The US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) also recommended to the Congress to raise the issue of religious freedom during US-India bilateral meetings, and hold hearings on it.
A US Congress-constituted quasi-judicial body on Wednesday asked the Joe Biden Administration to designate four nations, including India, as "countries of particular concern", alleging that religious freedom conditions there in 2020 continued their negative trajectory.
The order said the NGO has transferred an amount of Rs 2.46 lakh from its foreign contribution designated account to Sabrang Trust domestic account, thus mixing of domestic and foreign funds and violating the rules.
The ministry of home affairs has suspended the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licence of prominent public think-tank Centre for Policy Research (CPR) over violation of laws, officials said on Thursday.
The Election Commission (EC) had, in 2019, flagged its concerns in the Supreme Court on the changes made in several laws relating to political funding to facilitate the electoral bonds scheme, saying it will have 'serious repercussions' on transparency.
Special CBI Judge Vinod Kumar allowed the probe agency to quiz Anand Joshi, who was arrested on Sunday from west Delhi, in its custody till May 20.
In a countrywide crackdown, the Central Bureau of Investigation conducted operations at 40 locations and apprehended around 14 people including home ministry officials, NGO representatives and middlemen for allegedly facilitating the clearance of foreign donations in violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, officials said on Tuesday.
The government has cancelled the FCRA registration of nearly 1,900 NGOs for violating various provisions of the law in the last five years. There were 22,762 FCRA-registered organisations till December-end 2021.
Modi shared the warmth of Chief Minister M K Stalin who briefly held the PM's hand and patted the back of the latter's palm while walking through the displays exhibited at the new Chennai airport terminal.
The adjudicating authority of the Enforcement Directorate ED has adjudicated a show cause notice issued to Amnesty India International Pvt Ltd (AIIPL) and its CEO Aakar Patel for contravention of the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act and imposed a penalty of Rs 51.72 crores and Rs 10 crores respectively on them, the probe agency announced on Friday.
'All this for only one reason -- that I oppose the government's nuclear power policy.' 'They will not break my resolve.' 'I will stand by my principle, which is to point out that nuclear energy is not safe.'
Capital markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday barred five brokerage houses for up to six months from making fresh applications seeking registration as commodity brokers as they failed to meet 'fit and proper' criteria in the NSEL case. The affected brokerage houses include India Infoline Commodities, Anand Rathi Commodities and Geofin Comtrade (banned for 6 months each), and Phillip Commodities and Motilal Oswal Commodities Broker (for 3 months each). "There were enough red flags for a reasonable person to come to conclude that what was being offered as paired contracts on NSEL were not spot contract in commodities," Sebi said in five separate orders.
The money-laundering case was filed by the ED after taking cognisance of a CBI FIR against the accused, whom the latter agency had booked for alleged violations of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 2010 and under section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
The registration was cancelled as Infosys Foundation allegedly did not file income and expenditure statement on foreign funding for the past few years, officials said.
'Not even a single rupee from the electoral bonds should be allowed to be used in the election.' 'If it is used in the election, it will taint India's electoral process itself.'
The government does not seem to have sufficient grounds to invoke the CBI against Teesta Setalvad.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is expected to question representatives of NGOs whose names have cropped up during its probe against a Home Ministry official Anand Joshi who was allegedly issuing notices of foreign remittances violations to voluntary groups in an arbitrary manner.
The US state department in its annual report to the Congress on international religious freedom has alleged that in India in 2021, attacks on members of the minority communities, including killings, assaults, and intimidation, occurred throughout the year.
Two non-government organisations run by social activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband have been served notice by the home ministry for alleged violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act and asked to reply within 15 days.
The searches are in connection with alleged violation of foreign direct investment norms that is linked to an earlier case of revocation of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act licence of the NGO by the Union home ministry in 2010, the ED said.
'Mr Modi believes the world is like him. He thinks every one has a price or can be intimidated. He will never understand that those who fight for the truth have no price and cannot be intimidated,' Gandhi said in a tweet.
The home ministry said exercising the powers conferred under Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, the registration of Sabrang Trust has been suspended for a period of 180 days with effect from September 10, 2015.
The chargesheet also said they did not maintain exclusive books of account for receipt of foreign contribution and Sabrang could not produce segregated books of accounts for checking.
Religious freedom and related human rights in India are under ongoing threat, the US Commission for International Religious Freedom alleged on Tuesday in an unusual year-end update of the status of its assessment of religious freedom in the country.
Licences of around 20,000 of 33,000 NGOs have been cancelled by the government after they were found to be allegedly violating various provisions of the Foreign Contribution (regulation) Act, thus barring them from receiving foreign funds.
Licence of NGO run by Indira Jaising--'Lawyers' Collective'--was suspended by the government for 6 months.
The retrospective amendment will help BJP and Congress escape the fallout of a 2014 Delhi high court judgment that held both guilty of violating the FCRA.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday carried out searches at premises of social activist Teesta Setalvad and her organisation in connection with a case of alleged violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act in receiving funds from abroad without taking prior permission from the home ministry.
The CBI on Wednesday registered a case against social activist Teesta Setalvad and her organisation for alleged violation of FCRA in recieving funds from abroad without taking prior permission from the home ministry.
The Dabangg star, who has been providing assistance to those in need amid the ongoing pandemic through his charitable trust, on Monday posted a statement on his social media handles.
'However, to establish a quid pro quo, one can potentially see several things, like whether they got any benefits from the party that they gave money to. That is something that people (of India) will gauge. But to finally establish that there was money paid as consideration, it would require an investigation, a proper investigation, to be able to come up with such conclusions.'
The government on Friday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation into transfer of funds by United States-based Ford Foundation to Sabrang Communication and Publishing Pvt Limited, with which social activist Teesta Stelvad is associated, allegedly in violation of rules and froze a bank account of the firm.
The guidelines have been prepared in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 that has envisioned that top universities in the world will be facilitated to operate in India.
In a circular, the ministry said all NGOs registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act should receive foreign donations in a single designated bank account.
"Whose money is this? From where did the money in these bank accounts have come," a bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra asked the counsel for Setalvad.
In a circular, the ministry said all NGOs which were registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act should receive donations from abroad in a single designated bank account.
A charge sheethas been filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation against social activist Teesta Setalvad, her husband Javed Anand and a company run by them for alleged violation of foreign funding rules.
The government may ask the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the alleged transfer of funds by the Ford Foundation to activist Teesta Setalvad's Sabrang Communication and Publishing Pvt Limited.
'It is especially discouraging for young people in the development sector. I've noticed that many of them are actively considering other career options to escape this atmosphere.' Geetanjali Krishna reports.
NGO rebuts Enforcement Directorate's charges.
