As Amnesty shuts office, anxiety and uncertainty cloud the NGO world

NGOs have expressed concerns over the provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill 2020. These, they say, will further clip the wings of the beleaguered civil society

In late July, when the Supreme Court of India initiated contempt proceedings against lawyer Prashant Bhushan, civil society activists worried that freedom of speech was under threat. Later, when the same civil society members were named by the police as instigators of the riots that rocked northeast Delhi in February this year, the threat loomed larger. And today, Amnesty International India announced it could no longer afford to uphold human rights in India due to reprisals from the Indian government.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) say that demands for accountability and transparency in public works and the imperatives of enforcing human rights in