Foreign NGOs used Rahul as protector High-profile foreign NGOs active during 2004-2014 in blocking development projects in India, have contacts with aides to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi; while some key foreign NGO functionaries have access to him on a scale denied even to Cabinet ministers during the ten years of the UPA government, say sources within the Congress party. They say that Rahul Gandhi has a partiality towards global NGOs and that he has frequently intervened on their behalf. UPA ministers close to Rahul Gandhi, such as Kapil Sibal and Jairam Ramesh, were also seen as deferential towards selected NGOs that were targeting development projects across India. As details of Rahul Gandhis visitors and travels remain secret and the man himself remains inaccessible, there has been no way of independently verifying such claims, which are denied by those close to the Congress vice-president. Interestingly, although they have fought long and hard against both coal mining as well as power generation in India, NGOs such as Greenpeace are themselves reported by relevant authorities as being indirect recipients of funds from heavily polluting mining and industrial lobbies, albeit those active in developed countries. The MacKnight Corporation, which controls the mining conglomerate 3M, is held by the agencies to be a major indirect funder of Greenpeace through so-called philanthropic foundations such as the Packard Foundation. For its operations in India, Greenpeace is reported to have received Rs 1 crore from a US-based Climate Works Foundation, which itself was the recipient of funding from institutions linked to commercial interests. Read more: sunday-guardian/news/foreign-ngos-used-rahul-as-protector
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 21:23:09 +0000
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