The Centre on Tuesday reiterated there was no move to remove American donor Compassion International from the prior permission list. The Hindu has learnt that Compassion International was allowed to disburse funds to 10 Indian NGOs on September 15, a fortnight after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry raised the issue with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. The order to put Compassion under the watch list dates back to March 28.
“From March-September, till Mr. Kerry took up the issue of Compassion International with the Indian government, no funds were allowed to be disbursed from its account to Indian NGOs,” said a source.
The Colorado-based group was put under the watch-list after security agencies gave an adverse input that it funded Indian NGOs involved in religious conversions. The Hindu has the names of the 10 NGOs.
The Hindu reported on Monday that Compassion International was granted permission to disburse donations to ten Indian NGOs soon after Mr. Kerry brought up his concerns over the treatment of the American donor with Ms. Swaraj during his India visit in September.
Kerry’s interventionAsked why Mr. Kerry took up the issue of action against Compassion International when it was part of a legal procedure in India, U.S. Ambassador to India Richard Verma told The Hindu that a lot of NGOs which have done a lot of good work in India have “run into challenges with the government” and “it is part of our responsibility to work through those challenges.”
Elaborating further, Mr. Verma said, “Civil society in both our countries have played a huge role. Our governments would not function as well without civil society in education, nutrition, healthcare, climate change. We fully expect NGOs to be legally compliant on all bases, that’s non-negotiable. At the same time, we think a lot of NGOs have done a lot of good work in India and to the extent that they run into challenges with the government, I think, it is part of our responsibility to work through those challenges. We would do that for an American company or citizen, and also for NGOs and will continue to do it. I will say we have had a lot of good dialogue with the government that have been productive and we hope to have more in the future.”
When asked whether the U.S government was arm-twisting India on the issue, Mr Verma said, “The great thing about being partners is that we come to the table on issues that are difficult. In the last two years, we have been able to solve so many important issues for both our people and we will keep doing that.”
