Three UN special rapporteurs on Thursday expressed alarm over the Modi government’s crackdown on NGOs, adding to growing international criticism of India’s stand on foreign funding of the voluntary sector, the Hindu reports:
The U.S. government is in talks with at least four groups that have been put under government strictures, including Mercy Corps, Compassion International, National Endowment for Democracy and a climate change group in order to document their cases, sources told The Hindu. They are next expected to bring the four cases up with the Indian government as well, possibly adding to the pressure on the Indian government to revise its policy on funding for NGOs, and on the issue of human rights. The letter from the Congressmen follows other similar pleas for intervention by Mr Modi.
“We are alarmed that FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) provisions are being used more and more to silence organisations involved in advocating civil, political, economic, social, environmental or cultural priorities, which may differ from those backed by the Government,” said the independent experts and UN Special Rapporteurs on human rights Michel Forst, David Kaye, and Maina Kiai, according to a statement issued by the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights in Geneva on Thursday…..
