U.S. lawmakers urge India to ease funding restrictions on Christian charity

U.S. lawmakers from both Republican and Democratic parties have called on the Indian government to ease the funding restrictions on Christian charity Compassion International (CI).

Last February, the Indian government imposed a mandate to require the charity to obtain prior permission before it can transfer funds to local groups after security agencies concluded that the organization is encouraging religious conversions, The Hindu reported.

The charity denied being involved in conversions and said that it will have to close its operations in India "within three weeks" if the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) does not remove the restrictions.

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives held a session last week to hear testimonies from CI and Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Republican Chairman Ed Royce stated that he and Secretary of State John Kerry had been involved in the negotiations with Indian officials regarding the issue of CI. Royce added that the allegation that CI was involved in conversion was just a "rumor" and a "myth."

CI began its operations in the India in 1968, according to Christianity Today. It currently has 580 development centers which provide care for more than 145,000 children.

The charity sends about $50 million in aid to India every year, which makes it the "single largest contributor of aid for children living in extreme poverty" in the country, according to Royce.

CI stated that the organization has spent months trying to obtain prior clearance for funding.

"After months of unsuccessfully trying to obtain prior clearance, we have concluded that the clearance process is fiction. We have never been offered an explanation for this action in the nine months since the order was issued," the charity said in a statement on its website.

"We have never been offered an explanation for this action in the nine months since the order was issued," it added.

A senior Home Ministry official said that MHA is willing to reconsider the case of CI.

"We are ready to reconsider the case of Compassion International, the US donor, which was put under 'prior permission category' for alleged violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA)," the official told India Today.

Several other NGO's were targeted by the MHA due to violations of regulations on foreign contributions.