Finally, The government has woken up to real and serious issue that we face today. NGOs vulnerable to risk of terror financing: Govt With voluntary organizations receiving more than Rs 11,500 crore of foreign funds annually, the Union home ministry has warned that the NGOs in the country were vulnerable to risks of money laundering and terror financing. In its latest annual report on receipt and utilization of foreign contribution by voluntary associations, the home ministry said since the NGOs work independently outside the government, it is expected that they should be self- regulating and law abiding. One of the objectives of the national policy on the voluntary sector is to encourage NGOs to adopt transparent and accountable system of governance and management. While it is not proper to make sweeping generalizations, it is necessary to note that the NGO sector in India is vulnerable to the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing, the report said. In his foreword, Union home secretary Anil Goswami said the general policy of the government is not to encourage soliciting of foreign contribution and the endeavour of the ministry has been to bring in transparency and accountability in the operation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act while ensuring national security. Interestingly, the returns have not been received from nearly 19,000 organizations for which appropriate action has been taken by the home ministry for non-compliance of their statutory obligations. A total of 43,527 NGOs were registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act upto March 31, 2012. Amongst the purposes for which foreign contribution was received and utilized are: rural development (Rs 945.77 crore), welfare of children (Rs 929.22 crore), construction and maintenance of school/college (Rs 824.11 crore) and research (Rs 539.14 crore). The figures have been captured from the amounts indicated under various standard heads of utilization prescribed in the annual returns. Further, some NGOs, which have reported receipt and utilization of foreign contribution, have not classified utilization appropriately under the respective standard heads and, therefore, such amount has been shown under the miscellaneous head. Thus, these figures may not accurately reflect the utilization of foreign contribution under the specific standard heads. However, they do represent a statistical trend, the home ministry report said. During the year 2011-12, 22,702 NGOs reported receipt of foreign contribution amounting to Rs 11,546.29 crore. Among the NGOs, which have reported receipt of foreign contribution, the World Vision of India, Chennai, received the highest amount of foreign contribution (Rs 233.38 crore). Other NGOs which have received sizeable foreign contribution are the Believers Church India Pathanamthitta, Kerala (Rs 190 crore), the Rural Development Trust, Ananthapur, Andhra Pradesh (Rs 144.39 crore), the Indian Society Of Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints, Delhi (Rs 130.77 crore) and Public Health Foundation Of India, Delhi (Rs 130.31 crore). The list of foreign donors is headed by the Compassion International, USA (Rs 99.20 crore) followed by the HCL Holdings Pvt Ltd, Mauritius (Rs 69.98 crore), the Action Aid, UK (Rs 62.66 crore), Population Service International, USA (Rs 61.34 crore) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USA (Rs 48.91 crore). The five major donor countries are USA (Rs 3838.23), UK (Rs 1219.02 crore), Germany (Rs 1096.01 crore), Italy (Rs 528.88 crore) and the Netherlands (Rs 418.37 crore).
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 02:55:03 +0000
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