Environment2 min
CBI Probes Foreign Funds to Arunachal Activist Over Anti-Dam Protests
The agency alleges an Arunachal Pradesh activist received foreign money without proper disclosure, and that it helped fund protests against two major hydropower projects.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is probing foreign money sent to an activist in Arunachal Pradesh, allegedly in breach of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, or FCRA. According to sources, the agency has registered an FIR in August that names at least four overseas entities as sources of inward remittances.
The organisations are based in the Philippines, Ireland and the United Kingdom. One of them, Asia Indigenous Peoples Network on Extractive Industries and Energy, is registered as a non-profit in Baguio City in the Philippines. It describes itself as a regional platform that backs indigenous communities hit by extractive and energy projects in their homelands. The other named bodies are Front Line, based in Dublin, Indigenous Peoples Rights International in the Philippines, and the Business and Human Rights Resource Center in London. The CBI is reportedly preparing to ask these groups for details of the transactions. It is also checking whether other individuals received money from the same sources.
The FIR puts the amount at Rs 20.9 lakh, received as forex transactions. Investigators say the activist had not disclosed the purpose of the funds, and that most of the money was later spent through UPI payments. These details come from the agency's account of its bank-statement analysis. No charges have been proven, and the activist's side has not been detailed in the reporting so far.
The real flashpoint is the FIR's central claim. It says the foreign money was used to organise and sustain anti-dam protests against the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project and the Dibang Multipurpose Hydropower Project. The agency argues that this harms the country's economic and strategic interests. Those are large schemes in a region where local communities, environmental groups and the state have long clashed over land, rivers and who gets to decide what gets built.
Why it matters: the case puts a spotlight on a growing question in India. When can foreign funding for civil society groups be treated as a security issue, and where is the line between backing a cause and illegally financing a movement? For residents of Arunachal, the answer will shape how protests over big infrastructure are funded, organised and policed in the months ahead. For the groups named in the FIR, it raises the stakes of every cross-border grant. The investigation is still at an early stage, and the CBI has not yet produced evidence in court. Read the original report at Times of India.
Filedarunachal pradeshcbifcraanti-dam protestssiang upper projectforeign funding
