NEW DELHI // India has cancelled Greenpeace International’s license to operate and given the group 30 days to close down, citing financial fraud and falsification of data, the environment watchdog said on Friday.
Prime minister Narendra Modi’s government has turned the spotlight on foreign charities since he took office last year, accusing some of trying to hamper projects on social and environmental grounds.
Greenpeace has previously complained to The National about a “pattern of harassment by the government”, including having its access to foreign funding blocked, and its accounts froze.
Under the latest order issued by authorities in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu where Greenpeace is registered, the government said the organisation had violated the provisions of law by engaging in fraudulent dealings.
Greenpeace denied any wrongdoing and said the closure was a “clumsy tactic” to silence dissent.
“This is an extension of the deep intolerance for differing viewpoints that sections of this government seem to harbour,” said Vinuta Gopal, the interim executive director of Greenpeace.
A government official confirmed that the closure order had been issued on Wednesday but did not elaborate.
An intelligence bureau report, leaked to the media last June, advised the government that NGOs were “negatively impacting economic development” and that Greenpeace India in particular was “a threat to national economic security”.
The organisation had organised “massive efforts to take down India’s coal fired power plants and coal mining activity,” the report said.
In recent months the federal government has toughened rules governing charities and cancelled the registration of nearly 9,000 groups for failing to declare details of overseas donations.
* Reuters
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Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full