uncertainty over the future of India’s NGOs. In June, India’s community of nongovernmental organizations was rattled by a leaked report from the Indian Intelligence Bureau that claimed foreign-funded NGOs were “negatively impacting economic development” by 2 to 3 percent per year. Twenty-two nongovernmental organizations were named, alongside a detailed list of their “anti-development” activities from 2011 to 2013. They were blamed for causing delays in the extractive industries, the implementation of large development projects, and the development of uranium mines, and nuclear, coal-fired and hydroelectric plants. The June 3 report, which was sent to the prime minister’s office, was leaked to the public — deliberately, some critics claimed, to discredit opponents of projects deemed detrimental to the environment. It alleged that a large number of Indian NGOs that receive funding from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands use “people-centric issues to create an environment [that] lends itself to stalling development projects.” The report further accuses foreign donors of using local NGOs to supply them with field reports, “which are used to build a record against India and serve as tools for the strategic foreign policy interests of Western governments.” Legal action from some of the accused But hardly any sources were cited to support the report’s assertions. Not surprisingly, several of the named NGOs and activists were quick to publicly refute the report’s claims — and a few have even started legal action. Greenpeace India, which was singled out for organizing “massive efforts to take down India’s coal-fired power plants and coal mining” and being a “threat to economic security,” filed a petition in the High Court of Delhi after the Ministry of Home Affairs banned it from receiving foreign funds routed through its parent organization. To date, it is the only nongovernmental organization whose funding was cut as result of the report, a government decision Greenpeace is challenging in court. About 30 percent of Greenpeace India’s total funding comes from international sources and the squeeze as the case drags on has forced it to scale down projects, with job cuts on the horizon. S.P. Udayakumar, a writer and teacher who heads the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy in Tamil Nadu, is among the individual activists named in the report. He has filed a suit not just against the government of India, but also against the official who leaked the report and various Indian media that covered it. But more NGOs kept mum However there are more NGOs — whether named in the report or not — that have chosen not to comment on the report for fear of reprisal from the government. “Not many NGOs came out with campaigns against the IB report,” Arjun Phillips, communications executive for Voluntary Action Network India, told Devex. “A lot of NGOs preferred to stay clear from commenting around the IB report fearing a backlash from authorities.” VANI did release a media statement shortly after the news broke and publicly defended India’s NGO community. It even sent petitions to the government. But because the claims came from a leaked report, which was “purely observational and devoid of any legal powers, the authorities were unwilling to engage.” ActionAid, meanwhile, chose not to comment publicly on the leaked report because it “didn’t want to react to speculation,” communications consultant Abhilash Babu told Devex, adding that the Ministry of Home Affairs initially denied the report’s existence. Nonetheless, the report has had a chilling effect on NGOs, some of them are concerned about external risks that lie ahead. Weeks after the leak, the Ministry of Home Affairs ordered NGOs to provide the Reserve Bank of India a detailed account of the nature of their foreign funds and their intended use. And just last week the ministry issued an advisory requiring organizations spending more than 20,000 rupees ($326) from their international accounts to withdraw the money only through checks and drafts. “It’s hard to comment whether this is an aftereffect of the report or mere fiscal requirements for the Income Tax Department,” Phillips said. Compliance is key In the current environment, VANI believes the way forward for foreign-funded NGOs is to be doubly sure their accounts are in order and that they comply with FCRA, India’s foreign contributions act. “VANI has always stressed on the importance of organizations maintaining their accountability and credibility,” Phillips said, stating that this is as simple as making annual reports public and filling out FC-6 forms, which record the annual account of foreign contributions, accurately. “We also started an initiative to collect annual reports, audit reports and foreign contribution returns of our member organizations so as to create a future contingency for advocacy by VANI, if ever the government initiates any legal action against an organization,” the communications executive added. Under FCRA, NGOs must be registered with the government to receive foreign funds and report where the funds are coming from and what they are used for in their annual accounts. Babu said ActionAid will maintain its policy of transparency, publishing details of work, annual reports and FCRA statements on its website. “As long as you’re filing your FCRA and following the laws of the land then I don’t see why you should be putting out additional media statements on this,” he said. Business as usual For the most part, while NGOs may exercise extra caution, they have not radically changed the way they work with the government or implement their programs. Udayakumar told Devex PMANE has not changed the way it advocates for its cause. Shortly after the report was leaked, the activist pushed through with a previous plan to present a memorandum to the national ministers for the environment, heavy industries and external affairs, asking them to reconsider their nuclear policy and focus on renewables instead. The report has not affected ActionAid’s work as well. The NGO has engaged with the government on around six projects this year alone, including opening a crisis center for women with the state of Madhya Pradesh in June and only recently working with the state of Bihar to rescue bonded laborers from Saudi Arabia. Greenpeace, however, is scaling down operations and looking at launching an aggressive domestic fundraising campaign. Divya Raghunandan, its campaigns director, said Greenpeace India used to be “completely self-sufficient.” But the organization expanded its operations two years ago, resulting in increased reliance on overseas funding. “[But] our goal is always to be self-sufficient … for our sustainability,” Raghunandan told Devex. Greenpeace India will continue to be “militant” about keeping accounts in order and complying with Indian laws, but has no plans to alter its campaigns or government engagement strategy. In the coming months, campaigns will focus on the government’s plans to dilute eight environmental and rights laws — including air, water, pollution and land acquisition laws — in parliament’s winter session. “We’d rather be shut down because we continue to fight this entire thing rather than change the course of our work and start doing something that doesn’t trouble anyone and doesn’t really deal with the real issues,” Raghunandan said. Greenpeace’s next court hearing is in January. Check out more insights and analysis provided to hundreds of Executive Members worldwide, and subscribe to the Development Insider to receive the latest news, trends and policies that influence your organization.