Stop "uninformed visits" by IB cops to NGO offices: Top Indian civil society network to Ministry of Home Affairs

The Voluntary Action Network of India (VANI), the country’s apex body of 500 NGOs, has asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to immediately stop “surprise visits by local intelligence bureau (IB) cops to NGO offices. In a letter to MHA, Harsh Jaitli, CEO,VANI, has said, the view is strong among them that they are “victim of local IB and police who often visit uninformed and most often do not share their purpose and identity proofs.”
Pointing out that this should be part of the “attempt to enhance transparency and accountability” in the NGO sector, VANI, which held consultations in mid-June on suggestions to proposed amendments to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules (FCRR), 2011, also insisted that going over to the online reporting system may be a desirable, as MHA wants, but the MHA must also move to create “enabling environment for the same.”
“The electronic system, as proposed by MHA, needs to be efficient and manageable”, the letter underlined, adding, however, while doing this, “concerns of small grassroots organizations to function electronically” should be addressed, because they “do not have online access and many a time face such difficulty due to poor internet connections.” In fact, it insisted, “Procuring digitally signature is beyond the capacity of smaller grassroots organizations.”
Pointing out that “only online provision will be extremely difficult for the smaller grassroots organizations who play a huge role in nation development”, the letter said, this is particularly difficult for organizations working in conflict areas such as Naxal prone areas, “where law and order is an issue due to display of real time financial data on their websites… The internal security of such organizations may come under threat due to cyber-crimes.”
The letter complained, “Many organizations in rural areas have experienced non-cooperation from banks to open foreign contribution (FC) account due to various obligations for banks.” In this context, it said, it was impossible to “submit details of fund receipt within 48 hours”, as required by MHA, adding the “earlier 30 days was quite reasonable”.
In fact, the letter said, “Due to extreme pressure on banks for speedy reporting, there will an increased fear among banks to open the FCRA accounts, and in many cases they might deny opening the accounts.”
The letter objected to “seeking details” of Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites, saying this is “not acceptable.” It insisted, “All the participant organizations shared the common concern that seeking such details entails restricting the social space of individuals which amounts to curtailment of fundamental right of the citizens of this country.”
Then, the letter asked the MHA to “develop a database of organizations with all their documents and details in one place, rather than procuring the same information again and again after every five years during the renewal process.”
Wanting a proper grievance redressal mechanism for NGOs to be in place, the letter said, this is particularly important “looking at the volume of the NGO sector, their grievances and geographical spread.” It added, “Since there has been a long communication gap between the MHA and the sector, this (can be) a window for enhanced communication and speedy redressal of issues.”
Referring to the controversial MHA order placing “many major donor organisations under Prior Approval Category”, the letter said, “not all projects supported by these donors” are under scanner of the MHA. “Hence, to facilitate the smooth implementation of such socially useful projects, VANI would like to interact with the MHA to develop guidelines or system where it becomes less painful and well-coordinated with Banks”, it suggested.
---
For section-wise proposals by VANI on amendments to FCRR, click HERE

Comments

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

RP Gupta a scapegoat to help Govt of India manage fallout of Adani case in US court?

RP Gupta, a retired 1987-batch IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre, has found himself at the center of a growing controversy. During my tenure as the Times of India correspondent in Gandhinagar (1997–2012), I often interacted with him. He struck me as a straightforward officer, though I never quite understood why he was never appointed to what are supposed to be top-tier departments like industries, energy and petrochemicals, finance, or revenue.

PharmEasy: The only online medical store which revises prices upwards after confirming the order

For senior citizens — especially those without a family support system — ordering medicines online can be a great relief. Shruti and I have been doing this for the last couple of years, and with considerable success. We upload a prescription, receive a verification call from a doctor, and within two or three days, the medicines are delivered to our doorstep.

Powering pollution, heating homes: Why are Delhi residents opposing incineration-based waste management

While going through the 50-odd-page report Burning Waste, Warming Cities? Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi , authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran of the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability, I came across a reference to Sukhdev Vihar — a place where I lived for almost a decade before moving to Moscow in 1986 as the foreign correspondent of the daily Patriot and weekly Link .

Environmental report raises alarm: Sabarmati one of four rivers with nonylphenol contamination

A new report by Toxics Link , an Indian environmental research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund , a global non-profit headquartered in New York, has raised the alarm that Sabarmati is one of five rivers across India found to contain unacceptable levels of nonylphenol (NP), a chemical linked to "exposure to carcinogenic outcomes, including prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women."

Dalit rights and political tensions: Why is Mevani at odds with Congress leadership?

While I have known Jignesh Mevani, one of the dozen-odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ever since my Gandhinagar days—when he was a young activist aligned with well-known human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha’s organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch—he became famous following the July 2016 Una Dalit atrocity, in which seven members of a family were brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes while skinning a dead cow, a traditional occupation among Dalits.

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

Boeing 787 under scrutiny again after Ahmedabad crash: Whistleblower warnings resurface

A heart-wrenching tragedy has taken place in Ahmedabad. As widely reported, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, currently operated by India’s top tycoon, Gautam Adani. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members. As expected, the crash has led to an outpouring of grief across the country. At the same time, there have been demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Civil Aviation Minister Venkaiah Naidu. The most striking comment came from BJP MP Subramanian Swamy, who stated : "When a train derailed in the 1950s, Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned. On the same morality, I demand PM Modi, HM Amit Shah, and Civil Aviation Minister Naidu resign so that a free and fair inquiry can be held. All that Modi and his associates have been doing so far is gallivanting, which must stop." Amidst widespread mourning, some fringe elements sought to communalize the tragedy. One post ...

Revisiting Gijubhai: Pioneer of child-centric education and the caste debate

It was Krishna Kumar, the well-known educationist, who I believe first introduced me to the name — Gijubhai Badheka (1885–1939). Hailing from Bhavnagar, known as the cultural capital of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, Gijubhai, Kumar told me during my student days, made significant contributions to the field of pedagogy — something that hasn't received much attention from India's education mandarins. At that time, Kumar was my tutorial teacher at Kirorimal College, Delhi University.

Search This Blog