"IB report a political game, devoid of any National interest"
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, June 25 2014: Issuing a joint statement all over the country today, some 79 organizations and individuals have come out strongly against the recent report of Intelligence Bureau (IB) on foreign funding of NGOs in India and said that they are deeply shocked at the dubious methods used to discredit many important social activists in this country who have committed their lives in social action for years.

Releasing the joint statement titled, "Uphold Sustainable Development! Condemn 'Foreign Funded' Destructive Development Promoted by IB!", during a press meet at the Conference Hall of Human Rights Alert (HRA) here today, Executive Director of HRA Babloo Loitongbam asserted that the present BJP government came to power by spending huge amounts of money from foreign agencies, and now the same government is making allegations that foreign funding to select NGOs of the north east region are meant for anti-development activities.

Babloo recalled that it was on June 26 in 1975 that Indira Gandhi Government announced the intrusion of foreign funding through some NGOs of North east region.

In fact, it was meant to accuse the NGO activists who might oppose the various programmes to be taken up in the north eastern region.

Following the announcement, a number of NGOs, organizations and even media persons were sent to jail.

He said as the government has the intention to benefit the corporate houses which had funded them during elections, it has to ward off the NGOs which may raise objections to various programmes in the region.

The allegations made to NGOs is an attempt to clear the likely objections to the government initiatives regarding its efforts to extract oil from Manipur, generate power by constructing Dam in Arunachal Pradesh, and harness Aluminum deposits from Meghalaya, etc.

Babloo asserted that everybody knows the huge expenses BJP spent during the last elections came from the foreign agencies.

Convenor of Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights in Manipur and UN Debrabata, who is also the president of Centre for Organisation Research and Education (CORE), said that in the IB report, CORE has been mentioned as having received funds from the Netherlands based agency Cordaid, which in fact is to provide funds for establishment of Catholic schools.

IB report saying funding from foreign agencies leads to anti-development is baseless, he added.

Out of the 78 NGOs listed in the IB report, serial numbers 69 to 78 belong to Manipur based NGOs.

They include names of Debrabata Roy, Convenor, Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights in Manipur and UN; Babloo Loitongbam, Executive Director, Human Rights Alert; Ksh Onil of Just Peace Foundation; Basantakumar Wareppa, Mary Beth Senate of Rural Women's Upliftment Society; Renu Takhellambam, President of Extra Judicial Execution Victim Families Association Manipur; Joy Chingakham, Vice President of FRIENDS; Nandini Thokchom and Leishangthem Ranjana, Forum for Indigenous Perspective and Action; U Nobokishore of North East Dialogue Forum and OJ Meitei of United NGO Mission Manipur.

Saying that the IB report alleged these NGOs as taking up anti-development and anti-national programmes, Debabrata further charged that these allegations to the select NGOs are done so as to ward off opposition to the anti-people government initiatives in the north east region.

Asserting that the huge expenses spent during the election were from foreign funding, Joy Chingakham demanded the state government to look into charges imposed on the NGOs by the IB report.

The joint statement of the NGOs and individuals which was released to media all over the country today said that for a long time, these activists (those mentioned in the IB report) have consistently questioned the destructive path of development India is following and have demanded a model of sustainable and equitable development which does not harm the environment, local communities, culture and the future generations.

It said for obvious reasons, the IB has selected activists connected with issues like POSCO, genetically modified food, nuclear energy, etc and branded these as 'development for the nation' and those activists who question the un-sustainability, environmental implications, the impact on livelihood of thousands people and other social costs of such 'proven disasters' have been named 'foreign funded' activists trying to block India's development, the joint statement said.

It condemned the IB report saying it is a calculated character assassination attempt on a large number of credible activists in this country including Admiral Ramdas, Justice P K Mishra, Medha Patkar, Dr.SP Udayakumar, Achin Vanaik, Praful Bidwai, Prashant Paikray, K.P Sasi, Dr.Surendra Gadekhar, Babloo Loitongbam, Lalita Ramdas, Late Banwarilal Sharma, Late Fr.Tom Kochery, Aarti Chokshi, M G Devasahayam, Aruna Rodrigues, Kavita Kuruganti and others.

"We understand that Narendra Modi is planning to execute a major corporate agenda of destroying India's land, water and forests and since thousands of crores of rupees have been used from the corporate sector for his election campaign, there is an urgency to sell off India to the corporate interests.

Therefore, this slander campaign is only to clear the ground to benefit the Indian and foreign multinational interests," the press note added.

It also strongly oppose the use of the term 'foreign' to describe credible activists of this country, and said "We consider it as only a political gimmick to facilitate the real 'foreign' interests" .

According to the press note, among the issues mentioned is POSCO which is already discredited very badly in India and abroad and this multinational company is investing one of the largest 'foreign' investments of Rs.54,000 Crores, causing large scale livelihood problems and displacement of tens of thousands of fisher folk, farmers, Dalits and Adivasis.

"This 'foreign funded' project is also violating all norms of existing laws of protection of the forests under the Forest Rights Act and protection of the coastal lands under Coastal Regulation Zone Notification and many rights of women and children.

The draconian project is also responsible for throwing over hundred bombs on the struggling villagers and over 100 people have been shot in peaceful protests.

We extend our full solidarity and support of the local villagers against this 'mega foreign funded' project," it added.

The joint statement pointed out that among the other issues mentioned, the people's movement against Koodankulam nuclear plant is noteworthy.

Perhaps, the IB should check the developments of nuclear plants in Japan, Germany, the United States and other countries and explore the reasons for why they are closing down the operations on nuclear energy due to large scale social and environmental disasters followed by large scale protests of people against such destructive developmental projects even in these 'foreign' countries whose nuclear technology is more advanced than what is there in India.

IB should also understand that the immediate effects of radiation due to Koodankulam nuclear plants will be on southern Tamil Nadu, Southern Kerala and Northern Kerala and if the IB officers wish to lead a lead life without cancer and genetic disorders for their children and their own future generations, it is most advisable that they remove their officials from this 'foreign' initiated nuclear plant disposing their outdated technologies with the help of politicians.

The joint statement further said the IB should have the minimum intelligence to understand that if you have cancer and down syndrome due to radiation from any 'foreign' installation like Chernobyl, Fukushima, Three Mile Island or a nuclear plant in Koodankulam, the health effects and the environmental impacts are similar.

"We hereby extend our full solidarity to the struggle of the brave villagers of Koodankulam under the leadership of Dr.SP Uday Kumar", it added.

The joint statement went on to point out that other issue which is mentioned in the report is GM (Genetically Modified)) crops.

The hazards of such crops are well known in India as well as abroad.

The interest of such development is only for the 'foreign' multinationals like Monsanto.

While the IB has assumed all these destructive projects as 'national interests', it has conveniently ignored the objections to GM crops by the Moratorium Orders of Shri Jairam Ramesh, the Parliamentary Standing Committee Report and the Supreme Court-appointed Technical Expert Committee Report (TEC) because they have found that GM crops have little to contribute to Indian agriculture, safe food and food security in this country.

"We bring to your notice that IB has no business to indirectly facilitate a foreign multinational company like Monsanto and malign the credibility of activists who are questioning the large scale potential disaster to this nation due to GM crops, it asserted.

"Singling out activism against Extractive Industries in North East as a separate issue in the report, and the painting legitimate and democratic people's development related activities and the struggle to stop mass executions in the Supreme Court by local organizations as anti-national and anti-development amounts to a deeply discriminatory slant.

A number of false, unfounded allegations such as "routing of foreign funds" have been raised without any rational or factual basis naming two NGOs of Manipur and linking them to other organization at the national level in an imagined association that is untrue.

On the other hand there is no "Manipur Coalition of Extractives" as alleged in this report.

The IB report is concocted by uninformed sources," it stated.

According to the joint statement, the document of IB report which was classified as a 'secret report' was released by the IB itself to the press with an agenda to malign, scandalize and create a character assassination of credible activists in this country.

It strongly condemns such dubious methods.

It then said that as far as the few NGOs mentioned are concerned, it is clear that the IB has conveniently selected them due to their stands on the above issues and it has nothing to do with foreign fund.

The Intelligence Bureau knows that there are over 40,000 NGOs operating in this country and they never objected to the visit of Narendra Modi for blessings to one of the largest foreign funded NGO under Mata Amritandamayi, a well known hub of RSS activists.

IB had no problem when even BBC reported that large scale foreign fund was diverted by the NGO called Vanavasi Kalyan Kendra, another hub of the Sangh Parivar, for the brutal murder of over 2000 innocent Muslims in Gujarat.

Therefore, it is obvious that the IB is facilitating a political game rather than serving any national interest, it further added.

"We also would like to bring to your notice that the space for criticisms on any Government is a crucial space which is fundamental to any democracy.

What the IB is attempting to do is only to block this important critical space which is against all national interests," the joint statement also noted.

According to the statement, these activists and organisations are aware that thousands of crores of rupees are regularly being spent on the intelligence agencies in this country and such financial resources collected from the tax payers' money in this country is ultimately getting used against the rights of the citizens of this country.

The present IB report is a classic example.

We demand a drastic cut of such financial resources which are regularly used against the rights of the minorities, Dalits, Adivasis, the people's movements and activists in this country for the preservation and sustainance of democracy.

"We also demand that all the financial resources used by the intelligence agencies be brought under public audit and be reported to the Indian Parliament so that such institutions also realize that there is a public accountability which rests on them.

We demand that immediate action on all those officials be undertaken for executing such criminal behavior and misusing their official powers, the joint statement demanded.

"Due to all the above reasons, we are convinced that the IB report is only a politically motivated instrument of the vested interests in this country.

We strongly condemn the public use of IB against activists, people's movements and credible journalists," the press note accused.

They then appealed to all members of the civil society to condemn the IB report and strengthen the people's movements for they are the only source and hope for the survival of our future, despite the interventions of irresponsible politicians and irresponsible intelligence departments.

We appeal to all members of the civil society to uphold sustainable and equitable development, no matter what the authorities speak of destructive foreign motivated development as 'national interest'.

"We appeal to all members of the civil society to speak up against the suppression of critical voices, without which in the final analysis, freedom of all individuals will be at stake very soon," the joint press communiqu� appealed.

The press note was jointly signed by Prof.Romila Thapar, Dr.Mallika Sarabhai (artist and activist), Mahesh Bhatt (film director, producer), Maj Gen (Retd) S.G.Vombatkere, Vrinda Grover (Lawyer - Supreme Court of India), Anand Patwardhan, Buddhadev Dasgupta (eminent filmmaker), Goutam Ghosh (film maker), Prof KN Panikkar, Aruna Roy, Sandeep Pande (activist), Sadanand Menon, (art critic, journalist), Dr (Brig)R S Rajan (Director , Vivekananda Institute for Leadership Development, Mysore), Dr P M Bhargava (Former and Founder Director, Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, Former Vice-Chairman, National Knowledge Commission; Former Member, National Security Advisory Board; Government of India), K.Satchidanhandan ( Ex Chairperson, Kendra Sahitya Academi), Prof.Anjali Monteiro, Teesta Setalvad, Prof.K.P.Jayasankar, J Devika, Kedar Misra (well known poet and journalist from Orissa), Ram Puniyani, Manisha Sethi (Associate Professor, Jamia Milia Islamia Univesity), Ambrose Pinto, Sudhir Patnaik (editor/journalist), Ramdas Rao (PUCL, Karnataka), R.P.Amudhan, (Film Maker), P Baburaj, Prafulla Samantara, BRP Bhaskar, Civic Chandran, KR Mohan ( former Chairperson, Kerala Chalachitra Academi), Gopal Menon, B.Suresh (film Director in Kannada & play writer), Fr .

Jimmy C.Dabhi (Human Development and Research Centre), K R Seshadri, Syed Tanveeruddin ( Environmental/Green, RTI, Human Rights and Social Activist, Mysore), G R Vidyaranya (Social & RTI Activist, Media Coordinator, Aam Aadmi Party, Mysore Dist), Dr.TT Sreekumar (Associate Professor and Chair, Fellows Programme in Management - Communications (FPM-C) Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad), Leena Manimekalai (Poet, Filmmaker), Amar Kanwar (film maker), Dr.Vinod Vyasulu, Sampad Mohapatra (Journalist, Odisha), Pradosh Pattanaik(Journalist, Ex Editor of "The Samaja ",premier Odia daily), Bhabani Charan Pattanaik(Freedom Fighter and Ex Rajya Sabha member), Rabi Das (Senior Journalist ,Odisha), Dr.Vijayamma, Jagadish Chandra, Sohini Dasgupta (filmmaker), Dr.Swarajit Jana (social activist), Malini Bhattacharya (ex MP), Prof.Mihir Bhattacharya, Raja Sen (filmmaker), Sadique Hossain (Yuva Sahitya Academy Award Winner Author), Bidyarthi Chatterji (film Critic), S..NM.Abdi (journalist), Ashok Viswanathan (filmmaker), Subhodip Maitra (writer, journalist, cultural activist), Sunanda Mukhopadhyay (Chairperson, West Bengal Women's Commission), Soumitra Dastidar (documentary maker, columnist), Sudarshana Chakraborty (Journalist, documentary maker), Shabnam Hashmi, Prof A Aarx (writer, critic), P Sasikumar (film maker, actor, TV anchor), T V Chandran (film maker), Prof.Moidul Islam, Prof.Barnali Ghosh, Arundhati Duru(activist), Debabrata Roy Laifungbam (Convenor, Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights in Manipur and the UN), Babloo Loitongbam (Executive Director, Human Rights Alert), Kshetrimayum Onil (Just Peace Foundation), Basantakumar Wareppa (Lawyer), Mary Beth Senate (Rural Women's Upliftment Society), Renu Takhelambam (President, Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association, Manipur), Joy Chingakham (Vice President, FRIENDS), Nandini Thockchom (Forum for Indigenous Perspective and Action), Leishangthem Ranjana (Forum for Indigenous Perspective and Action), U.Nobokishore (North East Dialogue Forum), O.J.Metei (United NGO Mission, Manipur) .

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