(The Editor's Pick is a new newsletter from The Hindu that provides a snapshot of the most important stories from today's edition of our newspaper, along with a note from our top editors on why we chose to give prominence to these stories.)
Four Christian groups are among the six organisations whose licence under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act was suspended this year, curtailing their ability to get funds from abroad. Two U.S.-based Christian organisations are also under the government scanner for funding NGOs in India. This is not the first time in recent years that foreign Christian funders have been put on the Home Ministry's watch list. In 2016, Compassion International was put on the list for allegedly funding conversions. This led to senior U.S. politicians getting involved, seeking redress. Several organsiations that fund work in the civil liberties space were also put on the watch list that year over "adverse" intelligence reports. Those that lost FCRA licences in 2016 included the Sabrang Trust of activist Teesta Setalvad and Lawyer's Collective of Indira Jaising, both government critics. One of the affected parties this year, the New Life Fellowship Association in Mumbai, was targeted by the Bajrang Dal last year alleging that it was involved in conversions. The Modi administration has always had a close eye on FCRA licences, with over 20,000 either not renewed or cancelled in a revamp. However, the perception that it is used to target government critics and organisations that fall afoul of the RSS/BJP ideology is what makes this story important. |
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