Author:
Inder Sawhney
Christian
missionaries and allied groups continue to be largest recipients
of foreign funds. They
received Rs 15.88 crore (75.69 per cent of the total foreign
funds) in April-June this year compared with Rs 11.41 crore during
the corresponding period last year and Rs 12.67 crore in the first
quarter.
A study of the
receipt of foreign funds by religious/ non-political organizations
and other groups in April-June, based on Intelligence reports
gathered by the Home ministry, indicates a sharp increase to Rs
20.98 crore compared with Rs 14.02 crore during the corresponding
period in 1998.
The US with
donations of Rs 4.10 crore (as against Rs 2.26 crore during the
same period in 1998) displaced Germany as the leading donor.
In the first quarter of 1999 also, the US was the highest
donor with Rs 3.31 crore.
In the second
quarter of this year, Kerala received the largest amount (Rs 3.09
crore) followed by Himachal Pradesh (Rs 2.87 crore), West Bengal (Rs
2.73 crore) Maharashtra (Rs 1.69 crore), Andhra Pradesh Rs 1.3
crore and Karnataka Rs 1.2 crore.
Rajasthan was the lowest, accounting for a mere Rs 4,000.
Non-political
organizations were the other major recipients of foreign funds (Rs
1.38 crore) followed by Muslim organizations which got Rs 64.13
lakh compared with Rs 23.06 lakh received by them in the second
quarter of 1998.
According to the
study, there was a fall in the receipt of funds by
non-denominational organizations, including “pseudo-religious”
bodies. They received
Rs 22.99 lakh in the second quarter of this year against Rs 70.99
lakh in the corresponding period last year.
