New Delhi: Greenpeace India today said it was facing an “imminent shutdown” after the Union home ministry blocked its foreign funds and froze its bank accounts about four weeks ago, alleging the international environmental group was hurting India’s interests.
The NGO said its funds would last just about a month and its 340-odd employees might lose their jobs.
“We’ve been in trouble with corporate entities and governments around the world in the past, but we’ve never faced the threat of closure under government pressure like this,” said Divya Raghunathan, programme director with Greenpeace India in Bangalore.
Samit Aich, head of Greenpeace India, called a meeting of its staff today and asked them to prepare for an “imminent shutdown”.
Greenpeace had begun its India operations about 14 years ago, campaigning on air, energy and food issues.
The home ministry alleges the organisation has “prejudicially affected” India’s public and economic interests and violated the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
In a dossier, the ministry has accused Greenpeace India of campaigning against coal projects, portraying Indian tea as laced with pesticides, and trying to influence government policies.
Greenpeace India says it is preparing its formal response to the ministry decisions. Aich said he was concerned that the legal process could extend well beyond June 1, when the organisation’s cash reserves for salaries and office costs would run out.
Most of its 340 employees in India have been involved in fundraising and public campaigns on issues ranging from the hazards of India’s continued dependence on coal to genetically modified food crops and the challenge earthquakes pose to nuclear plants.
Raghunathan said the government’s decision to block the bank accounts last month had prevented the organisation from accessing funds received from over 77,000 Indian citizens.
“We have some reserve funds, but we have also been served three tax notices and asked to pay immediately,” she said.
A Greenpeace India statement today said the NGO had challenged the home ministry to stop using arbitrary penalties and admit that it was trying to shut Greenpeace down because of its successful campaigns.
Greenpeace International has often angered governments and corporate entities across the world.
It has campaigned against offshore Arctic oil drilling in Russia and the destruction of forests in Canada, and opposed the construction of a US Marines base at a site in Japan that the group says is the primary habitat of the dugong, a marine mammal.
In 1985, France had bombed and sunk a Greenpeace ship named Rainbow Warrior while it was docked off Auckland, New Zealand, preparing to campaign against nuclear weapons testing.
Today’s Greenpeace India statement said its shutdown would mean an end to its campaigns, which “strived to represent the voice of the poor on issues of sustainable development, environmental justice and clean, affordable energy”.
Greenpeace’s stand on nuclear energy has drawn criticism from lobbies in the nuclear energy industry.
Greenpeace says on its website that it “has always fought – and will continue to fight – vigorously against nuclear power”, claiming it represents “an unacceptable risk to the environment and humanity”.
Nuclear energy insiders say that nuclear power is cleaner than coal, cheaper than solar energy and could help the world reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, which are contributing to global warming.
Crackdown
Junior home minister Kiren Rijiju today said the Centre had cancelled the registrations of 10,117 NGOs, banned 69 others from receiving foreign contribution, frozen the accounts of 34 and placed 16 foreign donors, including the Ford Foundation, under the prior-permission category.
Ford has been put on the government’s watch list on grounds of “national interest and security”, and any funds from the US organisation to any NGO or agency in India must first receive home ministry clearance.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Rijiju listed seven major violations by the NGOs against whom action had been taken:
- Clubbing the foreign contribution account with domestic accounts – an FCRA transgression;
- Delaying annual account submission;
- Transfer of foreign contribution to unregistered NGOs;
- Spending foreign contribution for purposes different from the one mentioned by the donor or from the recipient NGO’s stated objectives;
- Registration of foreign contribution assets in the names of office-bearers rather than in the NGO’s name;
- Spending over half the foreign contribution in a financial year on administrative expenses;
- In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Rijiju listed seven major violations by the NGOs against whom action had been taken:
- Clubbing the foreign contribution account with domestic accounts – an FCRA transgression;
- Delaying annual account submission;
- Transfer of foreign contribution to unregistered NGOs;
- Spending foreign contribution for purposes different from the one mentioned by the donor or from the recipient NGO’s stated objectives;
- Registration of foreign contribution assets in the names of office-bearers rather than in the NGO’s name;
- Spending over half the foreign contribution in a financial year on administrative expenses;
- Changing over half the office-bearers without prior approval.
The action on Ford late last month had followed a Gujarat government complaint about the organisation interfering in India’s internal affairs and “abetting communal disharmony”.
