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Odisha NGO Consultancy Services

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

‘Joshi offered key MHA info to Ford Foundation’

NEW DELHI: Anand Joshi, the home ministry officer under arrest for issuing arbitrary notices to NGOs under Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA), had secretly contacted a senior Ford Foundation representative in New Delhi in July 2015 and offered to share minutes of a key home ministry meeting that discussed registration of the US-based donor's Delhi office under an Indian law.

Ford Foundation chose to ignore the "offer" and later informed seniors in the home ministry about it.

According to a senior home ministry official, Joshi had also tried to harass leading NGOs like Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and India HIV/AIDS Alliance, both recipients of grants from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, by issuing them a standard questionnaire, the first point of an enquiry against an NGO suspected of violating FCRA provisions, without authorisation from his seniors.

The official said Joshi made a call to Tuhina Sunder, who works at Ford Foundation's Lodhi Estate office, on July 8, 2015, the very day a meeting was held in the ministry to discuss the need for Ford Foundation to register its Indian arm under either FCRA or Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). This was months after the US donor was placed on 'prior permission' list for allegedly funding non-FCRA registered and profit-making entities in India.

The MHA official claimed Joshi told the Ford Foundation officer that he knew of the decision taken at the July 8 meet and could read out its minutes. "He even offered to provide her with an unofficial copy of the minutes if she visited the building where the FCRA division is located," the official said and claimed a recording of the telephone conversation was available with the ministry and would be shared with the CBI.

The Ford Foundation representative reportedly contacted by Joshi did not entertain him. The NGO, the MHA official said, overlooked the overtures and brought up the matter later in meetings with the ministry brass.

When contacted, Ford Foundation did not confirm or deny the call between Joshi and Tuhina. In a statement emailed to TOI, the US-based donor dismissed a recent allegation by Joshi that he was under pressure to favour the foundation for a Rs 250 crore bribe as "outlandish and untrue". "No such overture or suggestion has ever been made and the foundation rejects this allegation completely and unequivocally," it said.

According to sources, Joshi's modus operandi was to identify cash-rich NGOs and issue them standard questionnaires under FCRA without clearance from his bosses. Incidentally, he would also issue notices to smaller NGOs so as not to arouse suspicion. The motive was to ride on the general apprehension among NGOs following the FCRA crackdown on Greenpeace India, Ford Foundation etc and scare them into "negotiating" a settlement with him.

Some of Joshi's "victims" included environmentalist Sunita Narain's CSE, PHFI, Indian HIV/AIDS Alliance and the Sacred Heart Educational Trust (Kolkata).

Source; http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Joshi-offered-key-MHA-info-to-Ford-Foundation/articleshow/52301630.cms