Dear Hari,
I am afraid that the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) is being
interpreted selectively here. While Section 3 of the FCRA is important
it is important to read it in conjunction with Section 4 of the FCRA (an
exception clause for Section 3), which states that even those who
participate in broadcast and electronic media can receive foreign money,
“*by way of salary, wages or other remuneration due to him* or to any
group of persons working under him, from any foreign source or by way of
payment in the ordinary course of business transacted in India by such
foreign source”.
I do not think there is any violation in Pavanaja writing for Prajavani.
Best,
Vishnu
On Wednesday 14 May 2014 12:15 AM, Hari Prasad Nadig wrote:
Dear Pavanaja,
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
You have received an annual compensation of about *17 Lakhs* last year
(that also excludes travel and other reimbursements) as per the
declaration made by Vishnu on the talk page of this proposal [1]. This
came from the funds granted to CIS that was received from WMF through
FCRA. And this will be increased by 20% for this year?
Further, for Kannada alone, *12.3 Lakhs* seem to be set aside out of
which you seem to be the primary beneficiary. [2]
And all this while, you have been a columnist for Prajavani.
This seems to be a clear violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation
Act as outlined by Srikanth on the copied email.
Regards,
[1] -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Proposal_form#CIS_Staff_details
[2] -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015/Budget
On 13 May 2014 22:29, Srikanth Ramakrishnan <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Pavanaja,
as per the FCRA:
3. (1) No foreign contribution shall be accepted by any- (g)
association or company engaged in the production or broadcast of
audio news or audio visual news or current affairs programmes
through any electronic mode, or any other electronic form as
defined in clause ® of sub-section (I) of section 2 of the
Information Technology Act, 2000 or any other mode of mass
communication; (h) correspondent or columnist, cartoonist, editor,
owner of the association or company referred to in clause (g).
Writing a weekly column, as a freelancer makes one a columnist.
*
*
*
*
On 13 May 2014 15:52, Pavanaja U B <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Hi,
There is a factual error. I am not employed with Prajavani. I
write just one column per week as freelancer.
Regards,
Pavanaja
*From:*[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
[mailto:[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>] *On
Behalf Of *Srikanth Ramakrishnan
*Sent:* 13 May 2014 12:50
*To:* Wikimedia India Community list
*Cc:* Kannada Wikipedia Discussion List [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>; Mailing list for Wikimedians
/ Wikipedians in Bangalore, India
*Subject:* Re: [Wikimedia-in-blr] [Wikimediaindia-l] On CIS's
grants request from Wikimedia Foundation
Hi all, I have one important question here.
The Foreign Contribution Regulatory Act prohibits money
received from abroad to be used as payments or salaries to
anyone employed with the press or media.
I believe Dr. Pavanaja is a columnist for Prajavani. How does
this work out?
It's just a preemptive question.
On 12 May 2014 17:45, Hari Prasad Nadig <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Fellow Wikimedians,
As you all know, Center for Internet and Society, Bangalore
has sought funding of about *1.8 Crores* through the FDC
process from Wikimedia Foundation to carry out work on seven
local language projects in India that includes Kannada, Telugu
among others. [1]
The funds primarily cover the salaries of the people belonging
to the CIS-A2K team among other administrative expenses and
other expenses as outlined on their proposal page.
The proposal was up for Community review and comments until
April 30th and many have recorded their response about it [2].
Several community members have come forward in pointing out
that the staff salaries being paid and that being proposed -
are quite on the higher side (which is up to 2.4 Lakhs per
month per person).
Apart from the concerns on extremely high salaries for Indian
norms of the team members of CIS-A2K team, there have been
some serious concerns raised about some apparent Conflict of
Interest [3] and non-compliance with the local laws (mainly
Karnataka Societies act and the Foreign Contribution
Regulation Act).
However, looks like the proposal has moved forward through the
FDC process for funding despite the concerns raised and has
gotten through to the next stage.
More concerns have now been raised by several community
members on the Staff Assessment discussion page here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Staff_proposal_assessment
I invite you to participate in the discussion and help steer
this in the right direction.
[1] -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Proposal_form
[2] -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre_for_Internet_and_Society/Proposal_form
[3] -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015/Budget#Budget_as_per_Expenditure_Heads
Thank you,
--
Hari Prasad Nadig
http://hpnadig.net
http://twitter.com/hpnadig
http://flickr.com/hpnadig
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Regards,
Srikanth Ramakrishnan,
What goes around, may not necessarily come around, it may
simply bounce back.
Please sign this petition for Volvo buses in Coimbatore:
https://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/the-transport-minister-tamil-nadu-introduction-of-volvo-city-buses-in-the-city-of-coimbatore
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--
Regards,
Srikanth Ramakrishnan,
What goes around, may not necessarily come around, it may simply
bounce back.
Please sign this petition for Volvo buses in Coimbatore:
https://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/the-transport-minister-tamil-nadu-introduction-of-volvo-city-buses-in-the-city-of-coimbatore
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To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit
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--
Hari Prasad Nadig
http://hpnadig.net
http://twitter.com/hpnadig
http://flickr.com/hpnadig
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