Close X
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
ADVT 
India

Greenpeace India's License Suspended

Darpan News Desk IANS, 09 Apr, 2015 10:35 AM
    The Indian government on Thursday announced it has "temporarily" suspended the registration of Greenpeace India under the foreign contributions law for "under-reporting" such funding it and conducting transaction of such funds without informing the authorities as required by the law.
     
    Along with the 180-day suspension, the ministry of home affairs froze all seven bank accounts of the organisation and served it a show-cause notice seeking explanation why its license should not be cancelled.
     
    Greenpeace India, however, has received "no official communication" from the ministry, the NGO said in a statement.
     
    "This is a smear, pure and simple. All of this was put before the Delhi High Court when we brought a case against the centre, and the court decided in our favour," said Greenpeace India executive director Samit Aich.
     
    Posted on the ministry's website, the order found the association in violation of rules under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act for transferring "foreign contribution received in the FCRA designated account to FCRA utilization account and from there to... five other bank accounts without informing authority concerned".
     
    It further said: "The association has under-reported and repeatedly mentioned incorrect amount of foreign contribution received in violation... of FCRA, 2010."
     
    Divya Raghunandan, Greenpeace India programme director, dismissed the charges as based on "bunch of minute technicalities".
     
    "We are confident that we will be able to rebut and respond to these charges that are based on minor technicalities, as told to us by our lawyers and chartered accountant," Raghunandan told IANS.
     
    Greenpeace India also claimed that they were being targeted for expressing dissent and protesting against "crony capitalism" that supported a coal mine project in Mahan forest of Madhya Pradesh's Singrauli district.
     
    Aich added that they "will continue to work towards clean air, clean water and inclusive development in India".
     
    Security agencies, in their reports to the home ministry earlier, had recommended cancellation of Greenpeace India's FCRA registration, terming it a threat to national economic security.

    MORE India ARTICLES

    Ensure Cheap, Enough Beef For Easter, Goa Catholics Urge PM

    Ensure Cheap, Enough Beef For Easter, Goa Catholics Urge PM
    Troubled by the doubling of beef prices in the state, due to a prolonged shortage of the red meat here, an association of Catholics in Goa has implored Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar to ensure cheap and sufficient beef for the Easter.

    Ensure Cheap, Enough Beef For Easter, Goa Catholics Urge PM

    Hurriyat Leaders At Pakistan Day, India Rules Out Third Party In Talks

    Hurriyat Leaders At Pakistan Day, India Rules Out Third Party In Talks
    Leaders of the Hurriyat Conference and other separatist outfits on Monday attended the Pakistan Day function here, even as India made it clear that there was no place for any third party while dealing with Kashmir and other issues with Islamabad.

    Hurriyat Leaders At Pakistan Day, India Rules Out Third Party In Talks

    Lies Being Spread, Land Bill Not Anti-farmer, Says Narendra Modi

    Lies Being Spread, Land Bill Not Anti-farmer, Says Narendra Modi
    Telling farmers that "lies" were being spread about the new land acquisition bill, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asserted that the proposed law was in farmers' interest as it will improve infrastructure, employment, output and incomes in rural areas.

    Lies Being Spread, Land Bill Not Anti-farmer, Says Narendra Modi

    Fire In Parliament House Complex, None Injured

    Fire In Parliament House Complex, None Injured
    A major fire broke out in the Parliament House complex on Sunday afternoon, damaging an air conditioning plant adjacent to the reception area where welding work was in progress. No one was injured in the incident.

    Fire In Parliament House Complex, None Injured

    Rein In Militants, Mufti Tells Pakistan

    Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed on Sunday urged Pakistan to control militants who have carried out terror attacks in the state.

    Rein In Militants, Mufti Tells Pakistan

    32 Killed In India As Varanasi-Bound Train Derails

    32 Killed In India As Varanasi-Bound Train Derails
    At least 32 people were killed when the engine and three coaches of a passenger train derailed near Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh after the driver overshot a signal on Friday.

    32 Killed In India As Varanasi-Bound Train Derails