Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said it should be mandatory for those filing public interest litigations against the government on development projects to declare their source of funds, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi cautioned the judiciary against being influenced by "five-star activists".
Foreigners intending to work in NGOs, carry out research work on human rights and environment issues will have to face stricter scrutiny of their visa applications after detection of several incidents of alleged misuse of these provisions.
In a fresh crackdown on foreign fundings to NGOs, the Union Home Ministry has put the Ford Foundation of the USA on its "watch list" and ordered that all funds coming from the international organisation have to be routed only with its nod due to "national security concerns".
India's state-run NTPC is launching bids for clean technology for two coal-fired power plants near New Delhi, officials said, as criticism mounts over the country's failure to end a toxic smog which strikes the capital every winter.
"As an organisation committed to the rule of law, our operations in India have always conformed with our national regulations. The principles of transparency and accountability are at the heart of our work.".
The list has been handed over to Enforcement Directorate.
Critics say the crackdown is to muzzle dissent and Rijiju's actions could lead to less foreign aid for projects that fight child marriage, provide clean water in slums and feed pregnant women.
Modi denies the charges and was exonerated in an Indian Supreme Court inquiry in 2012.
Charging NGOs like Greenpeace with violating Indian laws, the RSS on Sunday called US as "the global police of democracy" and questioned its defence of the two organisations.
The United States on Wednesday expressed concern over punitive action taken by the National Democratic Alliance government against scores of non government organisation, asserting that a vibrant civil society was important for democratic traditions and that those who act peacefully to seek change are not anti-government.
NCW data show a noticeable rise in sexual harassment at the workplace.
Dhirendra Mulkalwar, one of the protestors who raised a protest banner at Essar's Mumbai headquarters, on why he joined Greenpeace's Junglistan group that is working to save India's forests.
'We are facing a crackdown for more than a year. Our permission to collect funds was cancelled. Our bank accounts were frozen.' 'We believe that our work in India is very important. We want to be the environment watchdog. We do not want to waste time fighting legal battles.'
Almost every home in this area has a slogan 'Jal, Jangal, Jameen' painted outside. Rashme Sehgal reports for Rediff.com on the four-year battle to save the Mahan forest in Madhya Pradesh.
'No private citizen can be prevented from holding or propagating in India or abroad, a view contrary to that of the government of the day. The government, it seems is misreading the mandate in the Lok Sabha as being a mandate to crush dissent. In times when ruling parties have brute majorities in Parliament, the true test of safeguarding democracy is its ability to allow dissenting voices to be heard,' says Indira Jaising, the former additional solicitor general.
Muzzling NGOs is unbecoming of a democracy. Self-confident democracies encourage, indeed applaud, the involvement of citizens' associations, including NGOs, in social and political decision-making and development planning. Instead, our paranoid government bullies and terrorises them, says Praful Bidwai.
Many top corporate groups hit hard, in penalties and sunk investments, beside loss of future revenue
Avid cyclists, newspaper vendors, milkmen and courier boys have come together to protest against West Bengal government's ban on cycles from city roads, reports Debaleena Sengupta.
Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tall claims that no one has served nature more than India, some of the steps taken by his BJP government proves that the ground reality is exactly opposite, says Devanik Saha.
The industry began to upgrade its practices even before the NGO alleged Indian tea contained harmful pesticides.
Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan welcomed the apex court's order and urged people to abide by the SC guidelines and 'give green Diwali and our environment a chance'
'There is nothing traitorous about highlighting the poor record of your own government. If the Indian government does something wrong, we all have the right to point this out at any forum, international or national.'
We're behaving like frogs in warm water. We swim around untroubled, cooled by our faith in Indian liberal democracy. We are blind to the bubbles popping around us, the bubbles warning of fundamental changes, says Mihir S Sharma.
Once called India's garden city, this upper middle-class residential area in Bangalore has India's most toxic air, says Devanik Saha, IndiaSpend.com.
'Greenpeace has been brutal in targeting both India and the Manmohan Singh government. The push to go after Indian coal is driven by its long-term agenda. What is surprising is that China has not been meted out the same treatment, despite the fact that the rise of China as an economic power has been built around generating power from coal. 'Being richer and more affluent, yet far less democratic, there is less room for an NGO such as Greenpeace to drive home a complicated global agenda, so there is more of a tendency to go along with anything the Chinese offer despite China being the biggest by far with regard to coal use. But for India, it reserves tougher prescriptions, notably for its middle class, says Srinivas Bharadwaj.
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