Amnesty International India Halts Its Work in India Due to Government Reprisal (opens in new tab)

HN should take down this post. The country has been heavily polarized into two sections (pro-bjp and against-bjp) with both the sections heavily incentivised by the "IT" deptt of respective political parties. Very few will talk about the actual issue and most of the comments will be rhetorical, only focusing on what they believe is right.

One thing that comments so far down here do not highlight is that there was a recent change in the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act where there were changes in the amount of money / limit of administrative expenditure that can be allocated to foreign contributions to 20 percent from the previous 50 percent and, Enforcement Directorate had issued a show-cause notice to Amnesty International India recently (I think in 2019).

So while yeah, online discussions mostly conclude to simplest possible explanation i.e. authoritarian / totalitarian / nationalism / and what not - This notice comes just days after FCRA was changed in India, that might be the pushing point / breakpoint towards closure rather than "Government Witchhunt", because Amnesty has been getting the show-causes notices for some time now.

Worth noting is the fact that the government is charging protestors and dissenters under sedition and UAPA [0].

> In July 2019,the ambit of UAPA was expanded. It was amended allowing the government to designate an individual as a terrorist without trial.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unlawful_Activities_(Preventio...

Hindu nationalism is just like any nationalism. It harms liberties.

India: Arrests of Activists Politically Motivated https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/16/india-arrests-activists-...

Under Modi, India's Press Not Free Anymore https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/world/asia/modi-india-pre...

Critics of India’s Modi Government Face Sedition Charges https://thediplomat.com/2020/03/critics-of-indias-modi-gover...

Is free speech under threat in Modi’s India? Activists, journalists, lawyers and academics are concerned that free speech in India is deteriorating (2017) https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2017/08/03/is-free-speech...

This discussion like most HN discussions are hijacked by extremist agenda pushers who keep throwing in out-of-context words like nationalism, caste, religion, etc irrelevantly. A simple search shows why Indian govt froze the bank accounts.

Amnesty International continues to violate Indian laws (FCRA) time and again by not disclosing their source of funds. They were investigated a decade ago by the previous government too for money laundering (for people crying hoarse on current government), and Amnesty International halted all it's work then too.

All foreign funding/donations needs to be approved based on FCRA act. Instead of obeying the laws, Amnesty channeled money through various private or other sister orgs, claiming it is remittances for services exported. They lost the case in the State courts couple of times and my guess is they didn't want to risk going to the Supreme court and lose again. So instead of complying with the law, it's time to spin the story against the Indian government.

https://www.deccanherald.com/national/linked-private-company...

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/current-affairs-tre...

The slow judicial system is the biggest weapon that the government and other large entities with money have. Not everyone can afford to put their lives on hold for 3 years while a court case slowly winds its way up to a judge.

I'm not sure people are aware, but most countries find Amnesty International annoying.

My own country - Australia - has been frequently criticised by Amnesty (eg [1]).

Amnesty's job is to call out human right violations. Citizens of a country may very well say "oh, we don't like these asylum seekers, so we will keep voting for the government that put these laws in place" (in Australia's case). But it isn't Amnesty's job to look at justifications, only violations.

A robust, functional democracy should have space to allow critics, and while it might be unrealistic to expect the government to welcome that criticism, a government shouldn't use its power to act in reprisal against critics.

Some people in this discussion should consider this carefully. It's one thing to disagree with critics, but quite another to approve of reprisals against those critics.

[1] https://www.dw.com/en/australia-pm-rejects-amnesty-internati...

Interesting. Does the Indian government have a legitimate complaint?

There is a very wide spectrum of possibilities here. They range from the Indian government being horrible, through localised corruption, through the government having very legitimate concerns about foreign interference, through to AI India being corrupt and/or in league with western intelligence agencies.

Is it just my skewed perception of more or less recent reporting about India's politics or is the supposed largest democracy on Earth slowly turning into an authoritarian nationalist state to a degree it hasn't seen in many years. Honestly curious, not a rhetorical question, in case anyone can clarify this with better information or first-hand understanding.

I saved this in my bookmarks a while back when reading up on this topic - the alleged Indian Intelligence Bureau (IB) report published in 2014 [0]

[0] https://www.scribd.com/document/229493571/IB-Report-NGO

This is a big big news. Very sad that Amenesty is halting its work. It could be the case that Amenesty really had some problems in its Indian org, I am not a judge, not going to jump to any conclusions, but if the BJP led government is really trying to curb the work that Amenesty is doing by using central agencies that's very very scary.

I feel India is going on a wrong track, it was doing okay in regards to Democratic values until Modi came to power, and since then it is on a downwards trajectory in that department. I have not seen any media house putting out any news which condemn decision that Modi makes, all are just praising Modi for god knows what reason. This ain't even a news in India, they are all running behind Bollywood celebs.

I feel Indian people are one-two generation(s) away, most of the Indian people can't really digest democracy at the moment.

Indian Hindu Nationalist government has now removed all garbs and is a full on fascism. They have scant regard for law or constitution. They have absolute control over all the 4 pillars of democracy and is effectively controlling popular opinion.

some useful links for more context:

https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/07/21/indias-ngo-backlash/ https://www.firstpost.com/india/kudankulam-protests-3-ngos-l...

this needs to be looked with the recent updates to FCRA rules, which completely cripple civil societies.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/icj-says-fcra-bill-in...

https://scroll.in/article/973909/behind-the-new-rules-for-ng...

Since whistle blower protection in India is inadequate/inefficient proliferation of TRUTH is stopped in the name of loyalty, discipline, patriotism, job security, national security, intellectual property etc https://archive.is/VWFSC

BJP the ruling party is sliding India into totalitarianism.

I mostly agree with them, but

> transparency in the government, more recently for accountability of the Delhi police and the Government of India regarding the grave human rights violations in Delhi riots and Jammu & Kashmir

all of these have been issues with every Indian Govt. for decades. I don't see anything about 2021 that would be a straw that'd break a camel's back.

The FRCA too has been the favorite tool for every govt. from 1976, for harassing NGOs. The changes to the law itself aren't as terrible.

> The NGO/FRCA license now expires in 5 years instead of being permanent

Not a terrible idea in a functioning society. In India, it becomes a tool getting fresh bribes out of groups and trapping them in bureaucracy.

> Less than 50% of foreign funds can be used for administrative expenses

IMO, really smart change. I personally know of Indian NGOs that primarily serve as money laundering mechanisms. On paper, doesn't seem like a bad change at all.

> The law now extends to trade/student/workers' unions, women’s wing of a political party, farmers’ organisations, youth organisations based on caste, community, religion, language and organizations that engage in strikes/ blockages/ protests / political action.

Some of these changes are sensible. unions and youth organizations in India are well known to be tools of political parties. If a law had to be applied, it has to at least be consistent.

The part of orgs. that engage in protest is more divisive, especially with the discussion around foreign funding to control opinion becoming a huge thing in the US.

Should outside funding be allowed to facilitate political opinion in a nation? To me, the answer isn't that clear. Both sides of the argument have strong points in favor.

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I am generally averse to expanding Govt. power, especially given how corrupt every Indian one has been. The FRCA was terrible, and like the patriot act is something that only serves to expand state power.

That being said, to spin it as a "hindu nationalist" initiative is political posturing.

Anyone who believes that Indian Media's pro-ruling party agenda, religious riots, sedition charges or harassment of activists started or even peaked in the Modi Govt., has been willfully ignorant about the continuing violation of freedoms that Indian Govts. have been part of since Indira Gandhi in the 70s.

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In the spirit of transparency, I have an incredibly low opinion of both journalists and activists in India. The complete lack of nuance in how they approach the issues they champion is a glaring example of it. The worst aspect, is that the most egregious ones get widespread coverage in respected western outlets.

Western thought leaders have time and again demonstrated an incredibly limited understanding on complex non-western societies. Whether that be in Africa, China, SEA or India. However, english, open-ness of Indian society, post colonial guilt and its size lead to the most egregious cases being in India.

Lastly, can't be pointing out problems without suggesting solutions. Recently, one of the few journalists I respect immensely (Shekhar Gupta) has started an online-only subscription based media house called the Print. I have found them to be the closest thing to fair journalism in India. The Caravan is another subscription based media outlet that is well respected among my peers (whom I respect) although I personally I am less impressed by it.

I read in another thread. reproducing the comments here for balanced point of view.

"If more than 20% of your funds goes to administrative expenses (office supplies, stationary, tea/coffee, misc), you know there is something shady. Satyam computers, did the same thing, created fake employees, posted huge expenses under admin category for almost 5 years. Later it was found that they were laundering money for YSR from overseas, and went bust and was later acquired by TechMahindra for paisa on the rupee.

Amnesty india is probably in knee deep shit and exiting before anything comes to light."

Unfortunately, the BJP's notorious troll army (also known as the "IT cell") has invaded HN also, and pop up whenever our government's misdeeds are discussed.

Remember that this is the same govt that has restricted the speech of the state of Jammu and Kashmir by cutting off their Internet access completely and later, restricting them to a mere 2G connection and to "approved" websites. [1]

It modified the UAPA law to basically designate any Indian citizen a "terrorist" and hold them indefinitely without bail. And used the law to arrest and detain people protesting against a controversial law. [2]

The same government that set up a "donation fund" called "PM Cares", ostensibly to help people affected by Covid-19 and lockdown, but then refused to divulge details under our RTI - Right to Information Act - claiming it was not a public authority. [3]

But then exempted this fund from the same draconian FCRA rules [4]

Oh, if that's not enough, this government also passed a law exempting political parties from scrutiny in foreign funding under the FCRA. Want to guess which is the richest political party in India now? Google it. [5]

Did I mention they also introduced "electoral bonds" to allow anonymous corporate funding for political parties? [6]

Amnesty International was drawing too much attention to the human rights abuses of the government, so the state has come down with all its might on it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Kashmir

[2] https://www.thequint.com/news/law/no-bail-in-uapa-cases-rega...

[3] https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/coronavirus-pm-cares-...

[4] https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/pm-cares-fund-gets-fc...

[5] https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/lok-sabha-passes-bill...

[6] https://www.newindianexpress.com/opinions/2019/dec/01/time-t...

Also surpression in Kashmir seems to have escalated over the past year with removal of local governance and blockade of internet access.

It is not a good combination: Escalating human rights abuses, an economy in freefall, pandemic, border skirmishes with China, nationalism, crackdown on ethnic minorities ...

Amnesty international and other Western NGOs are moral sticks of rich countries to browbeat erstwhile colonies for not maintaining high living standards post exploitation.