Indian NGOs, think-tanks reel after foreign funds are blocked

With govt cancelling permits, NGOs have to cut projects, jobs, affecting the vulnerable

- Debarshi Dasgupta and Rohini Mohan

As students solved maths problems in a non-profit school in a forest village in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, the teacher asked a boy where his older sister was.

"Married," the child said, confirming the 32-year-old teacher's worst fear about one of his best students.

Over 100 tribal children are enrolled in the school, but after the fifth grade, their nearest option to continue studying is the government high school 12km away.

Without reliable public transport in a backward area prone to monsoon floods, most children drop out.

Teenage girls are often married off early and boys start doing farm labour, an eventuality the non-government organisation (NGO) had hoped to prevent by starting middle and high school classes too.

"But after the government suspended our permit to receive foreign funds in 2023, we had to shelve the plans to tutor older children," said the teacher, whose monthly salary has been slashed from 15,000 rupees (S$242) to 7,000 rupees due to a lack of funds.

The NGO did not want to be identified for fear of reprisal from the government, which had accused it of transferring money to a local organisation that did not have a permit.

"We have appealed against the suspension with all the evidence of bank transactions to show that we didn't transfer foreign funds to any organisation," he said.

"The government said our appeal is under process." Thousands of NGOs in India have had to cancel projects and cut jobs and salaries in the past five years after the government cancelled or suspended their licence to receive foreign funds under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 2010 (FCRA).

The revocation of FCRA permits of high-profile organisations working in areas such as human rights has raised concern that the government may be using the law to crack down on dissent in civil society.