Nearly 1,000 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) across the State have received a questionnaire from the Police Department, which, ostensibly, sets out to audit their sources of foreign funding, but then goes on to quiz them on entirely unrelated matters, raising serious questions among the organisations about the intention of this exercise.
Among the list of 33 questions sent by the Internal Security Division are queries about each NGO’s “participation in agitations,” and “what action has been taken against them”. NGOs that operate specifically in Kodagu and Chikmagalur have been asked to furnish details about the activities, while another question asks for “all details of Ullas Karanth, his role”. NGOs involved in women’s protection, rehabilitation of tribals and Devadasi children also find special mention in the questionnaire, a copy of which is available with The Hindu .
“In the context of the clear anti-NGO stance that the Centre has taken, this comes as another threat and attempt at surveillance,” says Nitin Rai, a scientist at an environmental research organisation. An Intelligence Bureau report submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office in June created a storm among NGOs, which the report described as being “anti-development” and as having a “negative impact on GDP growth”.
The following month, Home Minister K.J. George had said in the State Assembly that NGOs would be probed by the police to ascertain their sources of foreign funding. This was in response to Congress MLA Ramesh Kumar’s allegation that NGOs in the State had received Rs. 1,069 crore from foreign sources since 2006, which was apparently being used to obstruct development projects.
Foreign funding has become a “smoke screen” to target organisations that have exposed or opposed “vested interests involved in activities such as mining and road building, especially in the Western Ghats,” says Praveen Bhargav of Wildlife First.
Amar Kumar Pandey, Additional Director-General of Police (Internal Security Division), told The Hindu that the questionnaire was sent out at the behest of the State government.
