The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday reportedly cancelled Greenpeace India's Foreign Contribution Regulations Act (FCRA) license.
A Home Ministry official told PTI that the NGO's registration has been cancelled under Section 13 of the FCRA.
According to the PTI report, the cancellation of Greenpeace India’s registration under the FCRA “would mean that the NGO will not be able to receive from abroad the funds, which are upto 30 per cent of its overall cost of operations.”
Greenpeace India in a statement said,
“The Greenpeace legal team has learnt that the Ministry of Home Affairs has notified the Delhi High Court that Greenpeace’s FCRA registration has been cancelled. This news comes just a day before a scheduled hearing at the Delhi High Court that was examining the merits of MHA’s arbitrary action.”
“The cancelling of our FCRA registration is the government’s latest move in a relentless onslaught against the community’s right to dissent. It is yet another attempt to silence campaigns for a more sustainable future and transparency in public processes,” said Vinuta Gopal, interim co-Executive Director of Greenpeace India. “Cutting access to our foreign funding may be a desperate attempt to get us to cease our work, but the MHA probably didn’t count on our having an amazing network of volunteers and supporters who have helped us continue our work despite the government crackdown. Since the majority of our funding comes from Indian citizens, most of our work can indeed continue. In fact, we are responding to this latest melodrama by launching a new creative online campaign and are confident that people will show they are ready to fight back in style, and send a clear message to those in power: you just can’t muzzle dissent in a democracy.”
Earlier this year, the MHA had suspended Greenpeace India’s FCRA license and froze all its seven bank accounts for alleged violations of the Act. The government in its order had said the NGO had "under-reported and repeatedly mentioned incorrect amount of foreign contributions", states a report in The Hindu.