NEW DELHI,March21,2012: Diversion of foreign contribution by NGOs is not limited to the 12 organizations whose cases were referred for probe recently. The muck, in fact, runs much deeper with official figures showing that the government has taken action against at least 160 voluntary bodies, including referring 24 cases to CBI and seven to different state police for investigation in the past three years.Besides, 70 NGOs have been prohibited from receiving foreign contribution and accounts of 30 others were frozen during 2007-10. Certain irregularities had been noticed in the case of another 35 NGOs who have been placed in 'prior permission' category for receiving foreign funds.Official figures, shared by the home ministry, show that over 21,500 organizations had received more than Rs 31,000 crore from countries like US, UK, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and others during the period.Sharing information on action taken against the NGOs for violating guidelines, minister of state for home Mullappally Ramachandran said in his written reply to a Parliament question in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, "The government monitors the receipt and utilization of foreign contributions by any person in the country through the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 and FCR Rules, 2011."Though the minister did not disclose where the funds were diverted and for what purpose, he had last week said that preliminary reports had suggested alleged misuse of foreign funds for opposing the setting up of a nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu.He had said that Rs 9,914.19 crore of foreign contribution was received by 21,365 NGOs in 2007-08, Rs 10,987.05 crore by 22,544 NGOs in 2008-09 and Rs 10,340.25 crore by 21,674 NGOs in 2009-10 even as a demand was raised by members in Parliament that the Centre should put in place a strong surveillance network to monitor inflow of foreign funds to such organizations and create a database in the interest of national security.MPs had raised the issue last week, referring to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent remark in an interview blaming
US-based NGOs for whipping up anti-nuclear plant demonstrations in Tamil Nadu. The home ministry in February had referred two cases each to CBI and state police for probing the diversion of fund by four organizations, besides inquiring into accounts of 12 NGOs.Among the countries, US continues to be the biggest donor for Indian NGOs with Germany, UK, Italy and Netherlands occupying top slots. The funds come for various works relating to rural development, welfare of children, environmental programmes, AIDS awareness and construction and maintenance of schools and colleges.The home ministry's data shows that foreign contributions to voluntary organizations have come not just from rich and developed countries alone. Countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Zambia, Congo and others have also donated funds to different organizations. Foreign funds contributed by different countries is also being used for setting up religious schools, education of priests/preachers, religious functions and publication/distribution of religious literature among other activities.
