Hon.
Speaker, Sir, I thank you for giving me this opportunity. This Bill
is yet another quixotic adventure after the demonetization tragedy. This
country has hardly survived from the demonetization adventure. Now, this
Government wants to suffocate thousands of Government agencies and NGOs which
act as a conduit pipe connecting Government and private agencies of the world
with millions of helpless people of this country. We have to remember
the fact that the NGOs and the specialized agencies reconstructed the world
after the ruin caused by the World War-II. The World War destroyed not only
Europe, Africa, and Asia, but it also affected all the continents. It destroyed
lives and livelihoods of millions all over the world. It was the120 Foreign Development Assistance which
facilitated the reconstruction of the world. Many people tend to think that
India is only a140 poor
recipient of foreign aid, but the fact is that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
with his egalitarian and compassionate mindset, formulated160 a humanitarian strategy to help other countries
in distress. The foreign aid is not a new concept. Even the mighty US had been
a beneficiary. It is well known that the US received help from France
for surviving civil war tragedies. As far as foreign aid is concerned,
India is, at once, a recipient and a donor. Following the 1970 UN General
Assembly Resolution, India along with Australia, Japan, New Zealand, etc.,
donated liberally towards the ODA of the UN.240
Thus, it can be seen that India is not a poor recipient, but a liberal
donor. Now, this Government is sabotaging the flow of help from other
countries. The Government is activated by poor vanity and partisanism. The FCRA
licences280 are being
cancelled since they are minorities. Many of the cancellation orders do not
even have a single reason. The Centre is making silly reasons using its
agencies. Those allegations levelled by agencies are without basis and support.
FCRA licences320 of around
6,600 NGOs have been cancelled in the last three years. No one thinks
about the number of families starving without jobs. These NGOs are bringing in foreign
exchange into the country which is helping the Indian economy and360 also providing lakhs of jobs. If
there are NGOs which are involved in anti-national activities,
definitely action should be taken. But many of these licences are
cancelled for mere technical reasons. It is clearly an attack on the
minorities. Those small mistakes are to be corrected and these NGOs should be
encouraged to bring in more foreign money into the420 country. It is to be noted that
99 per cent of the people, who are helped by Christian organizations and churches,
are not Christians, but belong to other religions and they have never been
converted and all of them have followed their original religions and beliefs.
The Compassion International, a Christian charity, reportedly invests around
Rs. 300 crore in the country480
every year. The funds are used to provide education, medical aid, and meals to
children in need. About 1,45,000 children and their families have been affected
by the decision. More than 6000 people have lost their jobs. Another church
from Kerala, which was involved in social activities, was denied the renewal
of FCRA registration four years back. They were helping around one lakh
children. I learnt that last month, they also closed their support for the
children, leaving them560 to
starve and die. It was heart-breaking to learn about a differently-abed widow
committing suicide in the wake of losing her job with the child care
project of Believers Eastern Church in Bihar. She left behind her two children
who are600 now forced to live
as orphans. More than 10,000 people have lost their jobs when the Believers
Eastern Church stopped their projects.
The Government
must know that extreme poverty and starvation still prevail in this
country. The Government must know640
that despite the passing of Right to Education Act we have not
achieved universal primary education. The Government must know that millions
and millions of people of this country sleep under the open sky and crores
dwell in slums. We are forced to
construct big walls to hide the slums from the view of visiting dignitaries.
The Government must700 know
that still child mortality rates are higher in various states. It
is said that this Government wants to bureaucratize charity720 efforts without acknowledging the
services which Hindu, Christian, Islamic, Sikh and other religious charity
institutions have been doing to this country. By this Bill, the
Government wants to impose a Licence Raj over philanthropic activities. By
this amendment, the Government declares an embargo against its own people. It
is the first time in the history of the world that a Government is
declaring an embargo against its own poor people. So far, we heard of an
embargo by the US800 against
Cuba, Iraq, etc, but now this Government is trying to have bureaucratic control
over philanthropic and social service activities of people and organizations.
Sir, Kolkata was a city of sadness. Mother Teresa transformed it into the City
of Joy840 by taking care of
the lepers and the destitute. The life expectancy of the people of Kerala is on
par with the people of the richest Scandinavian countries. My State has
100 per cent literacy. Everyone knows that it was by the wisdom of the rulers
who permitted the NGOs and charity institutions and organizations to accept
foreign contributions and immense progress was achieved in all sectors
like education, health, etc. Sir, we have to eradicate poverty. We have to
achieve universal education. We have to provide housing to millions, and
as such it is not fair to bring the philanthropic
activities and non-profit activities by receiving foreign aid under
bureaucratic control by creating a Licence Raj. I would request960 the Government not to hurry and cause
another tragedy like the demonetization and to withdraw this ill-conceived
amendment.
Hon.
Chairman980 Sir, I
thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak on the Foreign Contribution
(Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020. Technically, by bringing up the FCRA Bill, the
Government is trying to burn down the house at its own expense. The previous
speaker was saying that 24,000 accounts were there, there were so many
activities which were unhealthy to the nation and it was difficult to monitor
them across the country. Hon. Prime Minister is talking about Digital
India. Everything is now available online in banks and the Government can sit
in one single room with one single computer and monitor1080 any number of accounts which are
existing in India. With this kind of provision, the Government is saying
that 24,000 accounts could not be monitored. I am surprised that
this kind of a statement is being made by a Government1120 which is so powerful. The Government
has been elected for the second time with a huge majority and I
congratulate you on that but what is your agenda? The agenda is a
Hindutva agenda where you are saying that you do not want to have any
conversions to happen. Firstly, you have to understand as to why people
are getting converted. The earlier speaker has said that Christians were
trying to convert all the Hindus into Christians and all those1200 things. You have to understand as to
why they are getting converted. You have such a system in Hinduism where you call
people Dalits; you say that they are not allowed to enter temples; they are not
allowed to go into public wells where everyone is using them. When you have a
problem in your own religion, why would they1260
not leave their religion? If they have a better opportunity where
they have better respect, do you not think1280
that they have the right to go to whichever religion they feel like?
This is the sentiment of the country. Let me also tell you one
more point. For hundreds of years, we have been ruled by Islamic
and Christian rulers. Still, about 84 per cent of our population belongs to
Hindu religion. I am speaking only on the Bill. I am replying to what
the previous speaker has spoken. He was talking about conversions. I am saying
that in spite of centuries of rule by Islamic and Christian rulers, Hinduism is
still the largest religion in India and 84 per cent of the population is
Hindus. In fact, in one of the discussions on Bills, the hon. Minister for Home1400 Affairs had said that, in Pakistan, the
percentage of Hindus has come down and so, there is terrorism happening there
against Hindus and they are being exterminated. It is the same over here. Our
population was 92 per cent at1440
the time of freedom and today, we are having 84 per cent of Hindus. The
percentage has come down. What I am trying to tell you is that
the number of people who are here and who are Hindus is huge and you are trying
to mobilize all those Hindus together. We have no objections to that but
I am saying that you must not forsake Dalits. When we are talking about minorities,
we are not talking only about Muslims and Christians. We are
also talking about Dalits. Our leader Shri Karunanidhi was very instrumental
in bringing the reservation policy and Tamil Nadu is the only State
which has 69 per cent reservation by which all the communities are getting
benefited. Tamil Nadu is standing as one of the tallest States today and it is
because of these kinds of visionary policies.1582
