Why Greenpeace appointed a political advisor?

New Delhi, April 11: Why was Greenpeace India paying a salary of Rs 1,04,850 a month to the Political Affairs Advisor? Why does an NGO which is clearly barred from interfering in political affairs need a political affairs advisor?

The rules clearly state that NGOs shall not indulge in political activity, but the report by the Home Ministry clearly indicates that Greenpeace India was paying a salary to a political affairs advisor who also doubled as a Public Relations officer.

The government of India had on Thursday seized seven accounts of Greenpeace India and also suspended it's licence for a period of 180 days after it had found that it's activities were violative of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.

Greenpeace paid handsome salaries:

According to the Home Ministry report, Greenpeace dished out handsome salaries to several persons. A policy advisor with Greenpeace India earned 4,48,435 as consultancy fee.

Interestingly the NGO appointed an IIT Madras graduate as a consultant.

The Home Ministry, which clearly states that such fees are on the extreme higher side also points out that between the years 2008 and 2009, the policy advisor was paid Rs 39 lakh.

‎Further, the NGO also appointed an executive director and paid him Rs 1,85,300 per month. While the Home Ministry found that the salaries were on the higher side for an NGO, it also pointed that there is no consent from the donor.

When salaries are paid and money is used, an NGO needs to obtain the consent of the donor. However, there is nothing to show that the consent or permission of the donor has been obtained,shows the report.

Furthermore, the report also notes that there were around nine employees in Greenpeace India who were paid in the range of Rs 1.5 lakh a month.

‎Advancing the foreign policy of UK:

The report further states that there was an attempt to help the foreign policy of the United Kingdom. This refers to the Priya Pillai incident in which she had attempted to go to the UK and testify against a developmental project of India.

The trip was entirely sponsored by Greenpeace UK and it involved the testimony of several Indian activists to be made before a committee in the UK. The testimony was being undertaken after India had banned foreign donations from Greenpeace UK to its India unit.

The very fact that the trip was being undertaken at the expense of the Greenpeace UK despite a ban on foreign donations itself is violative of the law, the report notes.

False allegations by Greenpeace:

The report claimed that Greenpeace was making false allegations against India. There were nine British, one Australian and three American activists who had trained Indian activists on how to carry out a false propaganda.

These activists were directly involved in training their counterparts in India so that anti developmental activities threatening the Indian economy could be carried out.

Priya Pillai was specifically posted at Mahan in Madhya Pradesh since the year 2011. Her job was to create protests to prevent coal mining by the Mahan Coal Ltd which was setting up a thermal power plant. She was to testify in the UK in January 2015 against this project the Home Ministry report also stated.

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