Modi govt clarifies on Gates Foundation, says NGO is not under scanner

Government on Wednesday dismissed reports suggesting that the Home Ministry was looking into the funding of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Reports in a section of media about Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation coming under the scanner of Home Ministry is not based on facts. There is no such action,” Home Ministry spokesperson KS Dhatwalia said.

The government’s reaction came after reports in a section of media suggested that the Home Ministry was looking into the Foundation’s role in funding of a prominent Indian health body following inputs received by it from intelligence agencies.

A report in the Ahmedabad Mirror said that the MHA had stepped in over an anonymous tipoff that “there is an alleged discrepancy in the amount the Gates Foundation has said it donated to the PHFI, and what the PHFI has said it received.”

The Economic Times quoted an unnamed MHA official as saying, “It is not a formal inquiry. It’s only a look into the affairs after certain information has come to our notice and we are in the process of checking it out.

As of now, the organisation says it has not received any official summons from the MHA with regard to an investigation.

Last year, both Bill and Melinda Gates were honoured with the Padma awards by the government.

The Foundation has been involved in a number of projects in India. It also helped the flood victims of Jammu and Kashmir last year.

Although the MHA officials have denied the reports, , the ministry’s recent track record with regard to NGOs will undoubtedly give cause for concern. Greenpeace India has come out and said that it may well have to shut down its India operations after the MHA froze access to its international and domestic fund.

Greenpeace executive director Samit Aich told Firstpost that  “On 9 April, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) blocked our domestic accounts due to absurd technicalities, which we are challenging in the court. Over 68 percent of our funds come from more than 77,000 Indians. These funds have been frozen and our work to protect India’s environment and people is being forced to stop. We are in discussion with lawyers on our line of defence,”

Meanwhile, the Ford Foundation has been accused of funding a political party and profit making organisations “illegally” which could well result in the banning of the organisation.

With inputs from PTI