New Delhi: Over 80 retired civil servants have called on Union home minister, Amit Shah, “to adopt a cooperative rather than an adversarial relationship” with nonprofit organisations working towards the cause of India’s marginalised sections.Expressing concern over the cancellation or suspension of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licenses of several NGOs in the recent past, the former bureaucrats in an open letter said, “Every expression of difference of opinion or dissent cannot be construed as violating the integrity and sovereignty of the country or as being against the public interest. The actions of your [Home] Ministry and the various law enforcement agencies give rise to a strong suspicion that independent assessments of or perspectives about socio-economic indicators of the country are not welcome.”Referring to the cancellation or suspension of four well-known nonprofits – Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Oxfam India, Centre for Policy Research (CPR), and Centre for Equity Studies (CES) – the former bureaucrats said, their activities are aimed at addressing the problems of the most marginalised sections of Indian society.“The cancellation/suspension of the FCRA licences of these organisations and the initiation of punitive action by various law enforcement agencies of the Government of India is an outcome of the highly flawed provisions of the FCRA,” they said.The statement further went on to say that it seems as though, using the FCRA, the Government of India seeks to deter civil society organisations from seeking funding from foreign sources while allowing the private sector, digital and print media, and political parties freely access foreign funds.Calling for a drastic overhaul of the FCRA, they said it should be made more “facilitating rather than a restrictive piece of legislation”.“We hope your government will take steps in this direction and direct agencies under your control to cease needless harassment of organisations serving the people of India, especially its most marginalised and disadvantaged sections,” the retired civil servants urged Amit Shah.The letter and full list of signatories are reproduced below.§Dear Home Minister,We are a group of former civil servants of the All India and Central Services who have worked with the Central and State Governments in the course of our careers. Our group has no affiliation with any political party, and we, as its members, believe in impartiality, neutrality and commitment to the Constitution of India.We write today to express our concern over what appears to us to be the very negative approach of the Government of India in renewal of FCRA licences of nonprofits engaged in different sectors in India. Newspaper reports indicate that the FCRA registrations of nearly 5933 NGOs lapsed as of 1 January 2022. While there are undoubtedly cases where NGOs have not applied in time for renewal, the denial of renewal to a number of internationally reputed NGOs occasions cause for concern.In the recent past, FCRA licences of four well-known nonprofits – Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Oxfam India, Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and Centre for Equity Studies (CES) – have been cancelled or suspended. These are all institutions whose activities are aimed at addressing the problems of the most marginalised sections of Indian society. Rights to food, work, wages, health and shelter and the right to lead a dignified life based on the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India feature prominently in the work of these organisations. Oxfam has been working in India since 1951 and has been involved in a number of humanitarian and development activities over the past seventy years in various parts of India. CHRI activities range from advocacy of the right to information of citizens to prison and police reforms and promoting media freedom and the right to free expression. CPR is a prominent public policy think tank, with distinguished former civil servants and corporate professionals on its Governing Board. CES, set up in 2001, aims to influence public policy and law for sustainable long term solutions towards the rights and care of underprivileged sections of society.The cancellation/suspension of the FCRA licences of these organisations and the initiation of punitive action by various law enforcement agencies of the Government of India is an outcome of the highly flawed provisions of the FCRA. It seems as though, using the FCRA, the Government of India seeks to deter civil society organisations from seeking funding from foreign sources, although such access to foreign funds, through other legally sanctioned means, is freely available to the private sector, digital and print media and political parties. Section 3 of the FCRA virtually prohibits the free expression of opinion by anyone associated with an NGO obtaining foreign contributions. Section 5 gives sweeping powers to the Government of India to declare any organisation as “of a political nature”, thereby rendering it ineligible to receive foreign contributions. The scope of Section 7 of the FCRA has been narrowed down, by its 2020 amendment, to prohibit transfer of foreign contributions from one FCRA-registered party to another. Section 12 uses broad terms like “sovereignty and integrity of India” and “public interest” to give the government full discretion to decide whether to permit foreign contributions to any organisation/person.All these restrictive and vaguely worded clauses in the FCRA have been used to act against organisations that take an independent view on economic, social and political issues, which may not be to the liking of the government. Thus, columns by persons like Harsh Mander and his associates, relating to their professional areas of competence, have been deemed to be violative of Section 3. The provisions of Section 7 have been broadly interpreted to exclude even collaboration between CES and other non-FCRA organisations in the joint publication of reports. Payments received by Harsh Mander and his associates for specified outputs (and not for articles written by them) have been deemed to violate Sections 3, 8 and 12(4)(vi) of the FCRA. The Central Bureau of investigation has reportedly alleged violation of Sections 8 and 12(4) of the FCRA in payments made by Oxfam India to CPR. Detailed clarifications from all four organisations to queries by the Ministry of Home Affairs have elicited no meaningful response from your Ministry.The Government of India should clarify how nonprofit organisations can access foreign contributions if every moment is spent in complying with restrictive legislative provisions. Every expression of difference of opinion or dissent cannot be construed as violating the integrity and sovereignty of the country or as being against public interest. The actions of your Ministry and the various law enforcement agencies give rise to a strong suspicion that independent assessments of or perspectives about socio-economic indicators of the country are not welcome. It ill behoves a government professing adherence to democratic ideals to be intolerant of criticism of its policies and encourage its agencies to adopt intimidatory practices, such as searches, seizures, inquisitorial questioning and information leaks to the media aimed at damaging the reputation of these organisations in the minds of the public. These organisations are helmed by persons with an impeccable and rich record in public life.Rather than facilitating socio-economic initiatives by civil society organisations, the hobbling of the operations of major nonprofits and entangling them in tortuous, long-drawn legal battles will lead to a drastic reduction in the involvement of such organisations in catalysing community involvement in socio-economic development. The Government of India stands to lose valuable inputs it can obtain in planning policy initiatives if it fails to develop a healthy interaction with field-level and public policy nonprofit institutions.The relentless harassment of voluntary organisations amounts to cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face. For what these organisations are doing is to supplement the government’s efforts in crucial areas of health, education, employment, human rights, conservation of nature etc. They work in areas where the government’s own reach is limited or ineffective. The government should view them as partners and not as adversaries. Most importantly, these organisations work at the lowest levels of our society, with mostly marginalised groups who have fallen through the cracks in the government’s own welfare schemes, and have no safety net to take care of them. Deliberate denial of even this modicum of assistance or advocacy to them does not do credit to a government whose rallying cry is “sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas“.As former civil servants closely associated during our careers with development processes at different levels of government, we would urge you to adopt a cooperative rather than an adversarial relationship with these essential components of any civilized society. The FCRA need to be drastically overhauled to make it a facilitating rather than restrictive piece of legislation. We hope your government will take steps in this direction and direct agencies under your control to cease needless harassment of organisations serving the people of India, especially its most marginalised and disadvantaged sections.SATYAMEVA JAYATEYours faithfully,Constitutional Conduct Group (86 signatories, as below) 1.Anita AgnihotriIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, GoI2.Anand ArniRAS (Retd.)Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI3.G. BalachandhranIAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal4.Vappala BalachandranIPS (Retd.)Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI5.Gopalan BalagopalIAS (Retd.)Former Special Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal6.Chandrashekar BalakrishnanIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Coal, GoI7.Sushant BaligaEngineering Services (Retd.)Former Additional Director General, Central PWD, GoI8.Rana BanerjiRAS (Retd.)Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI9.Aurobindo BeheraIAS (Retd.)Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha10.Madhu BhaduriIFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to Portugal11.Ravi BudhirajaIAS (Retd.)Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI12.Sundar BurraIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra13.Maneshwar Singh ChahalIAS (Retd.)Former Principal Secretary, Home, Govt. of Punjab14.R. ChandramohanIAS (Retd.)Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi15.Rachel ChatterjeeIAS (Retd.)Former Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh16.Kalyani ChaudhuriIAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal17.Gurjit Singh CheemaIAS (Retd.)Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of Punjab18.F.T.R. ColasoIPS (Retd.)Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir19.Anna DaniIAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra20.P.R. DasguptaIAS (Retd.)Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI21.Pradeep K. DebIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Deptt. Of Sports, GoI22.M.G. DevasahayamIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana23.Sushil DubeyIFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to Sweden24.A.S. DulatIPS (Retd.)Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI25.K.P. FabianIFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to Italy26.Prabhu GhateIAS (Retd.)Former Addl. Director General, Department of Tourism, GoI27.Arif GhauriIRS (Retd.)Former Governance Adviser, DFID, Govt. of the United Kingdom (on deputation)28.Suresh K. GoelIFS (Retd.)Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoI29.S.K. GuhaIAS (Retd.)Former Joint Secretary, Department of Women & Child Development, GoI30.H.S. GujralIFoS (Retd.)Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of Punjab31.Meena GuptaIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI32.Ravi Vira GuptaIAS (Retd.)Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India33.Siraj HussainIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoI34.Naini JeyaseelanIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI35.Sanjay KaulIAS (Retd.)Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka36.Ish KumarIPS (Retd.)Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Govt. of Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission37.Sudhir KumarIAS (Retd.)Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal38.Subodh LalIPoS (Resigned)Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoI39.Amitabh MathurIPS (Retd.)Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI40.Aditi MehtaIAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan41.Malay MishraIFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to Hungary42.Noor MohammadIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, National Disaster Management Authority, Govt. of India43.Satya Narayan MohantyIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission44.Jugal MohapatraIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Department of Rural Development, GoI45.Deb MukharjiIFS (Retd.)Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal46.Shiv Shankar MukherjeeIFS (Retd.)Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom47.Gautam MukhopadhayaIFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to Myanmar48.NagalsamyIA&AS (Retd.)Former Principal Accountant General, Tamil Nadu & Kerala49.Surendra NathIAS (Retd.)Former Member, Finance Commission, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh50.P. Joy OommenIAS (Retd.)Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh51.Amitabha PandeIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI52.Mira PandeIAS (Retd.)Former State Election Commissioner, West Bengal53.Maxwell PereiraIPS (Retd.)Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi54.Alok PertiIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, GoI55.G.K. PillaiIAS (Retd.)Former Home Secretary, GoI56.R. PoornalingamIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI57.Rajesh PrasadIFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to the Netherlands58.R.M. PremkumarIAS (Retd.)Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra59.T.R. RaghunandanIAS (Retd.)Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI60.V.P. RajaIAS (Retd.)Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission61.K. Sujatha RaoIAS (Retd.)Former Health Secretary, GoI62.Prasadranjan RayIAS (Retd.)Former Chairperson, West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission63.Satwant ReddyIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, GoI64.Vijaya Latha ReddyIFS (Retd.)Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI65.Julio RibeiroIPS (Retd.)Former Adviser to Governor of Punjab & former Ambassador to Romania66.Aruna RoyIAS (Resigned)67.Manabendra N. RoyIAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal68.A.K. SamantaIPS (Retd.)Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West Bengal69.Deepak SananIAS (Retd.)Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh70.S. SatyabhamaIAS (Retd.)Former Chairperson, National Seeds Corporation, GoI71.N.C. SaxenaIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI72.Abhijit SenguptaIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI73.Aftab SethIFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to Japan74.Ashok Kumar SharmaIFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia75.Navrekha SharmaIFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to Indonesia76.Pravesh SharmaIAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh77.Raju SharmaIAS (Retd.)Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh78.Rashmi Shukla SharmaIAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh79.Avay ShuklaIAS (Retd.)Former Additional Chief Secretary (Forests & Technical Education), Govt. of Himachal Pradesh80.Sujatha SinghIFS (Retd.)Former Foreign Secretary, GoI81.Tirlochan SinghIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary, National Commission for Minorities, GoI82.Anup ThakurIAS (Retd.)Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission83.P.S.S. ThomasIAS (Retd.)Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission84.Geetha ThoopalIRAS (Retd.)Former General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata85.Ramani VenkatesanIAS (Retd.)Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra86.Rudi WarjriIFS (Retd.)Former Ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica
