Intelligence Bureau thinks so.
By The American Bazaar Staff
NEW DELHI: A new Intelligence Bureau (IB) report claims that internationally-backed Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) stationed within the country have had a profoundly negative impact on India’s economic growth.
The “Impact of NGOs on Development†alleges that NGOs backed by donors in the US, UK, Germany, and the Netherlands – among other nations – have been stunting domestic economic progress by blocking certain projects, mostly geared towards energy solutions, that would help India grow substantially.
In particular, Greenpeace – one of the largest NGOs in the world, headquartered in Amsterdam and conducting work in some 40 nations around the world – has been fingered as a leading contributor to the problem.
Projects in the areas of coal power, hydro power, genetically modified food, and mega-industrial projects were listed in the report, which has been leaked to several media outlets. Specifically, the report singles out projects like the POSCO steel plant, which is backed by South Korean financiers, and the Vedanta bauxite manufacturing plant in Odisha, as having been affected by these maneuvers.
In total, the report estimates that the blocking of these energy projects – especially because of the fact that India has long had problems with energy production and distribution, especially in its more rural areas – has cost the Indian economy anywhere from 2-3% of its annual GDP growth, which is huge considering that the country’s total GDP has fallen off by a margin of about 5% in the least year.
The significance of this news is being felt the most in New Delhi, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is preparing to make good on his campaign vows to open up India to more foreign investment and opportunity, in order to help the country’s flagging economy grow out of the doldrums it has been in of late.
The report has drawn equal parts ire and shock from the political, economic, and social spheres, with many calling on the government to enact laws that would give these NGOs more transparency and the government more oversight. But that runs the risk of alienating more foreign businesses, who see India has a nightmare of red-tape and government interference already.
Greenpeace has denied any wrongdoing, saying that such claims are simply dissenters looking to impede the NGO’s important progress within the nation. Meanwhile, Modi and his BJP have remained tight-lipped, largely because the report hasn’t been officially released yet.
All eyes will be on Modi to see how he manages the delicate balancing act of letting more foreign companies invest in India, while prioritizing the country’s own growth as Asia’s third-largest economic power.