A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books
The Intelligence Bureau of the Government of India at the behest of the previous regime investigated the activities of nearly 50,000 NGOs and has submitted its Report. The contents are shocking and demand immediate attention. It is well known that Indian academics thrive under foreign patronage and the advent of post colonial theories and perspective have given added strength to the perception that India is best studied at the fault lines of Indian society--language, caste, identity and religion. This perception is quite in contrast to the methods adopted to study Western society which are predicated upon the efficacy of individual choice, rationality, and humanitarian world view. Mehrotra, a noted philosopher has critiqued this approach in his book Breaking India in which he has drawn attention to the political and strategic implications of these post colonial perspectives. Unfortunately the Indian academic and intellectual community has completely surrendered its independence of thought to Western models of social and political action that any critique of the dominant paradigm is dismissed as "communal'" reactionary" or "obscurantist" tendencies. It is left to the Intelligence Bureau to draw attention to the dangers posed by Western research on India, especially those that excavate at the fault lines of Indian society.
Indian democracy is really a wayward experiment in callous nationalism and anarchy. Under the garb of research on social sciences and environment western interests both economic and political have been able to insinuate themselves into the academic and political agenda of the country. It is worth noting that the National Security Agency in the USA ran unhindered a programme of maximum surveillance in the country without any obstruction except for some ritual protests from the civil libertarians whose protests only reinforce the notion of freedom in the USA. In India, on the other hand human rights groups have been quite successful in ensuring the release of naxalites who have been waging war against the Indian state and has claimed more than 50,000 lives in the past decade or so. The uproar over the Vinay Sen arrest shows that there is concerted effort to shield the ideologues of the naxalite movement and the prime movers are all well entrenched in the Indian University system. This sort of blatant misuse of academic rights and freedom is not possible in USA or for that matter any Western democratic country. The large scale immigration of Bangladeshis from Bangladesh into Assam is causing social and political tension and in spite of legislation empowering the Government of India to detect and deport illegal migrants, the Government of India is unable to implement the law due to the propaganda of human rights NGOs whose only aim is to ensure that there is enough tension in the region. In the Garo Hills which has India's largest deposit of Uranium the environment based NGOs are ensuring that India does not mine the uranium and the country is forced to depend on the Nuclear Supply Group for its stock of uranium. Unfortunately these pro active NGOs are very successful in their disruptive activities in India and they are not that effective in Western countries.
The funding received by the NGOs in violation of Indian law is a cause of serious concern. The Report makes it clear that during the course of the past decade or so more than one lakh crore rupees was received by Indian NGOs and with liberalization it has become possible for NGOs to maintain foreign accounts and operate them from India.Dr Udayakumar, an alumni of the University of Hawaii, Manoa, (this blogger took his Ph D in History from the same University) has received more than 40,000 US dollars and his obstructive agitation over the nuclear power plant in Kudankulam has become notorious in India and abroad. It is certain that NGOs are receiving funds for launching agitation and propaganda against the energy security policy of India.
Greenpeace, a well known NGO whose ship the Rainbow Warrior was bomber by French Intelligence Agency a few decades back has been involved in a slew of measures against the development of the economic infrastructure in the country. Any development results in displacement and that cannot be an excuse for the status quo. By attempting to organize the workforce involved in the Infrastructure projects in the country, the Greenpeace is aiming to sabotage the rather halting steps India is taking toward development especially in the road and power sector. It is worth noting that all these NGOs which have been studies receive their funds from USA and Western countries.
What is to be done:
1 All NGO funding must be routed through a National Agency which will disburse and monitor the use of foreign funds.
2 All political and agitational activities must be severely discouraged and if foreign funds are linked to agitational and political activities then the NGO must be proceeded against as per law. The corruption within the Indian system has made NGOs as lawless as the political parties.
3 Indian Government must set up a Organization to study the activities of the NGOs and
4 The audited statements must be submitted to the dedicated Organization and India must also monitor the flow of foreign funds.
The situation is alarming and action must be taken.
The Intelligence Bureau of the Government of India at the behest of the previous regime investigated the activities of nearly 50,000 NGOs and has submitted its Report. The contents are shocking and demand immediate attention. It is well known that Indian academics thrive under foreign patronage and the advent of post colonial theories and perspective have given added strength to the perception that India is best studied at the fault lines of Indian society--language, caste, identity and religion. This perception is quite in contrast to the methods adopted to study Western society which are predicated upon the efficacy of individual choice, rationality, and humanitarian world view. Mehrotra, a noted philosopher has critiqued this approach in his book Breaking India in which he has drawn attention to the political and strategic implications of these post colonial perspectives. Unfortunately the Indian academic and intellectual community has completely surrendered its independence of thought to Western models of social and political action that any critique of the dominant paradigm is dismissed as "communal'" reactionary" or "obscurantist" tendencies. It is left to the Intelligence Bureau to draw attention to the dangers posed by Western research on India, especially those that excavate at the fault lines of Indian society.
Indian democracy is really a wayward experiment in callous nationalism and anarchy. Under the garb of research on social sciences and environment western interests both economic and political have been able to insinuate themselves into the academic and political agenda of the country. It is worth noting that the National Security Agency in the USA ran unhindered a programme of maximum surveillance in the country without any obstruction except for some ritual protests from the civil libertarians whose protests only reinforce the notion of freedom in the USA. In India, on the other hand human rights groups have been quite successful in ensuring the release of naxalites who have been waging war against the Indian state and has claimed more than 50,000 lives in the past decade or so. The uproar over the Vinay Sen arrest shows that there is concerted effort to shield the ideologues of the naxalite movement and the prime movers are all well entrenched in the Indian University system. This sort of blatant misuse of academic rights and freedom is not possible in USA or for that matter any Western democratic country. The large scale immigration of Bangladeshis from Bangladesh into Assam is causing social and political tension and in spite of legislation empowering the Government of India to detect and deport illegal migrants, the Government of India is unable to implement the law due to the propaganda of human rights NGOs whose only aim is to ensure that there is enough tension in the region. In the Garo Hills which has India's largest deposit of Uranium the environment based NGOs are ensuring that India does not mine the uranium and the country is forced to depend on the Nuclear Supply Group for its stock of uranium. Unfortunately these pro active NGOs are very successful in their disruptive activities in India and they are not that effective in Western countries.
The funding received by the NGOs in violation of Indian law is a cause of serious concern. The Report makes it clear that during the course of the past decade or so more than one lakh crore rupees was received by Indian NGOs and with liberalization it has become possible for NGOs to maintain foreign accounts and operate them from India.Dr Udayakumar, an alumni of the University of Hawaii, Manoa, (this blogger took his Ph D in History from the same University) has received more than 40,000 US dollars and his obstructive agitation over the nuclear power plant in Kudankulam has become notorious in India and abroad. It is certain that NGOs are receiving funds for launching agitation and propaganda against the energy security policy of India.
Greenpeace, a well known NGO whose ship the Rainbow Warrior was bomber by French Intelligence Agency a few decades back has been involved in a slew of measures against the development of the economic infrastructure in the country. Any development results in displacement and that cannot be an excuse for the status quo. By attempting to organize the workforce involved in the Infrastructure projects in the country, the Greenpeace is aiming to sabotage the rather halting steps India is taking toward development especially in the road and power sector. It is worth noting that all these NGOs which have been studies receive their funds from USA and Western countries.
What is to be done:
1 All NGO funding must be routed through a National Agency which will disburse and monitor the use of foreign funds.
2 All political and agitational activities must be severely discouraged and if foreign funds are linked to agitational and political activities then the NGO must be proceeded against as per law. The corruption within the Indian system has made NGOs as lawless as the political parties.
3 Indian Government must set up a Organization to study the activities of the NGOs and
4 The audited statements must be submitted to the dedicated Organization and India must also monitor the flow of foreign funds.
The situation is alarming and action must be taken.
