Christian NGO tops list of foreign funding recipients
Kerala-based Ayana Charitable Trust, the new name under which US charity Gospel for Asia is reportedly funding projects in India, has emerged on top of the list of Indian NGOs with the highest foreign funding in 2015-16.
It is one of three Christian evangelical NGOs, the other two being Believers Church India and World Vision India, that figure among the top four foreign contribution grossers in the country last fiscal.
Interestingly, Param Shakthi Peeth, the NGO run by Sadhvi Rithambara who was associated in the past with RSS and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, was the second highest recipient of foreign funding in 201516. The NGO has a sprawling ashram in Vrindavan and operates women's shelters, or phanages, hospitals and cowsheds. With foreign funding of Rs 417 crore in the financial year ending March 2016, as per its FCRA returns uploaded on the home ministry website, Param Shakthi Peeth has figured for the first time in the past three years among the country's top ten NGOs in terms of foreign receipts.
The NGO with the highest foreign funding in 2015-16, Ayana Charitable Trust, is supposedly a rebranded version of Gospel for Asia, the Texas-based NGO which ran into trouble in Canada over allegations of financial bungling.
A look at Ayana Charitable Trust's FCRA returns, which declared its total foreign funding in 2015-16 at a whopping Rs 826 crore, lists Gospel for Asia, Hong Kong, as the source behind most of its foreign funding. Christian evangelical charity, Believers Church India, which has been among the country's top 10 foreign-funded NGOs for the past several years and received Rs 113 crore and Rs 125 crore in 2013-14 and 2014-15 respectively, has shown Rs 342 crore foreign funding in its returns for the last fiscal.
Interestingly, it also recorded Rs 500 crore as "foreign funding from local sources", claiming a total foreign funding of Rs 842 crore. However, home ministry officials said it was not clear if the Rs 500 crore was received from FCRA-registered local NGOs. Interestingly, Gospel for Asia also figures as a prominent donor of foreign funds to Believers Church, which is headquartered in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district.
Chennai-based World Vision India, which was the top foreign-fund receiving NGO in 2013-14 and 2014-15, was pushed to the fourth place last fiscal, with foreign contributions falling to Rs 319 crore, from Rs 357 crore in 2014-15 and Rs 341 crore in 2013-14.
It is one of three Christian evangelical NGOs, the other two being Believers Church India and World Vision India, that figure among the top four foreign contribution grossers in the country last fiscal.
Interestingly, Param Shakthi Peeth, the NGO run by Sadhvi Rithambara who was associated in the past with RSS and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, was the second highest recipient of foreign funding in 201516. The NGO has a sprawling ashram in Vrindavan and operates women's shelters, or phanages, hospitals and cowsheds. With foreign funding of Rs 417 crore in the financial year ending March 2016, as per its FCRA returns uploaded on the home ministry website, Param Shakthi Peeth has figured for the first time in the past three years among the country's top ten NGOs in terms of foreign receipts.
The NGO with the highest foreign funding in 2015-16, Ayana Charitable Trust, is supposedly a rebranded version of Gospel for Asia, the Texas-based NGO which ran into trouble in Canada over allegations of financial bungling.
A look at Ayana Charitable Trust's FCRA returns, which declared its total foreign funding in 2015-16 at a whopping Rs 826 crore, lists Gospel for Asia, Hong Kong, as the source behind most of its foreign funding. Christian evangelical charity, Believers Church India, which has been among the country's top 10 foreign-funded NGOs for the past several years and received Rs 113 crore and Rs 125 crore in 2013-14 and 2014-15 respectively, has shown Rs 342 crore foreign funding in its returns for the last fiscal.
Interestingly, it also recorded Rs 500 crore as "foreign funding from local sources", claiming a total foreign funding of Rs 842 crore. However, home ministry officials said it was not clear if the Rs 500 crore was received from FCRA-registered local NGOs. Interestingly, Gospel for Asia also figures as a prominent donor of foreign funds to Believers Church, which is headquartered in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district.
Chennai-based World Vision India, which was the top foreign-fund receiving NGO in 2013-14 and 2014-15, was pushed to the fourth place last fiscal, with foreign contributions falling to Rs 319 crore, from Rs 357 crore in 2014-15 and Rs 341 crore in 2013-14.
