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April 29, 2015

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Foreign charities feel the heat in India

India has cancelled the registration of nearly 9,000 charities for failing to declare details of donations from abroad, as New Delhi tightens surveillance on foreign-funded non-governmental organizations in the country.

The crackdown comes days after the government suspended the license of Greenpeace India and put US-based Ford Foundation on a security watch list, ordering government approval of any of its activities in the country.

A 鈥渃ancellation order鈥 issued by the home ministry and uploaded to its website late on Monday said the government had cancelled the registration of 8,975 associations because they did not declare details of their foreign funding for three years starting from 2009/10.

The order, dated April 6, did not name the groups whose licenses were cancelled but said they had not filed the 鈥渕andatory annual returns鈥.

Critics have argued that the government鈥檚 decision to restrict the movement of foreign funding to local charities is an attempt to stifle the voices of those who oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi鈥檚 economic agenda.

Last June, India鈥檚 intelligence service said Greenpeace and other lobby groups were damaging the country鈥檚 economy by campaigning against power projects, mining and genetically modified food.

While Greenpeace denied the claims, earlier this month India barred the group from getting foreign funds by suspending its license for six months and freezing its accounts.


 

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