India Development and Relief Fund

India Development and Relief Fund (IDRF) is an American nonprofit which supports grassroots development projects implemented by Indian NGOs.^[1][2] The organization works on education, healthcare, ecofriendly development, women’s empowerment, governance, and disaster rehabilitation; in 2012, it funded its first project in Nepal ^[3][4] Dr. Vinod Prakash, a former World Bank economist, and his wife Sarla Prakash founded IDRF in 1988.^[5] There has been controversy over the way the funds were used.^[6]

Activities

During the first 13 years since it was founded the IDRF collected almost US$10 million.^[5] The IDRF collected US$3.8 million in the US in 2000 alone.^[7] CISCO, a leading US technology company with many non-resident Indians in its staff, reportedly donated "huge sums".^[6] The website as of March 2012 said the IDRF had raised over US$23 million since 1988.^[8] The charity has assisted in recovery from natural calamities such as the 1999 Orrisa cyclone, the 2001 Gujarat earthquake in 2001 and the 2004 tsunami. IDRF supports NGOs and grassroots organizations across India.^[5]

Controversy

In 2002 a coalition of professionals, students, workers, artists and intellectuals in the US organized "The Campaign to Stop Funding Hate".^[9] A report authored by members of this organization focused on the IDRF, which it said "has systematically funded Hindutva operations in India ... is not a secular and non-sectarian organization as it claims to be, but is, on the contrary, a major conduit of funds for Hindutva organizations in India".^[9] According to the report, the IDRF was channelling funds to organizations involved in spreading hate against religious minorities and promoting communal violence.^[9] The report, published by Sabrang Communications and the South Asia Citizens Web, was titled The Foreign Exchange of Hate: IDRF and the American Funding of Hindutva. It investigated how funding raised by the IDRF in the USA was being distributed in India. It found that most of the money went to Sangh Parivar organizations.^[10]

It is interesting to note that Sabrang Communications which prepared this report against IDRF is itself alleged to have stolen huge sums of money away from victims of the 2002 Gujarat violence and its owner, Teesta Setalvad is being prosecuted for embezzlement of funds on complaints filed with the police by the very "victims" for whom the funds were collected by Teesta Setalvad from donors in USA and other countries and her appeal is being heard by the Supreme Court of India.^{[11] [12]}

The report said 70% of money was used for "hinduisation/tribal/education" work, mainly to spreading Hindutva beliefs among tribals. When IDRF filed a tax document in 1989 with the US Internal Revenue Service it identified nine organisations as a sample of those it would fund, all of which were associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).^[6] Some of the groups funded by the IDRF had been associated with attacks on Muslims and Christians and with forced conversion of tribals to Hinduism.^[13] Angana Chatterji, an anthropology professor helped write the report and said, "We're not saying IDRF is directly involved in communal violence, we're saying that IDRF supports a movement that provokes communal violence".^[14] The US State and Justice departments added IDRF to the list of organizations being investigated for illicit donations and money laundering.^[15] However, the Office of Management and Budget approved IDRF for the 2012 and 2013 Combined Federal Campaign, the US federal government's workplace giving campaign.^[16][17]

Soon after the report was issued, in November 2002 the IDRF dismissed the allegations as "pure concoction, untruthful and self contradicting".^[18] In March 2003 six authors, Ramesh Nagaraj Rao, Narayan Komerath, Beloo Mehra, Chitra Raman, Sugrutha Ramaswami, and Nagendra Rao, calling themselves "Friends of India," issued a report called A Factual Response to the Hate Attack on the India Development and Relief Fund (IDRF).^[19][20] They published a hard copy of the report, IDRF: Let the Facts Speak in 2003.^[21]

References