Dalai Lama Principle's

No matter what is going on

Never give up

Be compassionate

Work for peace

In your heart and in the world

Work for peace

And I say again

Never give up

No matter what is going on around you

Never give up.

Narendra Modi, Smooth Talker

Virender Kapoor | July 05, 2005The annual meetings of the National Development Council have become a familiar ritual.

Participants from the prime minister down to state chief ministers make set-piece speeches while officials work behind the scenes on consensus resolutions.

After two or three days of talkathons, they disperse happily, only to meet again for an equally fruitless exercise a year later.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh tried to break the mould this year, in vain.

To make the NDC deliberations more meaningful and to ensure a better understanding of problems confronting each state, he repeatedly asked the chief ministers not to read mechanically from their prepared speeches.

Since these had already been distributed along with various other agenda and background papers in a neat little folder at the start of the inaugural session on June 27 morning, these should be taken as read, the prime minister said.

Most chief ministers found it hard to speak extempore about the problems confronting their states and how the Centre could help solve them.

In fact, Dr Singh stopped a couple of chief ministers mid-sentence when they read out like parrots from the texts, but to no avail.

When Karnataka Chief Minister Dharam Singh was droning on and on — hardly taking his eyes off the prepared text — the prime minister politely asked him, ‘Dharam Singhji, we have read your speech already. Please do not read it. If you have anything to add or amplify…’ Before he could finish, Dharam Singh responded, ‘Sir, I will not take long,’ and went back to reading from the paper.

Several chief ministers, including Mulayam Singh Yadav from Uttar Pradesh, were caught on camera stealing the proverbial forty winks when they were supposed to be debating ways and means to boost economic growth in their states.

The one who stole the show was Narendra Modi. He made a power-point presentation without for a moment looking at the prepared text.

The Gujarat chief minister pointedly told the prime minister that though the Planning Commission was scaling down the growth target from over 8 per cent to a little over 7 per cent, Gujarat had registered a growth rate of over 15 per cent last year and was on course to repeat the feat this year too.

It wasn’t just Modi’s figures and statistics that impressed the chief ministers and senior babus at the NDC meet. Modi packaged his contents in a well-reasoned speech interspersed with pointed references to rising social and economic indicators made possible by policy measures undertaken by his government.

And because he had mastered his case well, there was not a soul in the main hall in Vigyan Bhawan who did not sit up and listen attentively to what he had to say.

At the end of his contribution, most chief ministers, including those belonging to the Congress, made it a point to congratulate Modi.

At the end of the first day, there was consensus among the participants that Modi’s was by far the best.

West Bengal’s Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and his Marxist counterpart from Tripura, Manik Sarkar, came distant second and third in a straw poll among the participants.

Parivar problems

Jinnah’s ghost still haunts the Sangh Parivar. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh top brass is not fully appeased by the sacrifice of Sudheendra Kulkarni by his chief patron Lal Kishenchand Advani.

The RSS seems bent on punishing Advani too. Though there is a broad agreement on penalising Advani for his act of ‘apostasy’, the RSS top echelons are not bereft of problems of their own.

Most notably, RSS Sarsanghchalak K S Sudharshan has proved to be a bit of a loose cannon.

Some three years ago, when he had called Atal Bihari Vajpayee ‘the worst prime minister India has had so far,’ his senior RSS colleagues had managed to ensure he did not open his mouth in public.

But the Jinnah episode has again allowed him to exercise his vocal chords, much to the embarrassment of RSS leaders like H V Seshadari and Mohan Bhagwat.

Since Seshadari does not keep good health, the man to watch is Bhagwat. He is beginning to put his impress on all matters pertaining to the Sangh Parivar.

Every swayamsevak has his day

Vajpayee might have defended beleaguered Bharatiya Janata Party chief Advani publicly about the latter’s certificate to Jinnah while he was in Pakistan, but in private Vajpayee isn’t all that sympathetic to his erstwhile number two in the National Democratic Alliance government.

Having been for long at the receiving end of pressures and barbs from the RSS and the its most favoured BJP leader, Advani, Vajpayee has been chuckling at Advani’s troubles.

In private Vajpayee is said to have wondered aloud several times in recent days, ‘Advaniji ko kya kahne ki zaroorat thhi. Pakistan mein ja ke kyon kaha aisey? (Why did Advaniji have to say what he did? Why did he say what he said in Pakistan?)’

Meanwhile, a person close to the former prime minister has been briefing friendly scribes about the Jinnah trouble in the Sangh Parivar, passing on tidbits showing Vajpayee in good light, especially in comparison with Advani.

Sale, resale

In a controversial decision, an information technology company is said to have off-loaded 13 residential properties in a posh south Delhi residential complex — reportedly to improve its bottomline.

The decision to sell premium real estate would not have raised eyebrows but for the fact that till the other day it was a government-owned company, having been sold by Arun Shourie, divestment minister in the Vajpayee government.

The word in the capital’s real estate circles is that a media house snapped up all the 13 flats, made the initial advance payment, and then tried to flog the same in the open market at a huge premium.

Finance woes

Poor Rakesh Mohan.

He thought Finance Minister P Chidambaram would make him the finance secretary.

But instead Mohan, the secretary in the department of economic affairs, was summarily sent back to the Reserve Bank of India.

Chidambaram had not been happy with Mohan for a long time.

Seven months ago, upon his induction from the RBI into the finance ministry, Mohan had desired that he be also made in charge of the banking department till he was appointed finance secretary. That was not to be.

The vibes between Mohan and Chidambaram got bad a few months ago, leading to his repatriation to the RBI last week.

Now, the chances of Mohan being sent to the World Bank to replace one of its executive directors, C M Vasudevan, who is due to retire later this year, are remote.

Why India changed law on foreign donations

George Iype | July 06, 2005

The Union Cabinet has approved a draft Bill seeking replacement of the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act, 1976 (FCRA).

Foreign contributions and donations to scores of Indian voluntary organisations, religious groups and charitable institutions every year touch nearly Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion).

What are the laws that govern foreign donations? Which are the Indian non-governmental organisations that receive the biggest chunk of foreign donations? Why is the government replacing the FCRA?

rediff.com finds out:

What is FCRA?

The provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976 regulate the receipt of foreign donations in India. The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules, 1976 contain the various forms prescribed for this purpose. According to the rules, only an association having a definite cultural, economic, educational, religious or social programme — after it obtains the prior permission of the Central government — can receive foreign contribution.

What has prompted the government to propose a new law in place of the FCRA?

Loopholes in the nearly 30-year-old law. The ministry of home affairs says that scores of NGOs, religious groups and charitable agencies are receiving foreign funds for humanitarian purposes in India. But some of them are allegedly diverting funds for profit-making enterprises.

The government says that the new legislation to replace the existing FCRA, 1976 will facilitate inflow of foreign contribution for genuine activities without compromising concerns over national security.

Has the government banned any NGO from receiving foreign funds?

Yes, in June 2005, the government banned nine organisations from receiving foreign donations saying that there are serious gaps in their audit reports.

What are the salient features in the proposed new FCRA rules?

The main feature of the amendments is the decentralisation of the administrative structure. There will be four or five regional offices in place of the existing Central office located at New Delhi.

These offices will help associations located at different parts of the country easy access to the department for registration and other purposes. These associations need not depend on the special consultants who charge hefty fee for such services.

What are the other key amendments to the law?

The amendment proposed allows voluntary groups and associations to open multiple bank accounts to disburse the funds received from abroad.

However, they can receive foreign contributions only through the designated bank account. After receiving the funds through that bank, the groups can transfer the money to a number of Imprest bank accounts to meet the requirements of their various projects.

The Imprest system controls small cash disbursements by establishing a fund at a fixed amount and periodically reimbursing the fund by the amount necessary to restore its original cash balance.

What was the main drawback of the existing FCRA?

The present law does not contain any provisions for the de-recognition of an association that violates the provisions of the Act. It simply gives power to the Central government to debar the association from receiving the foreign contributions.

The new enactment contains provisions for de-recognition of defaulting associations.

How much money have Indian voluntary groups and religious organisations received last year from abroad?

Figures with the Ministry of Home Affairs during the year 2003-04 says that as many as 14,700 groups in India have received foreign funds worth Rs 4,856 crore (Rs 48.56 billion).

How many associations are registered under FCRA?

Nearly 30,000. But not all of them receive foreign donations.

Who are the biggest recipients of foreign funds?

The Andhra Pradesh-based Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust is the largest recipient of foreign contributions. The Sathya Sai Trust received Rs 95 crore (Rs 950 million) during 2003-04.

Which is the biggest foreign donor?

World Vision International, a United States-based Christian relief and development organisation, is the biggest donor agency for many Indian voluntary groups.

World Vision released nearly Rs 95 crore for charitable purposes for Indian agencies last year. Other big donors are Foster Parents Plan International, USA and Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, USA.

So is the US the biggest foreign donor for the Indian NGOs?

Yes. As per the latest available data with the Union home ministry, the US heads the list of donor countries to India with Rs 1,492.62 crore (Rs 14.926 billion), followed by the United Kingdom (Rs 677.59 crore), and Germany (Rs 664.51 crore).

Which are the Indian states that receive the largest foreign donations?

Among the states and Union Territories, Delhi is the leading recipient following by Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.