Compassion International had met Congressional Committee earlier.
After Compassion International, a US-based Christian charity organization, threatened to wind up its operations in India, the Ministry of Home Affairs said it will reconsider the decision of the government to ban Compassion for doing fund transactions with regional NGOs in India.
Compassion International had earlier this week approached the Congressional members of the House of Foreign Affairs Committee with a request to pressurize India to back away from its earlier decision or it will be forced to call off India operations.
A senior Home Ministry official was quoted by India Today saying: “We are ready to reconsider the case of Compassion International, the US donor, which was put under ‘prior permission category’ for alleged violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).”
The government of India had put Compassion International under its prior permission category, which makes the charity organization bound to get prior permissions from the authorities before doing any fund transfers to other NGOs based in India. Currently, Compassion International transfer of funds to 580 partner organizations in India.
CI official Stephen Oakley while making the representation before the Congressional Committee said that the organization is willing to work with the Indian government to address concerns regarding conversions.
Compassion started its India operations in 1968 and for the last 48 years, the NGO has been working among children to break the cycle of poverty. The US-based NGO has made fund transfers worth $50 million per year in humanitarian aid to India, funding nearly 145,000 sponsored children in some of Indian’s most impoverished and remote regions. It has over a few hundreds of staffs and more than 580 child development centers in the country.
Stephen Oakley, senior vice president and general counsel of Compassion International, also accused the Narendra Modi government of trying to eliminate foreign NGOs.
“For 48 years Compassion has operated continuously and lawfully, helping over a quarter of a million children break the cycle of poverty. Until 2016, Compassion sent nearly $50 million per year in humanitarian aid to India, funding nearly 145,000 sponsored children in some of India’s most impoverished and remote regions. MHA evidently views Christian values as a threat to the national interest, particularly if those values are taught to the poor. MHA has never provided Compassion or its partners with any explanation for the prior clearance order, nor has it ever responded to Compassion’s multiple efforts to engage in dialogue,” he said.
A spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs defended the government’s decision.
“Our attention has been drawn to a recent congressional hearing in the US regarding placing of an American NGO in the prior reference category by MHA. The hearing appears to be based on limited understanding of India, its society, Constitution, and laws. There is a well-established legal framework for NGOs to conduct their operations in India. This is borne out by the presence of over three million NGOs in the country, one of the largest NGO networks in the world. India welcomes lawful operation of foreign NGOs in India,” the spokesperson said.
There are also reports that the Secretary of State, John Kerry during a visit to India in September had urged the External Affairs Ministry to reconsider its stand on Compassion International.
Since the Modi government came to power NGOs have been having a tough time operating in India. Earlier Greenpeace India was suspended from the ability to receive foreign funds and froze its bank accounts citing that the US-based “prejudicially affected the economic interest of the state.”