INDIA
Greenpeace has been barred from receiving foreign donations since 2015. It's main bank account also got frozen on October 5 last year.
Environmental group Greenpeace said on Saturday it had been forced to shut two of its regional offices in India and had asked many staff to leave due to a block on its bank account after accusations of illegal donations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has tightened scrutiny of NGOs over the past four years. It says they often act against India's interests and has revoked licenses for thousands of foreign-funded groups.
Greenpeace has been barred from receiving foreign donations since 2015. It's main bank account also got frozen on October 5 last year.
On Saturday, the group said 40 of its 60 India staff positions had been made redundant. Two of its regional offices -- in New Delhi and Patna -- have been shut, it said in a statement.Greenpeace staff across New Delhi and Patna, as well as in Bengaluru, were committed to work as volunteers, the group said.
"The government can only freeze our accounts and shut our offices but Greenpeace is an idea that can never be extinguished," it said. Since Modi took office in 2014, India has cancelled the registrations of nearly 15,000 non-governmental groups under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.