INDIA, January 17, 2017 (Christianity Today): “We want to be honest with you, there is very little hope.” So wrote Compassion International to its 130,000 sponsors of Indian children this past Friday. One week after sharing the good news of four nations no longer needing child sponsors due to the passion of millennials, the ministry shared the bad news of another nation that will probably not need child sponsors due to government interference.
A little more than a year after the Indian government told Compassion that it [and many other foreign NGOs] could no longer receive funding from outside the subcontinent, the humanitarian organization will likely be closing its last operations there. “Since we can no longer distribute funds to our field offices, we have just had to notify our India country staff that we must formally close our field offices in India by March 15,” Compassion told sponsors by email. Compassion, which has been working in India for more than 48 years, said it has tried everything in the last 10 months to stay afloat.
The Indian government objects to Compassion’s Christianity, according to the ministry’s testimony to US lawmakers. Hindu nationalists have put increasing pressure on Christians in India since the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014.
HPI note: According to a July 19, 2016, Indian Express report here:
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/over-14000-ngos-barred-from-receiving-foreign-funds-govt-2924258/
“As many as 14,222 NGOs were barred from receiving foreign funds in the past four years for violating norms, the government said on Tuesday. Of these, the largest number of 10,020 Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) were barred last year. A total of 4138, 4 and 59 NGOs were restrained from receiving foreign contributions in 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.”
The article also provides a link to a government website (https://fcraonline.nic.in/home/index.aspx) with a complete list of the organizations so barred.