US to fund NGOs to promote religious harmony and end discrimination in India

India on Thursday said that they are seeking more details to a proposal put out by the US State Department but added that whatever is done should fall within the ambit of law.

US State Department on Wednesday announced a grant of 493,827 dollars for NGOs (non-governmental organisations) who "seek to reduce religiously-motivated violence and discrimination in India".

In a notice put out by the Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, the US authorities have invited organisations who are interested in submitting applications for projects that promote religious freedom in India and Sri Lanka.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar at the weekly media briefing said, "We haven't got time to go through the report. We have requested for details and will comment once we have it. But on the issue of such funds I have to say, any such activity in this area has to follow laws and rules of the land."

The focus of the program for the NGOs is to "develop and implement early warning systems to mitigate large-scale violence"; implement "conflict mitigation programmes" between minority and majority groups; as also to "counter hateful or discriminatory public messages" with positive messages through means such as print or social media or via traditional means such as loudspeakers and community gatherings.

The organisations will also have to focus on a pro-active approach by educating the civil society and journalists about legal protections for religious freedom, particularly for members of religious minorities; documenting and reporting religious freedom violations to authorities; educating law enforcement on human rights standards; and engaging law enforcement to better protect rights of religious minorities, including preventing incidents of discrimination and violence and holding perpetrators accountable.

This is the first time that India has been added to a State Department program to prevent "religious discrimination". Modi administration in the past had reacted very sharply to observations by foreign governments on growing incidents of religious intolerance and violence against minorities in India. There have been concerted efforts made to show the secular and tolerant social fabric of India. But US administration, like many other governments, has made keen observations in the recent past regarding religiously-motivated violence and discrimination in India.

The countries currently receiving grants in the region from US on similar program are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Kazakhastan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.