NEW DELHI (AFP) – A leading Indian think tank confirmed yesterday it had been banned from taking foreign funding, the latest organisation among foreign charities, rights watchdogs and others similarly targeted after criticising the government.
The Centre for Policy Research (CPR) is one of the country’s most highly regarded public policy forums.
Its staffers are prominent talking heads and columnists who have been rare dissenting voices in the media on sensitive political issues, including national security policy.
The Home Ministry had already provisionally suspended the CPR’s licence to receive foreign donations after raids in 2022 by the tax department, severely curtailing its operations.
Local broadsheet The Hindu reported that authorities had resolved to cancel the licence because it had published reports on “current affairs programmes”.
“The basis of this decision is incomprehensible and disproportionate,” CPR President Yamini Aiyar said in a statement on social media. “Some of the reasons given challenge the very basis of the functioning of a research institution.”
An undated home ministry gazette confirmed the licence was cancelled “on violation” of foreign funding rules without giving further details.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the United States Department were among the organisation’s prominent international donors.
Last year Aiyar wrote that the tax raids and suspension of foreign donations had left the think tank in a “precarious financial position”.
Local media outlet Newslaundry also reported last year that the blocking of foreign donations had forced the CPR to cut its headcount by 75 per cent and significantly scale down its operations.
