Ford foundation has been operating in india all these years violating all indian laws; successive governments and reserve bank of india had turned a nelson's eye all along. Hope now its true colour is revealed, and it is prosecuted and punished as per indian laws. Excerpts from the article and link at the end.
+++++++
Why did Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru allow the Ford Foundation entry into India in 1952 without the complete paperwork and permissions required in law for establishing itself in this country and conducting operations in sensitive sectors on a major scale? Senior officials claim that "Ford is in Indian law a ghost entity", in that it has on paper apparently "no existence in law in the country", adding that in its consistent refusal to officially legitimise its activities through securing written permissions, the foundation showed utter contempt for the laws and regulations of the newly independent country. Amazingly, until this year, no government agency, including the Reserve Bank of India or the police and regulatory agencies, seems to have so much as raised a verbal objection to such "obvious contempt for Indian law" on the part of the well-connected foundation, which is known to have privileged access to key sections of the US government, including its covert agencies.
Initially, the Ford Foundation promised to fund mutually agreed "rural education and other projects", but this was to be done through the relevant ministries and with their concurrence. However, from the start, the Foundation disregarded this stipulation and acted on its own, without being questioned by the Central government of the day until Narendra Modi got sworn in as Prime Minister on 26 May 2014.
Despite the fact that no papers appear to have been submitted to the government to ensure that it was an entity functioning as per the domestic laws in India, the Ford Foundation opened a bank account in India, at first with CitiBank and subsequently with American Express, before moving back to Citi 15 years ago. As Know Your Customer (KYC) forms were not filled in, some officials claim that these bank accounts are legally untenable, and that to date, documentation needed as per law to open a bank account in India has not been furnished by the Foundation to any authority. Interestingly, Raghuram Rajan, who as RBI Governor has placed curbs after curbs on the smooth operation in financial matters of Indian entities, does not seem to have reacted or even noticed such apparent disregard of Indian laws by the Foundation, which has, according to high officials, set up its Delhi office on land taken at a token cost from the government, again on the basis of records which seem non-existent.
When Home Minister Rajnath Singh asked the MHA to raise such matters with the Foundation, the reply came not from itself, but from a US Department of State spokesperson, as well as US envoy to India, Richard Verma, both of whom strongly condemned Government of India for its effrontery in seeking to enforce the provisions of law on an entity which acts as though it is an independent entity subject to its own laws, rather than an institution needing to respect local laws and regulations.
The US State Department also protested in very minatory terms about the MHA's recent cancellation of the FCRA licences of 9,000 NGOs, who have not filed returns for five consecutive years or more, raising doubts as to its real intentions in the context of developments in Eastern Europe, North Africa and West Asia, all locations where NGOs backed by Washington have been active in replacing the ballot with the street as the appropriate forum for regime change. In each such intervention, chaos has resulted.
In particular, US Secretary of State John Kerry has been insistent in demanding extra-legal rights for NGOs operating in India such as Greenpeace and of course the Ford Foundation. Clearly, the only law the US State Department considers to be worth enforcing is its own, as (the absence of) records show that the Ford Foundation has been operating in India without any visible basis in law for decades. As per its own records made available to authorities, the Ford Foundation in India is neither a Trust nor a Society, nor is it a For Profit or a Nonprofit company, nor is it a partnership or sole proprietorship registered under local law. Nor has it bothered with the trifle of registering under FCRA with the Home Ministry, since this was made mandatory in 1976 and again in 2010, nor does it seem to have registered for an office in India under FERA in 1973 or FEMA in 1999 with the RBI, unless the same has been done in secret. Why RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan seems unbothered by such peccadilloes in the matter of individuals connected with the Foundation must be coincidental and not because he knows many Ford-connected individuals well, and in whose company he spends big chunks of time in both the US as well as India.
Interestingly, over the decades, Ford has switched from funding service providers (and in this, much good work was done, notably in agriculture and education) to advocacy groups active in painting a picture of India as a semi-fascist state. Among the subjects that have been looked at for funding in recent years are matters described in somewhat imprecise terms as "transparent, effective and accountable governance", "expanding community rights over natural resources", "economic fairness", "freedom of expression" (except perhaps for any comments against itself), "media rights", "gender justice" and "reproductive justice", whatever these terms mean. Interestingly, several of those to whom grants have been made available are related or otherwise linked to high officials past and present and other local influentials, although it would be unfair to accuse the Foundation of making such linkages a consideration in its disbursement of funds.
Among those certified by Ford Foundation grants as being practitioners of "transparent, effective and accountable governance" is Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Why have successive governments in India followed Prime Minister Nehru's Nelson's eye to the fact that the Ford Foundation in effect is a "ghost entity" (in the words of a senior official), which has not provided any documentation sanctioning the bulk of its operations?
Ford Foundation an entity outside law: Officials
+++++++
Why did Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru allow the Ford Foundation entry into India in 1952 without the complete paperwork and permissions required in law for establishing itself in this country and conducting operations in sensitive sectors on a major scale? Senior officials claim that "Ford is in Indian law a ghost entity", in that it has on paper apparently "no existence in law in the country", adding that in its consistent refusal to officially legitimise its activities through securing written permissions, the foundation showed utter contempt for the laws and regulations of the newly independent country. Amazingly, until this year, no government agency, including the Reserve Bank of India or the police and regulatory agencies, seems to have so much as raised a verbal objection to such "obvious contempt for Indian law" on the part of the well-connected foundation, which is known to have privileged access to key sections of the US government, including its covert agencies.
Initially, the Ford Foundation promised to fund mutually agreed "rural education and other projects", but this was to be done through the relevant ministries and with their concurrence. However, from the start, the Foundation disregarded this stipulation and acted on its own, without being questioned by the Central government of the day until Narendra Modi got sworn in as Prime Minister on 26 May 2014.
Despite the fact that no papers appear to have been submitted to the government to ensure that it was an entity functioning as per the domestic laws in India, the Ford Foundation opened a bank account in India, at first with CitiBank and subsequently with American Express, before moving back to Citi 15 years ago. As Know Your Customer (KYC) forms were not filled in, some officials claim that these bank accounts are legally untenable, and that to date, documentation needed as per law to open a bank account in India has not been furnished by the Foundation to any authority. Interestingly, Raghuram Rajan, who as RBI Governor has placed curbs after curbs on the smooth operation in financial matters of Indian entities, does not seem to have reacted or even noticed such apparent disregard of Indian laws by the Foundation, which has, according to high officials, set up its Delhi office on land taken at a token cost from the government, again on the basis of records which seem non-existent.
When Home Minister Rajnath Singh asked the MHA to raise such matters with the Foundation, the reply came not from itself, but from a US Department of State spokesperson, as well as US envoy to India, Richard Verma, both of whom strongly condemned Government of India for its effrontery in seeking to enforce the provisions of law on an entity which acts as though it is an independent entity subject to its own laws, rather than an institution needing to respect local laws and regulations.
The US State Department also protested in very minatory terms about the MHA's recent cancellation of the FCRA licences of 9,000 NGOs, who have not filed returns for five consecutive years or more, raising doubts as to its real intentions in the context of developments in Eastern Europe, North Africa and West Asia, all locations where NGOs backed by Washington have been active in replacing the ballot with the street as the appropriate forum for regime change. In each such intervention, chaos has resulted.
In particular, US Secretary of State John Kerry has been insistent in demanding extra-legal rights for NGOs operating in India such as Greenpeace and of course the Ford Foundation. Clearly, the only law the US State Department considers to be worth enforcing is its own, as (the absence of) records show that the Ford Foundation has been operating in India without any visible basis in law for decades. As per its own records made available to authorities, the Ford Foundation in India is neither a Trust nor a Society, nor is it a For Profit or a Nonprofit company, nor is it a partnership or sole proprietorship registered under local law. Nor has it bothered with the trifle of registering under FCRA with the Home Ministry, since this was made mandatory in 1976 and again in 2010, nor does it seem to have registered for an office in India under FERA in 1973 or FEMA in 1999 with the RBI, unless the same has been done in secret. Why RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan seems unbothered by such peccadilloes in the matter of individuals connected with the Foundation must be coincidental and not because he knows many Ford-connected individuals well, and in whose company he spends big chunks of time in both the US as well as India.
Interestingly, over the decades, Ford has switched from funding service providers (and in this, much good work was done, notably in agriculture and education) to advocacy groups active in painting a picture of India as a semi-fascist state. Among the subjects that have been looked at for funding in recent years are matters described in somewhat imprecise terms as "transparent, effective and accountable governance", "expanding community rights over natural resources", "economic fairness", "freedom of expression" (except perhaps for any comments against itself), "media rights", "gender justice" and "reproductive justice", whatever these terms mean. Interestingly, several of those to whom grants have been made available are related or otherwise linked to high officials past and present and other local influentials, although it would be unfair to accuse the Foundation of making such linkages a consideration in its disbursement of funds.
Among those certified by Ford Foundation grants as being practitioners of "transparent, effective and accountable governance" is Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Why have successive governments in India followed Prime Minister Nehru's Nelson's eye to the fact that the Ford Foundation in effect is a "ghost entity" (in the words of a senior official), which has not provided any documentation sanctioning the bulk of its operations?
Ford Foundation an entity outside law: Officials
