New Delhi, December 1
With Rs 10,334 crore annually flowing into the coffers of non-governmental organisation in the country in the form of foreign donations, the Ministry of Home Affairs is now looking minutely into all transactions. The CBI has been told to probe 24 cases while the state police have been asked to look into 10 cases.

“The government monitors the receipt and utilisation of foreign contributions received by NGOs,” Minister for State for Home Affairs Mullappallay Ramachandran said in a written reply in Lok Sabha on November 27. “There are reports that certain NGOs were engaged in anti-national and political activities. On the basis of complaints, 24 cases have been referred to the CBI,” the Lok Sabha was informed.

As per the MHA list submitted in Lok Sabha, among the 24 complaints handed over to the CBI, one pertains to Arvind Khanna, Congress MLA from Dhuri in Punjab.

In Parliament, Ramchandran said a sum of Rs 10,997 crore was received as foreign contribution by 23,172 NGOs across India in 2008-09, Rs 10,431 crore by 22,275 NGOs in 2009-10 and Rs 10,334 crore by 22,735 NGOs in 2010-11. Annual foreign donations to NGOs exceed the budgets of several smaller Indian states (Mizoram Rs 5,176 crore), Manipur, Rs 3,500 crore, Nagaland Rs 7,711 crore, Tripura Rs 8,119 crore and Sikkim Rs 5,277 crore).

In 2010-2011, donations were received from 161 countries, including Ghana, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Gabon, Niger, Sudan, Congo, Senegal and Burkina Faso where international aid helps these countries to meet the needs of their own residents.

“There are donations from Reunion Islands (a French held territory in the Indian Ocean), Cape Verde islands and even Cayman Islands (a tax haven),” said a source. “There is no established emotional link to help someone in India and neither are these countries spilling over with wealth that their residents have opted to send donations to India,” he said.

Among the leading beneficiaries were Delhi (244 NGOs received Rs 1,724 cr), Tamil Nadu (274 NGOs received Rs 1,215 cr), Andhra Pradesh (207 NGOs received Rs 926 cr), Karnataka (211 NGOs received Rs 779 cr), Maharashtra (179 NGOs received

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