Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Following the warning of Intelligence Bureau (IB) alleging that NGOs were threatening India`s economic security, the Prime Minister`s Office has written to all the ministries asking them to give details of NGOs working with them on various projects and when they were appointed.
As per a report in a leading Daily, the PMO has written to the ministries twice and the letters were sent on June 3 and 5. They were sent by PM Narendra Modi`s principal secretary, Nripendra Misra to all secretaries who were heading central ministries.
The second letter purportedly seeks details about the affliations of the NGOs, foreigners working on it, people on its board and Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) clearance among other things.
The reason reportedly given was that the PMO wanted to update its data base and does not specify as to why the details have been furnished. This is supposedly the first time that the PMO has sought such an information.
To get foreign funding all NGOs have to get FCRA clearance. The Union Home Ministry monitors the funding of NGOs.
The IB in a recent report said that the opposition to several development projects in the country by a significant number of NGOs, including Greenpeace, will have a negative impact on economic growth by two to three per cent, PTI reported.
The IB report `Impact of NGOs on development`, claims the NGOs and their international donors are also planning to target many fresh economic development projects including those in Gujarat.
The report, which has been sent to the Prime Minister`s Office, the home minister, the national security adviser, the finance minister and others, alleged that the NGOs work for stalling development projects along with agitations against nuclear power plants, uranium mines, coal-fired power plants and hydel projects.
In a section related to protests against coal mines and coal-fired power projects, the report alleged Greenpeace expanded its activities to oppose coal-fired power plants and coal mining and received Rs 45 crore from abroad in the last seven years.
Greenpeace rubbished the report saying that it was an attempt to silence its voice. "It is an attempt to silence our voice. In the past, an attempt was made to silence us but we never bowed down. We will respond when the matter comes to us," Abhishek Pratap, senior campaigner, Greenpeace, India, told a press conference in the national capital.
With PTI inputs
