What are we having this liberty for? We are having this liberty in order to reform our social system, which is full of inequality, discrimination and other things, which conflict with our fundamental rights ~ Dr. B.R Ambedkar
Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has blocked Greenpeace India from receiving funds. The clampdown on Greenpeace India has been unprecedented since June 2014. But this time, the Ministry goes a step ahead by blocking receipt of Indian funds, which are donated by Indian individuals.
If this is not an attack on civil society, then what is?
It’s a cynical move to suppress democracy and silence those with an alternative vision of development. Last week, the MHA had temporarily suspended Greenpeace India’s license to receive money from overseas and served it with a show cause notice for alleged violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.
Greenpeace India gets almost 70% of its funds from Indians, and the MHA has ordered that these funds be frozen as well. There is no provision in the FCRA Act, 2010 which permits this.
If there is no provision for the above in the FCRA act, then what is the rationale behind MHA’s recent move? It is essentially a smokescreen for the government to shut down Greenpeace’s operations.
Samit Aich, Executive Director of Greenpeace India today hit back strongly at the government’s actions, saying: “We will follow due process and respond to the MHA’s claims of FCRA violations and take the matter to court. But the government has also blocked our domestic accounts and is now preventing ordinary Indians from supporting our work for clean air, healthy forests, pesticide-free food and a livable environment! This shows quite clearly that the MHA’s real objective is not to restrict our access to foreign funds, but to shut us down completely. In effect the government is dismissing the concerns of the hundreds of thousands of Indians that support our campaigns, and the 70,000 plus Indians who support us financially.”
In the five days since news of the FCRA suspension was leaked by the MHA to media, a number of Indians have come forward to pledge their support for the organisation. Greenpeace India has seen a wave of support in the form of new donors, but there is only one issue - they are not allowed to donate any longer, many have seen their attempts to donate to Greenpeace India blocked, allegedly on directions of the MHA.
Misinformation to media?
In addition to all the above acts of clampdown, the MHA also seems to have leaked documents or 'secret dossiers' to the Indian media with fabricated information. Greenpeace India has no idea no what is in these documents. The only official communication provided to Greenpeace India was the show cause notice which was received by us on 13th April, 2015 (note: 4 days after it was put up on the website and the news of it broke out in the media). It's important to note that the notice was first leaked to the media without any intimation to Greenpeace India.