U.S. defends Greenpeace India’s right to campaign against GMOs, energy projects

The United States has expressed concern that India‘s crackdown on the activities of the Ford Foundation and Greenpeace India could limit “necessary and critical debate” in the world’s largest democracy and is seeking “clarification”.

A U.S. State Department official said Washington was aware New Delhi had suspended the registration of Greenpeace India and put the Ford Foundation on a security watch list, ordering government approval of any of its activities in India.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Washington was “concerned about the difficulties caused to civil society organizations” by the way the Foreign Contributions Regulations Act had been applied.

In June last year, India’s intelligence service said Greenpeace and other lobby groups were damaging the country’s economy by campaigning against power projects, mining and genetically modified food.

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While Greenpeace denied the allegations, India has barred the organization from receiving foreign funds by suspending its license for six months and frozen all its accounts.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: U.S. voices concern over India action against Ford Foundation, Greenpeace