When Are Foreign Funds Okay?

The IB report, signed by IB joint director Safi A Rizvi 바카라� alleges that the 바카라�areas of action바카라� of the foreign-funded NGOs include anti-nuclear, anti-coal and anti-Genetically Modified Organisms protests. Apart from stalling mega industrial projects including those floated by POSCO and Vedanta, these NGOs have also been working to the

Imagine바카라�working against the interests of POSCO and Vedanta! Is there no end to the depraved anti-nationalism of these NGOs!

The average observer of Indian politics바카라�being like me, not as sharp as the IB바카라�might be a little befuddled by this apparently anachronistic allergy of two successive governments and its intelligence gathering organization, towards foreign funding, in an era in which the slightest slowing down of the pace of handing over the nation바카라�s resources to multi-national corporations,  is termed as 바카라�policy paralysis바카라�, and attacked as detrimental to the health of the mythical 바카라�Sensex바카라�. Older readers might remember that the  inspiring slogan of the legendary Jaspal Bhatti바카라�s Feel Good party was

This post is just to help you figure out then, when it is Okay to applaud foreign funding and when it is not바카라�because otherwise you might post something on your FaceBook page that attacks foreign funding when it is actually Okay바카라�and then how stupid and anti-national you바카라�ll look.  Apart from being arrested and hauled off to jail, a for as we know, if you did post something 바카라�objectionable바카라� to the Hindu Right/India, you바카라�re not innocent and may be legitimately killed. The street gangs of the Hindu Right for some years now.  They also know that Their Man may not publicly defend them at all times바카라�depends on whether they carry out their work in a non-BJP state or not. And whether state assembly elections are coming up there or not.

That is called being Drigdarshi. Far-sighted.

So in Maharashtra, Mohsin바카라�s killing was described바카라�in an apparent paradox바카라�by the BJP 바카라�s central government Home Ministry as 바카라�communal바카라� and by the state바카라�s Congress government.  But in fact, not a paradox at all.  The BJP is always keen to point out communal violence in states in which it is not in power. And the Congress plays the secular/communal card with the same unprincipled cynicism.

But I digress.

So바카라�When are Foreign Funds Okay?

a) Foreign Funds are Okay if you are BJP.

The Delhi High Court indicted both Congress and BJP in March 2014 for accepting foreign funds from Vedanta subsidiaries in violation of provisions of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. (Vedanta clearly believes in covering all its bases바카라�after all, who knows who will come to power).

BJP and Congress in their defence had argued that Vedanta is owned by an Indian citizen, Aggarwal, and its subsidiaries are incorporated here, .

That바카라�s the kind of fine distinction you must learn to make. For instance, there is no cap on parties바카라� expenditure during elections, only on individual candidates바카라� spending. Thus, Narendra Modi바카라�s face on the front page of every newspaper and on huge hoardings all over the city did not get counted towards his poll expenditure. A Hindustan Times premium front page advertisement costs

How many advertisements like this one did you see? In how many newspapers? Over how many days? Where did the money come from?

We don바카라�t know.

Says Amy Kazmin in :

It may never really be known how much money Mr Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party spent on the dazzling, high-tech campaign to persuade millions of voters that he was the man to lead India out of its current economic and governmental malaise.  But the technology that permitted Gujarat바카라�s chief minister to simultaneously address 100 rallies 바카라� in the form of a 10-feet-tall hologram 바카라� while images of the crowd were beamed back to him at the BJP바카라�s Ahmedabad offices cannot have come cheap.

Nor could the scores of trucks and buses 바카라� and the army of nearly 4,000 workers 바카라� required to move and install the satellite dishes and projectors at one remote site after another.

In Indian cities, bus shelters, billboards and newspaper front pages were plastered with so many advertisements bearing Mr Modi바카라�s brooding face it was hard not to feel that Big Brother was indeed watching. Television broadcasts of the popular Indian Premier League cricket matches also aired a relentless series of Modi ads during commercial breaks.

Advertising industry executives estimate the BJP spent at least $500m on traditional media advertising alone. A member of Citizens for Accountable Governance, which helped run Mr Modi바카라�s campaign, says the campaign spent around $670m over eight months. Others say the true spend is probably far higher. A BJP spokeswoman was unable to provide any official estimate at all. [1]

But바카라�Remember바카라�It does NOT matter, because Foreign Funds are Okay if you바카라�re the BJP.

(Of course,  today you can say that it is totally Not Okay for Congress to get foreign funds or have foreign people in the family and so on. It바카라�s Open Season on the corrupt and arrogant Congress, and who cares).

Interestingly, the IB Report apparently  attacking anti-Hindu NGOs in which he said, in part:

Funds are obtained from abroad; an NGO is set up; a few articles are commissioned; a PR firm is recruited and, slowly, with the help of the media, an image is created.

I couldn바카라�t decide whether I was more struck by the IB바카라�s promptness in wagging its tail for its new master, or by Modi바카라�s wildly successful replication of his enemy바카라�s strategy!

b) Foreign Funds are okay if you바카라�re the RSS. 

In Britain, Awaaz, South Asia Watch Limited, released in 2004 which showed that

1. RSS바카라�s front organizations have received millions of pounds raised from the  British public. These funds were collected by the Leicester-based registered charity, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) and its fundraising arm Sewa International.
2. HSS and Sewa International are UK branches of the RSS and the main purpose of their fundraising is to channel money to extremist RSS fronts in India, despite their claim to be nonsectarian, non-religious, non-political and purely humanitarian organizations.
3. Sewa International바카라�s deep connections with the RSS were not made known to donors and the British public who gave funds in good faith for Indian humanitarian causes. These connections were also unknown to patrons of Sewa International appeals.

In the USA, a report on the India Development and Relief Fund (IDRF) documented the links between the organization, a Maryland, US based charity, and organizations of the Sangh Parivar in India. The IDRF operates in the US under the rules governing tax-exempt charitable organizations. These rules prohibit such organizations from participating in political activity of the kind that involves funnelling money overseas to violent sectarian groups. Further, the report provides evidence to argue that IDRF바카라�s claim of being a non sectarian organization that funds development and relief operations in India is disingenuous at best, and that this claim is strategically designed to insert IDRF into the cultural milieu and goodwill of the Indian diaspora as the 바카라�charity of choice바카라�. The report on a close scrutiny of the projects that the IDRF funds, of the IDRF itself, of the affiliations of its office-bearers, and of the organizations that support it and raise funds for it, concluded that

c) Foreign Funds Are Okay in the Defence Sector.

Soon after taking over, the Narendra Modi government gave the go-ahead to 100 percent FDI in the Defence Sector. About this, retired air chief marshal Fali Homi Major said:

바카라�It바카라�s an excellent move. We want to be indigenous and we must. When I say indigenous, the product should be Indian and the intellectual property rights should be Indian. But that does not mean you can바카라�t take foreign assistance with foreign technology바카라�that is needed.바카라�

Major said this move will allow international companies into the sector and dismantle the public sector바카라�s monopoly, for of course, the worst monopoly is the public sector바카라�s monopoly바카라�the monopoly of multi-national companies is healthy and historically inevitable.

Foreign Investment caps have been raised in many other sectors too (because that바카라�s OKAY)바카라�Telecom, Petroleum, Natural gas and Refining.

바카라�Allowing automatic route for foreign investment is the single most critical thing about today바카라�s FDI limit enhancement announcement,바카라� said Devraj Singh, executive director, tax and regulatory practice, at global professional services organization EY. He added that the move will give a boost to FDI as most investors are  

Of course, towards that heaven where investors are no longer scared of rules and regulations바카라� THAT바카라�s where every democracy should boldly go. 

d) Foreign Funds Are Okay in setting up nuclear plants. (No, NO바카라�not protesting at바카라�SETTING UP). Not just state funds, but private companies, like the French company (a joint venture between AREVA and Seimens) and private US companies and have all invested in nuclear plants in India. (Of course, the US companies have to export their nuclear reactors, because not a single nuclear plant has been commissioned in the US since the 1979 Three Mile Island accident. This is the phenomenon of outsourcing of dirty technology which the enlightened Western public will no longer accept in their backyards. Like the flooding of India with petrol guzzling SUVs that are no longer welcome and

e) Foreign Funds Are Okay for building roads, infrastructure and 바카라�clean energy바카라�. These are stepping in바카라� not to build an ecologically sustainable world! What will this mean for poor people바카라�s (i.e. the majority of India바카라�s) access to basic needs?

Of course, where profits are doubtful the government has to step in, for risks can be taken only with taxpayers바카라� money, not with the money of shareholders of companies, right? Thus, the government has decided to fund the Rs 4,500-crore Eastern Peripheral Expressway project, after it received no bids from private players due to various delays. At the time of request for qualification, Reliance Infrastructure, IRB, Srei-OHL consortium and IL&FS showed interest in the project but nobody turned up with price bids. Thanks to delays, the private developers 바카라�got cold feet and바카라�  - (translation: possibility of fewer profits)

UPDATE:

Since I posted this, I have learnt that Greenpeace came out with a Fact Sheet on the industrialist Gautam Adani, Modi바카라�s bosom buddy (or should that be chaddi buddy?), which shows that there are charges of money laundering, duty evasion, land scams, illegal clearing of mangroves in Mundra, and so on against Adani. (Aha, the click of things falling into place!)

(And for those who do not understand the significance of mangroves, it is well established that coral reefs and mangroves acted as a buffer against the fury of tsunamis, saving many lives, )

The much hyped solar energy park in Gujarat is . The Modi-Adani combo is deadly, and of course, they will use all opportunities to generate profits. It is well known  on economic 바카라�development.바카라� Solar energy is fine, but handed over to private interests focused only on profit? As for conventional energy, not only was most of Gujarat바카라�s electricity capacity installed before Narendra Modi came to power in 2001, but during his term 

f) Foreign Funds are Okay if they come from eBay owner Pierre Omidyar. 

Omidyar Network is the philanthropy arm of eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar. Since 2009, Omidyar Network has made more investments in India than in any other country in its portfolio. These investments were largely thanks to Jayant Sinha (the son of BJP stalwart Yashwant Sinha), who was hired in October 2009 to establish and run Omidyar Network India Advisors. During Sinha바카라�s tenure, Omidyar Network steered a large portion of its investments into India, so that by 2013, India investments made up 18% of Omidyar Network바카라�s committed funds of well over $600 million, and 36% of the total number of companies in its portfolio. Some of this investement was in organizations with  

In February this year, Sinha stepped down from Omidyar Network in order to advise Modi바카라�s election campaign, and to run for elections in Jharkhand from a BJP ticket, and he won.  Shortly after Sinha left Omidyar Network to help Modi win, such as Ebay, whose largest shareholder is Pierre Omidyar.

Nicely it all comes together, no?

Now바카라�Omidyar is indeed known to have been active in 바카라�pro-democracy바카라� NGOs and other organizations in other countries, but these NGOs, far from hampering 바카라�development바카라�, work closely with Washington,

바카라�to bring down regimes considered insufficiently open to the strip-mining of national wealth and resources by Western elites. The aim, as in Ukraine, where Omidyar바카라�s partnership with government was particularly active, is to replace the regimes with technocrats willing to stick the.바카라�

So Omidyar is very very pro 바카라�development바카라�바카라�that바카라�s the kind of foreign funding that is totally Okay.

g) Foreign Funds are Okay in the Privatization of Water.

that envisaged privatizatation of water, and not to be outdone, the UPA government prepared a document entitled 바카라�Draft National Water Policy (2012)바카라� that is orientated towards promoting the

Says Olivier Petitjean:

French multinationals Suez and Veolia have been eager to present India as a new El Dorado for water privatization. The largely untapped India market, with its almost infinite potential, would allow them to renew with commercial expansion, restore their reputation, and prove that private water management바카라�a model that has come under heavy criticism recently, both in France and abroad바카라�

Veolia바카라�s projects are running into trouble, but the idea of privatization of water and abandoned by either BJP or Congress.

Confederation of Indian Industries, the second of Modi바카라�s two parents (the other being the RSS), is all for water privatization. A few days ago, Mukund Vasudevan, CII executive member of the National Water Committee, called for tiered water pricing across the country.

바카라�If you manage pricing, you will automatically manage water supply바카라�, he said, adding: 바카라�We are working with the government on how to create structure pricing. The pricing structure should cover all 바카라� industries, agriculture and consumers,

While we awaited the election results, contemplating the possibility of Modi winning, the best case scenario I could envisage was a version of UPA 2, but activated out of its policy paralysis바카라�that is, loot of common resources for corporate profit, unfettered by any democratic constraint whatsoever.

Looks like it바카라�s UPA 2 PLUS the as demonstrated in Gujarat.

It바카라�s going to be a hard day바카라�s night.

This was first published in

1. Edited to add: Since the link to the Financial Times does not take you to the full article unless you register with them, I have now taken the relevant paragraph and quoted it directly.