Do you
know where your charitable contributions are going?
Each year, I give money to various organizations.
I always give to the progressive media, whether magazines
or radio, mainly because they refuse to take corporate
funds that, generally, distort the coverage. A bunch
of money goes toward organizations that struggle for
racial, economic and gender justice in the US, most
of whom again are underfunded for the task they have
undertaken. Finally, because I was raised in India
and feel a deep sense of patriotism to the country
that bred me, I, like most of us, donate money to
US-based groups that raise funds for good work in
India. Its not like I have vast amounts of money,
but I do like to make sure that a chunk of my surplus
gets recycled in this age when government’s cease
to fund the public good. Our taxes took over from
institutions like the daan (among Buddhists) and the
tithe (among Catholics), this so that it was not left
to the wiles of individuals to create social justice.
The state was to be that instrument. With its failure
to do the work, the non-profit sector moved in.
So
the checkbooks come out and we write our modest contributions
to one or another US-based group that sends funds
to India. It is not easy to find these groups, and
we mainly rely upon word of mouth. Fortunately groups
like CRY and ASHA organize frequent events about ,
which we read in our papers or else to which we get
invited via the flyers left in our local desi store.
My first encounter with long-distance philanthropy
was through these two groups. Then there are local
organizations, such as V. Raman’s Hartford-based Volunteers
for Service and Education in India, an excellent organization
run by the hard work and dedication of one man. Finally,
many folks rely upon websites, word of mouth or else
corporate matching programs to find organizations
that take our dollars to make development rupees.
One
of these organizations is the India Development and
Relief Fund (IDRF). An innocuous name, for those who
run across it, it attracts attention because NRIs
are all interested in the "development" of the country
and the "relief" of those hit hard by natural calamities.
Earthquakes
and droughts require especial help, and we are ready
with our money to help a state exchequer routinely
in the red. Since most
of
us benefited from state-funded educational systems
that are now slowly withering away, we welcome donations
toward education institutions that target the oppressed
(dalits and advasis) as well as programs for women’s
empowerment. On the surface this is unimpeachable
stuff and we tend to give money to any group that
purports to do good in India, whether CRY, ASHA, VSEI
or IDRF. Our international philanthropy is laudable
and should be promoted.
In
mid-November a group of U.S.-based artists, scholars
and activists released a landmark study called The
Foreign Exchange of Hate. IDRF and the American Funding
of Hindutva. The report, published by the Mumbai-based
Sabrang Communications (publishers of Communalism
Combat) and by the France-based South Asia Citizen’s
Watch (loosely affiliated with the group, Women Living
Under Muslim Laws), alleges that IDRF raises money
on false pretenses. It claims to take our money and
do charitable work in India, when it fact it directs
it to pro-Hindutva organizations who sully the body
politics, conduct communal pogroms and destabilize
the social life of India. The money may indeed go
toward "development" and "relief," but the report
argues, it "develops" Hindutva’s agenda and not that
of the Constitution of India. The material is largely
based on a study of IDRF’s own filings to the Internal
Review Service as well as IDRF’s annual report. From
these documents, the report tracks the organizations
to which IDRF gives money. Then, it studied the reports
of the New York-based Human Rights Watch as well as
activist groups in Gujarat to show that the groups
to whom IDRF gave money are groups that have been
fingered as participants in the mayhem since the 1990s.
Faced
by a barrage from the Indian press, IDRF responded
on Nov 22, labelling the accusations "pure concoction,
untruthful and self-contradicting," "a string of allegations,"
since "IDRF does not subscribe to any religious, political
or sectarian agendas. Furthermore, IDRF does not discriminate
against any religion, sect, or race in either the
collection or distribution of funds." Apart from this
general disavowal, IDRF, founded by an ex-World Bank
economist, Vinod Prakash, did not get into the specifics
of the allegations against it.
That
is a pity, because it would have been useful for our
community to hear IDRF rebut the evidence in The Foreign
Exchange of Hate. Here is a taste of what is in the
report (available at www.stop fundinghate.org):
An
Analysis of the Money
The
report studied IDRF transfers of $5 million from 1994
to 2000, which found that 83 percent percent of the
money went to organizations affiliated with the RSS,
such as: Jana Sankshema Samiti (Vijayavada, Andhra
Pradesh), Seva Bharati Purvanchal (Guwahati, Assam),
Vikas Bharati Bishupur (Gumla, Chhattisgarh, Bihar),
Birsa Seva Prakalp (Hazaribag, Jharkhand), Hindu Seva
Pratishthana (Bangalore, Karnataka), Yogakshema Trust
(Cochin, Kerala) and many more. The report says that
these organizations can be shown to be RSS-affiliation
"through their own literature or other secondary sources."
Or else, if you want, you can tally the names with
the RSS publication, Amrut-Kumbha written by RSS pracharak
S. H. Ketkar (published in Pune, 1995).
What
is of interest is that most of the donors, 90 percent
of them, in fact, did not designate these organizations.
Only ten percent of those who gave money to IDRF specifically
designated that IDRF must give their money to a specific
RSS organization. Nevertheless, IDRF gave more than
80 percent of its disbursements to the groups associated
with the RSS. In other words, the report concluded,
IDRF has an agenda to support the RSS activities and
to reshape India in the RSS image. In addition, more
than 90 percent of its money went to Hindu groups
with a small fraction given to secular organizations,
with no organization identified with any minority
community in receipt of any funds.
According
to the report, most of the money (70 percent) went
toward education and to Hinduization (shuddhi) programs.
The education, as well, is not secular education,
but religious education. Less than ten percent went
to health and welfare work, while only four percent
went to rural development. It is, therefore, not outrageous
to suggest that the money goes toward the reconstruction
of India from a secular democracy into the image of
the RSS. If this is not the case, then IDRF needs
to account for how it is not so.
If
you’re into the RSS agenda, then go ahead and write
your checks to the IDRF. At least the IDRF should
be honest about its intentions and not hide behind
a harmless name to do its work.
Swami
Ashim Anand
On
9 September 1999, the U.S. State Department released
its Annual Report on International Religious Freedom.
In the report, we find the following:
"On
January 27, 1999, 12 Christian villagers were "reconverted"
forcibly to Hinduism under threat of the loss of the
right to use the local well and the destruction of
their homes. The "reconversion" was carried out by
youths working with Swami Ashim Anand, a Hindu active
in "reconverting" tribals in the area. However, the
villagers stated that prior to becoming Christians
they had not been Hindu."
In
1998-99, the Dangs district of Gujarat felt the iron
fist of Hindutva. The Vanvasi Kalyan Ashrams and other
organizations in the state mobilized their cadre to
go amongst the oppressed adivasis and create mayhem.
The point was to "reconvert" adivasis to Hinduism
by force and to ensure that Christians be held at
bay. The violence that ensued should be seen as the
prologue of the recent anti-Muslim pogrom in the state.
In a series of reports Indian Express offered evidence
that Swami Ashim Anand had organized young people
into bands to spread the terror. Ashim Modi, Bajrang
Dal president for Surat district (which neighbors
Dangs) told the Indian Express that the Swami had
been part of the "Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad, an organization
affiliated to the VHP." In a February 1999 story in
the Indian Express, the journalist wrote, "After coming
to Waghai a couple of years ago, the Swami had spearheaded
the formation of Bajrang Dal units in every village.
The recent violence against the Christian community
was reportedly led by activists groomed by the Swami."
The
IDRF, it turns out, was one of the foundations that
supported the work of the Swami. Chetan Gandhi, a
Vice President of IDRF, visited the Dangs region of
Gujarat and filed this report to IDRF: "Swami Ashimanandji
is in charge of the Ashram’s activities in the district
though is as some [sic] only before 18 months he is
well known as respected by the community." The Vanvasi
Kalyan Parishad is an "IDRF supported project in Gujarat,"
according to the IDRF itself.
None
of this is history. During the 2002 riots, three organizations
that participated in the pogrom, the Vanvasi Kalyan
Parishad, the Vivekananda Kendra and the Vanvasi Seva
Sangh continue to receive IDRF funds.
The
IDRF could have been duped by these organizations,
posing as development groups that only later went
out to kill in a sectarian manner. This is possible.
However, the statistical trends depicted in the report
suggest that either the IDRF itself is coddling the
RSS or else the laws of chance have worked to smear
its reputation. Either way, the IDRF needs to explain
its funding practices.
It
turns out that not only did ordinary NRIs may have
been surprised at the funding profile of IDRF; so
were several major corporations of the New Economy:
Cisco, Sun, Oracle and HP. These firms match employee
contributions to US-based non-profits and they are
also urged by their employees to contribute additional
funds to especially good charities. The large number
of Indians in these firms makes it less of a surprise
that a charity that works on India is one of the highest
earners of New Economy largess. This is not to say
that all the Indians who work at these firms are pro-RSS,
but that the organization has been able to convince
the workers and the firms that it is the only bona
fide group that does good work in the Indian countryside.
In 1999, IDRF received $140,000 from Cisco, and entered
the top five charities for the company. Meanwhile,
Doctors Without Borders got only $2500. Since the
publication of the report many of these American corporations
have stopped their matching program for IDRF.
What
of the NRIs who want to promote the development of
India, although not the Hindutva vision of it? Channel
your resources to secular groups ASHA and CRY, or
else use the money to transform the US government
so that it is less invested in the deprivation of
Gujarat than in its genuine social development.
