New Delhi: Indian Ministry of Home Affairs has recommended a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the affairs of Oxfam India for alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010.
According to the ministry, a survey carried out by the income tax department in September last year found “multiple emails” which revealed that Oxfam India was allegedly planning to circumvent provisions of the FCRA by routing funds to other FCRA-registered associations or through the for-profit consultancy route.
Oxfam India allegedly routed funds to the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) through its associates and employees in the form of commissions.
Following these findings, the home ministry recommended a CBI probe into the affairs of Oxfam India, they added.
The FCRA licence of Oxfam India, along with 5,933 non-government organisations, lapsed on January 1, 2022. The Union ministry had cited “adverse inputs” as the reason for revoking the licence. Several NGOs which work towards promoting human rights have lost their FCRA linceses over the past few years.
CPR’s license was recently suspended after the MHA claimed that the think tank was using the money for purposes other than the educational programmes, for which the licence was granted.
The income tax department had also conducted searches at CPR’s New Delhi office in September last year.
The Wire, in an analysis, had said that the I-T department’s notice to CPR prominently cites the latter’s ties with an NGO in Chhattisgarh that has been associated with protests against mining in Hasedo.
Interestingly, Hasdeo is the site of a massive Adivasi movement against the Adani Group for over a decade.
Meanwhile, the Indian home ministry is also examining complaints against another NGO – The Other Media – for misusing foreign funds to organise protests and demonstrations around Vedanta’s Sterlite copper plant in Thoothukudi, in Tamil Nadu.
The protests claimed 13 lives and left several injured, after which the copper plant, owned by business baron Anil Agarwal, was shut down in 2018.
The Justice Aruna Jagadeesan Commission of Inquiry had accused top police officials of using “excessive lethal force” against protesters.
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