Govt cancels FCRA licence of Wangchuk’s organisation over financial ‘irregularities’

NEW DELHI: The Centre has cancelled the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) licence of the Students Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), an institute founded by climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, citing multiple violations of the Act.

This action comes after the protests for Ladakh’s statehood turned violent in Leh on Wednesday as protesters indulged in clashes with security personnel, leaving four dead and at least 80 injured, including 40 police personnel.

Putting the blame for the violence on Wangchuk, the Centre said his fast and “provocative” speeches stirred a mob that attacked BJP and government offices, set fire to property, and wounded more than 30 police and CRPF personnel. The Ministry of Home Affairs alleged that Wangchuk’s references to the Arab Spring and Nepal’s Gen Z protests had incited the mob.

Swinging into action, the Union Home Ministry cancelled the FCRA licence of Wangchuk’s organisation SECMOL with “immediate effect”, a government order said.

The action of the ministry was based on several alleged discrepancies detected in the accounts of the organisation, including a fund transfer from Sweden which the ministry found was against “national interest”.

The Wangchuk-led organisation was granted the licence to accept foreign contributions for undertaking cultural and educational programmes, the order said. Besides SECMOL, Wangchuk had also founded Himalayan Institute of Alternatives Ladakh (HIAL), which is facing CBI inquiry related to alleged Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, or FCRA, violations. The Home Ministry had earlier issued a show cause notice to SECMOL seeking explanation on various irregularities observed in the finances of the organisation.

It was alleged that during financial year 2021-22, Wangchuk deposited Rs 3.5 lakh into the FCRA account of the association in violation of section 17 of the Act.

According to the explanation given by SECMOL, it was the sale proceeds of the old bus procured on July 14, 2015 out of FCRA funds. It said the sale proceeds for any asset that was procured from FCRA’s funds need to be deposited only in FCRA’s account as per the guidelines.

The ministry said that the amount has been received in cash in violation of section 17 of the Act which is not properly disclosed by the organisation in its reply.

“Further, an amount of Rs 3.35 lakh has been intimated by the association...as an FC donation from Sonam Wangchuk. However, this transaction is not reflected in FCRA account in violation of section 18 of the Act,” it said. The ministry also red-flagged another transfer of Rs 54,600 in local funds in FCRA accounts of the organisation, which the latter claimed was a mistake.

A foreign contribution from Sweden of around Rs 4.93 lakh for creating awareness among youth on issues such as migration, climate change, global warming, food security and sovereignty and organic farming through different workshops and trainings is also under the scanner of the ministry.

Rejecting the arguments of SECMOL that the funds were utilised strictly in line with the organisation’s objectives for educational purposes only, the ministry has said the foreign contribution cannot be accepted for study on the sovereignty of the nation, as it is against “national interests”. Citing several other discrepancies in the accounts of the organisation, the home ministry, in its order issued on Thursday, said it invoked its powers under Section 14 of the FCRA to cancel the licence granted to the organisation with immediate effect.

Earlier in the day, Wangchuk alleged that the government was building a case against him to put him behind bars.

The activist, who has been leading the peaceful agitation for statehood and constitutional safeguards for Ladakh, also raised the alarm over his personal safety. “I see they are building up a case to bring me under the Public Safety Act and throw me in jail for two years,” he said. “I am ready for that, but Sonam Wangchuk in jail may cause them more problems than free Sonam Wangchuk,” he added.

The climate activist called the MHA’s charge that he instigated the recent violent protests in Ladakh a “scapegoat tactic” intended to avoid dealing with the Himalayan region’s core problems. The activist attributed the eruption of anger to long-standing grievances, primarily the frustration among the region’s youth, and reasoned that the real cause is the “frustration of six years of unemployment and unmet promises at every level.” He accused the government of misleading the public by claiming success on partial job reservations, noting that the main demands for statehood and the extension of the Sixth Schedule to protect Ladakh’s tribal status and fragile environment remain “untouched after five years of peaceful appeals.

Wangchuk said that by employing the “scapegoat tactic”, the government is “not actually taking measures for peace” but instead taking steps that will “further aggravate” the situation by diverting attention from the people’s core demands.

Wangchuk is an engineer, innovator and education reformist. He is the founding director of the Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh, which was founded in 1988 by a group of students who had been, in his own words, the ‘victims’ of an alien education system foisted on Ladakh. His education reforms inspired the Bollywood movie “Three Idiots”, which became a run-away hit. He won the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award. He was instrumental in the launch of Operation New Hope in 1994, a collaboration of government, village communities and civil society to bring reforms to the government school system. He invented the Ice Stupa technique that creates artificial glaciers, used for storing winter water in the form of a cone-shaped ice heap. In 2005, he was appointed as a member of the National Governing Council for Elementary Education in the Ministry of Human Resource Development at the Centre. From 2007 to 2010, he worked as an education advisor for MS, a Danish NGO working to support the Ministry of Education for education reforms.

He also served on the J&K State Board of School Education and in 2014 was appointed to the expert panel for framing the J&K State Education Policy and Vision Document. Since 2015, Sonam Wangchuk started working on establishing Himalayan Institute of Alternatives.

Meanwhile, Aakar Patel, Amnesty International India’s Chair of the Board, said the use of lethal ammunition against a group of people that had become violent cannot be justified. :

“Any use of firearms in the context of an assembly must be an absolute last resort, limited to targeted individuals and only then if strictly necessary to confront an imminent threat of death or serious injury. The indiscriminate use of firearms against protesters is always unlawful.’’

“There must be an immediate investigation into how these firearms were deployed, why police used lethal force against protesters that were largely peaceful, and why other methods of crowd control were apparently not attempted first,’’ he said. He called for the immediate de-escalation of tensions and urged the government to respect people’s rights while addressing the situation in Ladakh. “People in Ladakh have the right to peacefully protest against the government, and they must be able to exercise this right without fear of being shot,” he said in a statement.