NGOs on govt's watch-list for anti-India activities

The Centre has put 77 non-governmental organisations on its watch-list for fuelling anti India activities. This action comes in the wake of the home ministry's contention that these organisations were trying to create unrest in India.

The problem with these suspect NGOs is three-fold, according to the Economic Wing of the Intelligence Bureau. Preliminary investigations into the funding for these NGOs have found that their activities range from triggering unrest, aiding terrorism and encouraging conversions.

India has as many as 68,000 registered NGOs.

Recently, Home Secretary R K Singh stated that only those NGOs that have diverted their funds are being probed.

Most of these NGOs receive their funds from the Gulf nations, the United States and  some Scandinavian countries.

NGOs from the US and Scandinavian nations have been suspected of pumping in as much as Rs 10,000 crore in a bid to cause unrest and encourage conversions, say IB sources.

According to sources, a major amount of funds are also being pumped in to support anti-development protests in India. The most recent example of this is the protest against the Kundakulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu, which, the home ministry suspects, was funded by NGOs in the US.

These NGOs have been set up across the world and their job is to create protests against projects that help in the development of a nation. Some NGOs have also been supplying funds to strengthen the Maoist movement.

Some complaints indicate that funds are also supplied to encourage conversions. The money is distributed to smaller groups and then used for forcible conversions.

But the biggest problem for the IB is the money being channeled from Gulf nations, which are parked in NGOs and then used to fuel terror activities.

According to sources in the home ministry, these NGOs, which have their bases abroad, will be put under the scanner soon. The nation in which they are located would also be informed about their activities. The inflow of funds and subsequent spending would be closely monitored by the investigative agencies.

Organisations which divert their funds for illegal activities would be severely punished, say IB sources.

In the past, such cases have rarely reached the stage of prosecution or penalisation. But now the government had decided not to act lax about erring NGOs and deliver stringent punishment instead.

The Financial Task Action Force will look out for even minor instances of diversion of funds to initiate criminal proceedings. The NGOs on the government's watch-list will be placed under the scanner and the movement of their funds would be closely watched.