The organisations are working on impact of coal projects
While the Home Affairs Ministry has directed the Reserve Bank of India to stop the flow of foreign funds to four non-governmental organisations, three of them are yet to get an official intimation of the order.
Bank Information Centre, Avaaz, 350.org and Sierra Club are engaged in work related to the social and environmental impact of coal projects. Sierra Club has denied any presence in India.
“We do not have any staff or offices in India, and we have not been contacted by the Indian government recently regarding the details of this issue,” John Coequyt, director of international climate programmes of Sierra Club, said in an e-mail to questions from The Hindu. “One of Sierra Club’s major goals is to promote the transition from dangerous fossil fuels to clean energy solutions that create jobs and reduce pollution. Therefore, we monitor U.S. government funding of projects and institutions that may affect those goals at home or abroad.”
A letter from the Director of the Ministry’s unit monitoring NGOs says it has “decided to keep a watch on all the activities funded by U.S.-based donor agencies,” listing the four groups. Every fund transfer from abroad to their activists in India will be held back, pending the Ministry’s clearance.
‘Not registered’
RBI records say the international NGOs have not been registered with the government. Nor had their employees in India applied for the Ministry’s Foreigners’ Division (FCRA wing) clearance. The Ministry is going to enquire into all remittances into India from these groups since January 2013.
BIC and Avaaz have not received any official letter stopping their funds. A leaked Intelligence Bureau report, “Concerted efforts by select foreign-funded NGOs to take down Indian development projects”, in 2014 alleged that several foreign-funded environmental NGOs were targeting development projects across the country. Greenpeace, Sierra Club and 350.org were mentioned in its annexure.
While the other three NGOs have been making online petitions and organising marches, BIC partners with civil society in developing countries to influence the World Bank and other international financial institutions to promote social and economic justice and ecological sustainability.
BIC’s work has led to complaints by mass organisations against the 4,000-MW Tata Mundra project, which is financed by a consortium of banks and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. The complaint filed with the Compliance Adviser Ombudsman led to an audit in 2013, which found serious lapses in the project.
Among its key findings are that environmental and social risks, and impact of the project were not considered and addressed. There is no social baseline data, the IFC’s policies for land acquisition were not applied, inadequate attention was paid to biodiversity conservation and the IFC failed to examine the cumulative impact of projects around Tata Mundra.
BIC assisted local communities to make several online and offline representations to the World Bank to act on the findings of the ombudsman. The findings, which were made public, are, however, not binding. The Mundra project is financed by the Asian Development Bank, which did a compliance review of the project after a complaint by the local organisation representing project-affected persons. The report is expected shortly.
Against the Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project, a Reliance Power project partly funded by the U.S. Exim Bank, a complaint was filed by various NGOs and local groups to the Bank’s Office of the Inspector-General last year. Several issues of labour rights violation, inadequate compensation and health issues were raised, especially since the project is in Singrauli, which has nine coal plants and 11 coal mines.
The impact of these projects on people and health has not been cumulatively assessed.
Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/funds-freeze-ngos-yet-to-get-intimation/article6761015.ece
While the Home Affairs Ministry has directed the Reserve Bank of India to stop the flow of foreign funds to four non-governmental organisations, three of them are yet to get an official intimation of the order.
Bank Information Centre, Avaaz, 350.org and Sierra Club are engaged in work related to the social and environmental impact of coal projects. Sierra Club has denied any presence in India.
“We do not have any staff or offices in India, and we have not been contacted by the Indian government recently regarding the details of this issue,” John Coequyt, director of international climate programmes of Sierra Club, said in an e-mail to questions from The Hindu. “One of Sierra Club’s major goals is to promote the transition from dangerous fossil fuels to clean energy solutions that create jobs and reduce pollution. Therefore, we monitor U.S. government funding of projects and institutions that may affect those goals at home or abroad.”
A letter from the Director of the Ministry’s unit monitoring NGOs says it has “decided to keep a watch on all the activities funded by U.S.-based donor agencies,” listing the four groups. Every fund transfer from abroad to their activists in India will be held back, pending the Ministry’s clearance.
‘Not registered’
RBI records say the international NGOs have not been registered with the government. Nor had their employees in India applied for the Ministry’s Foreigners’ Division (FCRA wing) clearance. The Ministry is going to enquire into all remittances into India from these groups since January 2013.
BIC and Avaaz have not received any official letter stopping their funds. A leaked Intelligence Bureau report, “Concerted efforts by select foreign-funded NGOs to take down Indian development projects”, in 2014 alleged that several foreign-funded environmental NGOs were targeting development projects across the country. Greenpeace, Sierra Club and 350.org were mentioned in its annexure.
While the other three NGOs have been making online petitions and organising marches, BIC partners with civil society in developing countries to influence the World Bank and other international financial institutions to promote social and economic justice and ecological sustainability.
BIC’s work has led to complaints by mass organisations against the 4,000-MW Tata Mundra project, which is financed by a consortium of banks and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. The complaint filed with the Compliance Adviser Ombudsman led to an audit in 2013, which found serious lapses in the project.
Among its key findings are that environmental and social risks, and impact of the project were not considered and addressed. There is no social baseline data, the IFC’s policies for land acquisition were not applied, inadequate attention was paid to biodiversity conservation and the IFC failed to examine the cumulative impact of projects around Tata Mundra.
BIC assisted local communities to make several online and offline representations to the World Bank to act on the findings of the ombudsman. The findings, which were made public, are, however, not binding. The Mundra project is financed by the Asian Development Bank, which did a compliance review of the project after a complaint by the local organisation representing project-affected persons. The report is expected shortly.
Against the Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project, a Reliance Power project partly funded by the U.S. Exim Bank, a complaint was filed by various NGOs and local groups to the Bank’s Office of the Inspector-General last year. Several issues of labour rights violation, inadequate compensation and health issues were raised, especially since the project is in Singrauli, which has nine coal plants and 11 coal mines.
The impact of these projects on people and health has not been cumulatively assessed.
Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/funds-freeze-ngos-yet-to-get-intimation/article6761015.ece
