The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, investigating the alleged misuse of Rs 5.10 crore in foreign donations from a non-FCRA registered Belgian entity for proselytisation activities. Two local residents are accused of receiving funds without proper registration, disguising them as educational or cultural services, and using them to influence vulnerable communities.
The Indian government has amended the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) rules, introducing stricter regulations for NGOs receiving foreign funds. Key changes include mandatory selection of predefined purposes and areas of operation, restrictions on foreign nationals as key functionaries, and explicit exclusion of proselytisation from certain faith-based activities. The amendments also introduce minimum spending limits, enhanced financial accountability, and increased transparency requirements, including social media disclosure and ultimate donor identification.
FCRA registration will also be cancelled if any NGO is not utilising foreign funding as per the aims and objectives of the NGO or if it has not uploaded the annual returns, the ministry said.
Makki and other LeT/JUD operatives "have been involved in raising funds, recruiting and radicalising youth to violence and planning attacks in India, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)," the sanctions committee said, providing a statement for the reasons of Makki's listing.
Qatar is trying to strike between respecting religious traditions and accommodating the raucous exuberance of more than a million visiting soccer fans.
The million dollar question that begs for an answer is: Why is it that an amateurish attempt to convert a handful of Muslims by fringe Hindu elements garners so much attention while large scale systematic attempts to subvert Hinduism go unnoticed or are deliberately overlooked? If this is not double standards then what is, asks Vivek Gumaste.
As of now, there is nothing to suggest that the 'Michaelpatti episode' has the potential to polarise Dravidian Tamil Nadu on religious lines, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The funding comes after a 2016 report found an increase in violent incidents by cow vigilantes mostly against Muslims in India and authorities often 'failed' to prosecute them.
'Many tourists are keen to break the law and see the tribals. But what difference would it make? They are humans like us. We do not like intruders, neither do they. Very little of their homes is left, so we might as well let them be,' says Chintan Purohit.
What Director Mahesh Narayanan captures perfectly in C U Soon is the texture of our online conversations, observes Sreehari Nair.
Had it not been for the intellectual dominance and political legitimacy of the Leftist philosophy since 1970, would EPW have become what it did? After all, there were other more established journals around then, says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
'Whether I die in Calcutta or in Paris, on a Wednesday or a Saturday, it does not matter, but you would not want me to come to India's door and then return to France without having visited India.' 'Either I will die or I will visit India!' Claude Arpi hails Georges Clemenceau, French prime minister during the Great War, a great man who loved India.
Anti-conversion laws are needed since thrusting the idea of a competitive battlefield of religion onto India's pluralistic traditions can only lead to greater communal conflict, says Sankrant Sanu
