ICC Note:
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has criticized India for its selective crackdown on foreign funded NGOs. In a recent report, USCIRF noted that the Indian government is only cracking down on NGOs that criticize the government’s policies, such as human rights and environmentalist groups, or NGOs that represent religious minorities. Recently, Compassion International announced it would have to end its operations in India by mid-March after the Indian government decided not to allow the NGO to transfer funds to local partners in India. This decision will effectively cut off aid to over 147,000 children in India. 
02/09/2017 India (The Citizen) – The United States Commission on International Freedom (USCIRF) criticizing the crackdown by the Indian government on foreign funded organizations has noted that “Hindutva support organizations have never come under the scrutiny of the FCRA” and that under the new amendment these foreign based “radical Hindu organizations” will be able to send funds to India for “hate campaigns.”
The USCIRF has also reported at some length on cow protection related violence, and using the Dadri lynching to illustrate its point has noted that “cow protection laws are often mixed with anti-Muslim sentiment.” And points out in some detail how armed mobs search for victims, and once caught, “they strip him naked, make repeated abuses against his professed faith, beat and torture him, and upload a video of the assault to YouTube or Facebook.”
The latest report Constitutional and Legal Challenges Faced by Religious Minorities in India comes after the controversy last March when the Indian government denied USCIRF the visas to visit the country. The powerful US Religious freedom body that exercises considerable influence on the US Senate and Administration had at that point described the situation in India as “worrisome”
The report is clear that the FCRA is being used by the Indian government to discriminate. Citing the case of Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand specifically the report states: “The FCRA controls foreign funding for NGOs, but the government has used it to block funds to hamper the activities of NGOs that question or condemn the government or its policies. Recently, the Indian government has been accused of targeting human rights activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband, Javed Anand, for allegedly violating the FCRA and receiving funds unlawfully.”
The report then adds, “While the Indian government continues to use the FCRA to limit foreign funding for some NGOs, Hindutva supporter organizations have never come under the scrutiny of the FCRA. With the new amendment to the FCRA, these foreign-based radical Hindu organizations will be able to send funds to India, without restriction, to support hate campaigns. Under the new definition of the FCRA, so long as the foreign company’s ownership of an Indian entity is within the foreign investment limits prescribed by the government for that sector, the company will be treated as “Indian” for the purposes of the FCRA.”
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