7.5.15

Greenpeace India stares at closure

Days after the government froze Greenpeace India's bank accounts, the international NGO stares at an “imminent“ shutdown with funds to pay staff salaries and other costs likely to run dry in a month.
The organization on Tuesday accused the Centre of putting “every Indian civil society group on the chopping block“ and said the home ministry was trying to “strangle it by stealth because it knew an outright ban was unconstitutional“. Its executive director Samit Aich said, “We have one month to save Greenpeace India from shutdown and fight the move to block our accounts.“ With the home ministry on April 9 suspending Greenpeace India's Foreign Currency Regulation Act (FCRA) registration for six months and freezing seven of its bank accounts citing under-reporting and violation of foreign currency rules, the NGO faces closure. Greenpeace was given 30 days by the ministry to respond.
Greenpeace India has conistently been claiming that its work is supported by people and 70% its funds come from 77,768 Indian donors. It claimed that the group had received Rs 30.36 crore during 2014-15, of which Rs 20.76 crore was given by supporters within India.
Reacting to the developments, Priya Pillai, a senior campaigner with Greenpeace India whose overseas travel ban was overturned by Delhi high court in March, said, “I fear for my own future, but what worries me much more is the chilling message that will go out to the rest of Indian civil society and the voiceless people they represent. The ministry of home affairs has gone too far by blocking our domestic bank accounts, which are funded by individual Indian citizens. If Greenpeace India is first, who is next?“

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