Two NGOs pursued litigation “stalling economic and development” projects of the country, including those of Adani Group and JSW. More than 75% funding of four NGOs during a five-year period came from abroad, which is shaping their activities in India. The president of one NGO is a shareholder of another. These are among the key allegations, mainly linking process and personnel, listed by the Income Tax Department following its crackdown on five major NGOs, including the country’s premier think tank Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and the multinational confederation Oxfam, according to an investigation by The Indian Express. The I-T probe was triggered by searches conducted on September 7, 2022, at the premises of Oxfam, CPR, Environics Trust (ET), Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE) and Care India Solution for Sustainable Development (CISSD). Following the searches, the I-T department concluded that these NGOs had allegedly violated identical provisions of the 2010 Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA): “mismatch” in annual returns and statements of foreign currency bank accounts; and “misutilisation” of funds in foreign currency. The FCRA licences of these NGOs were subsequently cancelled, resulting in legal challenges being filed by them that are currently being heard in the Delhi High Court. The Indian Express has reviewed “intimation letters” issued to these NGOs by the I-T department by the end of 2023, each of over 100 pages, and including for instance copies of various agreements, financial statements, emails, and minutes and draft notes of board meetings, to track the key allegations levelled against these NGOs. They include: “.foreign funding is influencing the working of these trust/ institutions and they are indulging in activities contrary to the objects for which they were formed..” the I-T letters state. During 2015-2021, Care India allegedly received 92% of its funding from abroad, followed by Environics Trust (95%), LIFE (86%) Oxfam (78%). Environics Trust allegedly received 100% of its funding from abroad for three of these six years. The data did not include CPR. The five NGOs are “interconnected and their main persons interlinked”. The letters issued to four of the five NGOs — Oxfam, ET, LIFE and Care India — have a common concluding section titled “Concerted efforts by connected NGOs”. A separate letter to Environics Trust sums it up: “.there is a concerted effort by various NGOs to support the agitators and stall the various projects. These NGOs are supporting each other for desired result and agitation and create law and order issues.” The charges listed separately against the NGOs include: Oxfam: The 141-page I-T letter alleges activities “against” stated objectives. For instance, it points to Oxfam India’s support for Oxfam Australia’s push to stop mining by Adani Group. It cites emails and “evidence” from hard drives to state: “.it is clear that Oxfam India has direct interest towards delisting Adani Ports….It is a sinister plan of Oxfam India in the name of charitable activities to target an Indian business group in Australia. they are conspiring with foreign entities.” The letter points to Oxfam’s expenses for the Van Swaraj Andolan in Raipur in 2019, and sub-grants to organisations such as Josh (for social health) and Aman Biradari Trust. It claims that after its FCRA licence was cancelled, Oxfam tried to locate other “puppet NGOs” with valid permissions to redirect funds for causes. Claiming that Oxfam India had a “political agenda”, the letter states that it “should work for the benefit of public as whole and not the benefit of any particular religious community or caste (the Muslim community)”. Centre for Policy Research: The 115-page I-T letter claims discrepancies in fund collection and management of foreign donations. It states CPR was allegedly “involved” in the Hasdeo movement against coal mining in Chhattisgarh through Jana Abhivyakti Samajik Vikas Sanstha (JASVS) — and that 83% of funds received by JASVS between 2019-2023 were from CPR. According to the I-T department, CPR received foreign funds of Rs 10.19 crore since 2016 for its Namati-Environmental Justice Programme to file “litigation and complaints”. It asserts that CPR is the only associate in India of US-based Namati Inc with a stated objective of filing cases wherever there is injustice to people or environment from projects. The letter states “that the ultimate purpose of ‘Namati – Environment Justice Program’ is to file litigation and complaints instead of carrying out any specified research or ‘Educational’ activity”. Environics Trust: The 104-page I-T letter alleges funding for protests against JSW Utkal Steel Plant in Odisha’s Dhinkia and that Rs 1,250 each was transferred to accounts of 711 local residents in 2020. It claims ET and London-based Survival International “are conspiring against Adani’s Godda Plant in Jharkhand by connecting the people to strengthen the anti-Adani movement.” The “assessee” is “misusing” its funds for “stalling the developmental projects’’, the letter states. It also alleges that ET was involved in protests against LG’s polymer chemical plant in Visakhapatnam in 2020, following a gas leak. It claims an ET employee “is provoking all groups associated with Environics Trust to join the protest against the LG company regarding the gas leak incident”. According to the I-T Department, “it is clear that European Climate Foundation (ECF) in association with Environics Trust is targeting coal and thermal power plants in India and is engaged in mobilisation and protest against the big corporates of India (including government entities). The funds have been given by the ECF with the ultimate objective of stalling of thermal power plant and causing disturbance in the area where thermal plants are located. This shows how ET is being played in the hands of ECF.” LIFE: The 86-page I-T letter states “LIFE Trust is being used as an instrument by (US-based NGO) Earth Justice to stall the coal mines and Thermal Power Projects”. It cites a purported e-mail exchange between LIFE founder Ritwick Dutta and an Earth Justice official to claim that “LIFE and its members are aware of its illegal activities and their results. They are afraid of being caught.” It cites an email in which Dutta purportedly writes: “My view is that Earth Justice is likely to be put under the scanner of Indian intelligence organization.” The I-T department claims that Dutta was earlier running a proprietorship concern that received around Rs 22 crore of “professional receipts” from Earth Justice across five years. ‘Working in concert’ According to the “intimation letters”, there are alleged “linkages” between the NGOs, which indicate that they were working in “concert” with each other: * CPR former president (she was heading it at the time of the IT searches), Yamini Aiyar, is also a shareholder of Care. Oxfam India offered a Rs 12-lakh project for short-term training of key CPR employees, the I-T department claims. It cites an email to claim that some part of this payment (Rs 5 Lakh) was for CPR to be used for any purpose. * Environics Trust allegedly has “close links’’ with Ritwick Dutta’s LIFE. “In some cases Ritwick Dutta, on behalf of ET appeared against the Union Government referring to environmental activities but in reality the litigation has led to stalling the economic and development activities of the country,” the I-T department claims. Both NGOs are allegedly “involved in targeting and stalling coal projects in India by using foreign funds”. * Oxfam India is a “key donor”, according to the probe. It funded ET “to mobilize communities with the help of local unions against coal industries”, including the Dhinkia protests, the letters state. “Oxfam India is making various payments continuously to ET for various reasons,” the I-T department states, citing purported banking transactions. Its conclusion: “ET has been continuously funded by Oxfam and that shows that ET is the tool in the hand of Oxfam for agitational activities.” The I-T probe concludes that “Oxfam and ET have been receiving donations from abroad”. “Their activities appear to be on behest of their foreign donors and serving the vested interest of their donors in India or domestically,” it states. The I-T probe has cited details in its “intimation letters” as evidence of “robust activities or exchange of ideas between LIFE, Earth Justice, Green Peace, ET as well as Oxfam”. *** ‘Allegation baseless’ A key allegation by the I-T department that the five NGOs in its crackdown were linked in process and personnel are baseless, the founder of one of them, LIFE, said. “The allegation that all the NGOs were interlinked and interconnected is baseless. LIFE has never received any funds from Oxfam and never collaborated with CPR, Oxfam and Care India. There was only interaction with Environics Trust. LIFE is a voluntary organisation and is carrying out some of its activities now based on voluntary contributions,” said LIFE founder Ritwick Dutta. An official of Environics Trust declined to comment. The three other NGOs — Oxfam, CPR and CISSD — did not respond to requests for comment on the I-T department’s allegations.
