The
fountainhead of corruption is always at the top of heap in the govt. For over 9
years the Congotri of corruption has supported and encouraged many bogus NGOs
who ran political campaigns for them. It’s only when some of these NGOs started
using their money to protest the UPA’s pet projects that they retaliated. “Govt bans 600 NGOs” says Livemint.
The protests against the Kudankulam Nuclear Plant brought about more scrutiny.
“Church role in Kudankulam protests
merits wider probe” says Firstpost. “Govt bans 72 NGOs from receiving foreign contribution” says Indian Express. An online magazine Uday India files a frightening report
about foreign funding of NGOs, especially of the Christian variety, in the
context of Kudankulam. Most of these NGOs may or may not be doing some good but
their objective is not a secret anymore; it is simply politics, lobbying and
religious conversion.
There is
something even more alarming. The site VigilOnline
talks about a very dangerous trend of connections between NGOs, foreign funding
and activists. The book (pic) is said to be published after a great deal of
research by Radha Rajan and Krishen Kak. The report at VigilOnline says: “The book is a blistering attack of some of our leading NGOs
and activists and documents their treasonous agenda for our country, listing in
convincing detail their foreign sponsorships, donors and funds. The foreign
focus is on the USA and Muslim and Christian organizations based there, that
promote and finance Nehruvian secularism in Hindustan through their Indian
stooges, of whom the book identifies Harsh Mander as representative…. This
offering of V'mala exposes some more linkages of what in the book is called the
Manderweb - with Harsh Mander in the centre of the web… IMC is connected to the
jihadi Lashkar-e-Toiba, and the L-e-T is connected to Pakistan's ISI. Now,
Refugee Watch, in its same section, goes on to report that "AIM intends to
forge links with progressive Indians and has been working on establishing links
with Pakistani Americans." Both Harsh Mander and Aruna Roy, as eminent
Nehruvian secularists, are certainly "progressive Indians".
These are stray excerpts so I recommend that you read the whole article at
VigilOnline for proper context and clarity. Most of these NGOs invariably are
hearts that bleed for children. And that precisely is our context.
So looks
like this guy Harsh Mander is all
over the place, isn’t he? And yet he was in the policy drafting body of NAC, he runs multiple NGOs. One of his
NGOs was headed by an arrested Maoist terrorist who was released as ransom. One
of his NGO outlets has been accused of “Abuse alleged at Children home”.
Yet this man roams free with no investigation against him and no scrutiny of
any of his NGO “firms”. Oh yeah… he’s a darling of NDTV and CNN-IBN. Why so much latitude? Well, he was one
of the pioneers of the anti-Modi campaigns and a Congress helper. Neither NDTV
nor CNN-IBN ever questioned him on any of his NGOs’ activities. After all, he’s
doing a world of good for children too, isn’t he? Is that all? No! In an
extensive investigation DeshGujarat,
an online news site, reports Harsh Mander’s NGO businesses received over 12
Crores of donations in two financial years through a maze of organisations.
Take a good look at the report. A large chunk of it is for “welfare of children”. Did someone say ‘stylish begging’? Harsh Mander gave up
his IAS job for all this. Seems quite a sensible guy!
It’s a
fashion for celebrities to somehow associate themselves with some charity for
children. Let’s not doubt their motives; they may be well-intentioned and not
everyone is looking deep into what every NGO is doing and shouldn’t be expected
to. However, I would certainly set a different measure for news media celebs
who are in the business of looking deeper into everything. Here’s Rajdeep Sardesai doing an interview
with World Vision (WV), a charity he supports. He has very kind words to say
and you can watch and listen to the full interaction on Youtube. If Rajdeep is so strongly endorsing World Vision do
you expect that he or CNN-IBN ever honestly investigate WV if some issue or
report crops up? On the contrary, our channels are more known for covering up
misdeeds of the parties and organisations they support. Tehelka reports and
stings are ones that our media frequently uses to target a certain politician
and a party. But there is a Tehelka guy who seems to have made a report on WV
for CNN-IBN which they reportedly never carried.
V.K.
Shashikumar’s report can be read here
in full. I do not vouch for the introduction part but would Rajdeep read and
respond to such reports? I doubt it, because it would destroy his credibility
of all the “morals” he claims in the
video I mentioned above. The report suggests that WV is not just into
children’s welfare but a large-scale religious conversion operation. This is
true of many tribal areas where missionaries operate and which has been the
cause of constant conflict in such areas. I quote a report of 2002 from this
article which mentions an event in Dahod (Gujarat) a few months after the
riots:
Take,
for instance, World Vision New Zealand’s report (4 September 2002) on the
funding of ADP in Dahod, Gujarat. Under the head, “spiritual development” the
report states: “Held a vacation Bible school for 150 children from different
villages. The children participated in games, Bible quizzes, drama and other
activities. Organised a one-day spiritual retreat for 40 young people and a
children’s Christmas party. Each of Dahod’s 45 villages chose five needy
children to attend the party.” In Dumaria, Banka district, eastern Bihar, “the
ADP supports local churches by running leadership-training courses for pastors
and church leaders”.
Now, WV
advertises all over the net (including on this blog site through Google) on how
you can lift a child out of poverty with as low as Rs.800/- What part of
lifting a child out of poverty involves religion? What part of formal education
of a child involves religion? I have absolutely no problems if WV wants to
preach religion. Why should they preach
it with your money? Most of their money in India comes from people who
contribute for education and a healthy life for children, not for religious
preaching or conversion. The answer is simple! Just like Coca-Cola wants to
catch them young, conversions too are easy if you catch them young. Will
Rajdeep Sardesai look at all the reports on activities of WV and air a report?
Oh no… their heart CRIES for children, you see!
CRY is appropriate. Sometimes it goes by ‘Child Relief & You’ and sometimes
as “Child Rights & You’. I am
not sure which one is in vogue. This organisation started off mostly selling
greeting cards to people and corporates to generate funds for their activities.
Quite a noble and fair way one would say. Since the Card business invaded India
some decades ago all kinds of days became fashionable. Mother’s day, Father’s
day, Kissing day, Flowers day, Valentine’s day, Grandpa’s day, Grandma’s day
and we always had that Children’s day too. But there is a shocking report on
CRY diverting its funds to other causes that hardly have anything to do with
children. Once again, DeshGujarat
reports some group called MARAG is protesting a Special Investment Region in
Gujarat. Of the 1.12 crores received by this group to carry out their agitation
it is reported that 1.03 crores came from CRY, another Children’s NGO called ‘Save the Children’ and a Swiss Agency.
That there
are foreign forces and corrupt people who are involved in political games in
projects in India is definitely a dangerous trend. But if organisations raising
money in the name of children are using it for purposes other than those stated
in their objectives and made public to donors then it’s a serious crime of
using children as leverage. The Chief Information Commissioner has just brought
certain political parties under RTI. While it may be challenged in court there
is justification for bringing NGOs too under RTI. Many of these NGOs use public money, govt money and some even use
hawala money. Many are also ‘benami’ NGOs. While not all NGOs are
criminals, a huge number of them are slowly starting to show up being involved
in financial crimes and acting with political motives. In this context the ones
to be most concerned about is those who use children as leverage. Our media
will never report on their deeds, they are part of the crime.
