India has one of the largest NGO sector in the world. The country has more than 33 lakh registered NGOs compared to 11 lakh registered corporates. However, the funding to these organizations is not very transparent and branches of some foreign NGOs divert the funding to other pet causes, which are often detrimental to the national interest and development agenda. Only few genuine organizations which are working for the welfare of the community face a shortage of funds.
The Modi government is all set to go for a second round of cleanup of foreign funded NGOs involved in ‘illegal’ and ‘subversive’ activities. This move on the NGOs, which act on the behest of anti-India and anti-Hindu lobby, is being implemented on the directions of PM Modi.
The government will treat the funding of suspicious NGOs as ‘investment’ instead of charity and therefore close scrutiny of such investment will be undertaken by the respective regulatory agencies. “Suspicious foreign entities are investing money in vulnerable NGOs, then it should not be considered as charity but investment for other purposes which should be properly examined by the institutions and authorities” said PM Modi.
Intelligence Bureau has reported that many foreign funded NGOs are “serving as tools for foreign policy interests of western governments.” The foreign funded NGOs have repeatedly created hurdles in major development projects and this cost 2-3 percent in India’s GDP growth, as per the report by IB.
The first clean up drive by Modi government against foreign funded NGOs was in 2015 when 42,000 organizations were put under government scanner and at least 4,000 of them were subsequently banned from taking foreign contributions. In the first clean up, the major target were the NGOs involved in stalling development projects.
In the latest drive, the Modi government aims to take on the NGOs involved in ‘conversion activities’. PM Modi is understood to have told top officers, “If the money is being pumped in for a social cause and nation-building, then there is nothing wrong. But if it is used by civil society to further the cause of foreign powers and subvert democratic institutions, then there is a serious danger. This is a new kind of challenge and we must be ready to face it.”
The foreign intelligence agencies are using NGOs to weaken India and disturb the social fabric of the country. Pakistan’s ISI is “targeting civil society groups and using a variety of tools to trigger socio-economic fault-line and communal tension (sic)” said the government directive.
Religious conversion is taking place in many states with the help of NGOs and it is being done through offering money. Every other day the law enforcement agencies bust a racket involved in conversion. As per the sources, 14 NGOs in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and a few others in Goa, Manipur, West Bengal, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh are under scanner for being involved in conversion activities.
“There were also instances where money was used for religious activities to create disturbances. The authorities should have an appropriate structure to deal with any deviation by civil society groups strictly,” said Prakash Misra, former Special Secretary (Internal Security), Ministry of Home Affairs.
The conversion brigade of religious groups masquerading as non-political NGOs from around the world have resorted to such nefarious tactics as paying people to protest against setting up of projects and corporations, such as Kudankulam nuclear plant agitation or the POSCO agitation in Odisha, or indulging in activities which would be outright offensive to any educated Indian.
The vast number of Christian missionaries working across India in the rural and tribal areas or the Islamic propaganda missionaries such as Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation has engaged in practices which can be deemed adverse to India’s national interests and its homeland security.