The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has created a furore by putting some foreign funded NGOs under the scanner. Greenpeace a worldwide environmental NGO with branches in several countries is portrayed as having anti-national motives because several environmental clearances on major projects have been kept in abeyance owing to its intervention. The anti-nuclear power NGOs are also bearing the brunt of the attack by the IB, particularly the Peoples’ Movement against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) led by SP Udaya Kumar which has put up a spirited protest against the nuclear power plant at Kudankulam, Tamilnadu.
NGOs on their part are crying foul and are up in arms against the Modi Government for what they term is a ‘witch-hunt’ from a brand new government. Meetings are being organised in different parts of the country to register protests against the IB war machine. Activists like Praful Bidwai have called for greater scrutiny on the role of the IB which was first set up during the British rule and which for a long time drew its inspiration from the British Intelligence Agency, MI5 and Scotland Yard. The function of the IB is shrouded in secrecy and the agency is answerable only to the Home Minister who does not have to report to Parliament about its role. In a sense the IB can and is often used to spy on political rivals of the ruling dispensation in addition to providing intelligence inputs to the Government of the day on internal security matters particularly from conflict zones of the North East and areas under Left Wing Extremism.
While the IB shenanigan is uncalled for, it is our contention that foreign-funded NGOs should be held to account on how they spend their monies. It would be naive to believe that all NGOs cleared for receiving funds under FCRA are doing yeoman’s service. Quite a few use their NGOs to access funds for personal use. In fact, the heads of quite a few NGOs are high fliers and globe-trotters. They are pampered by international funding agencies ostensibly for venturing into areas where angels fear to tread. These NGO heads often report to their funders that they are hounded by the state for pursuing their noble objectives. International donors are also very concerned about upholding human rights so when an Indian NGOs narrate sob stories at international forums they manage to gain sympathy and funding as well. Normally the foreign funders look for swish reports and don’t do a physical check on the work of the NGOs they fund. This is problematic because India also has the largest number of NGOs for every cause under the sun. Perhaps the IB is not such a bogeyman after all. They would know better than most of us the intrigues and goings-on in the internal functioning of the NGOs. In any case if the NGOs have nothing to hide they also have nothing to fear!