New Delhi:

The United States Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, has cancelled a $21 million US taxpayer-funded grant – under former President Joe Biden’s administration – meant to influence “voter turnout in India.” In its announcement, DOGE highlighted that the $21 million was part of a larger $486 million budget allocated to the “Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening.” 

Another $29 million was slated for “strengthening the political landscape in Bangladesh” – a country that witnessed political turmoil amid allegations of US ‘deep state’ involvement in the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. 

The Musk-led department revealed that other taxpayer-funded projects also faced the axe, including:

• $47 million for “improving learning outcomes in Asia”
• $40 million for a “gender equality and women empowerment hub”
• $32 million to the Prague Civil Society Centre
• $22 million to foster an “inclusive and participatory political process” in Moldova. 
• $20 million for “fiscal federalism” in Nepal
• $19 million for “biodiversity conservation” in Nepal
• $14 million for “social cohesion” in Mali
• $14 million for “improving public procurement” in Serbia
• $10 million for “Mozambique voluntary medical male circumcision”
• $9.7 million for UC Berkeley to develop “a cohort of Cambodian youth with enterprise-driven skills”
• $2.5 million for “inclusive democracies in Southern Africa”
• $2.3 million for “strengthening independent voices in Cambodia”
• $2 million to develop “sustainable recycling models” to “increase socio-economic cohesion among marginalised communities of Kosovo Roma, Ashkali, and Egypt”
• $1.5 million for “voter confidence” in Liberia

US taxpayer dollars were going to be spent on the following items, all which have been cancelled:
– $10M for “Mozambique voluntary medical male circumcision”
– $9.7M for UC Berkeley to develop “a cohort of Cambodian youth with enterprise driven skills”
– $2.3M for “strengthening…

— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) February 15, 2025

The sweeping cancellations, Mr Musk’s department stated, were part of efforts to improve government efficiency and ensure taxpayer dollars were not being spent on “questionable” overseas political activities.

BJP’s “External Interference” Response

The BJP termed the now-cancelled funding “external interference” in India’s electoral process.

“$21M for voter turnout? This definitely is external interference in India’s electoral process. Who gains from this? Not the ruling party for sure!” said BJP national spokesperson Amit Malviya in a statement 

Mr Malviya further alleged “systematic infiltration” of Indian institutions by foreign forces, particularly targeting billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros and his alleged network of global influence through his Open Society Foundation.

“Once again, it is George Soros, a known associate of the Congress party and the Gandhis, whose shadow looms over our electoral process,” Mr Malviya claimed.

Once again, it is George Soros, a known associate of the Congress party and the Gandhis, whose shadow looms over our electoral process.

In 2012, under the leadership of S.Y. Quraishi, the Election Commission signed an MoU with The International Foundation for Electoral… https://t.co/PO13Iyroee pic.twitter.com/gdgAQoDbPh

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) February 16, 2025

He also flagged the controversial 2012 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Election Commission of India and The International Foundation for Electoral Systems, an organisation linked to Mr Soros’s Open Society Foundation, which is primarily funded by USAID – the American federal body that oversees foreign aid and is facing massive budget cuts under Donald Trump’s presidency. 

“Ironically, those questioning the transparent and inclusive process of appointing India’s Election Commissioner-a first in our democracy, where previously the Prime Minister alone made the decision-had no hesitation in handing over the entire Election Commission of India to foreign operators,” Mr Malviya added.

According to Mr Malviya, the Congress-led UPA government “systematically enabled the infiltration of India’s institutions by forces opposed to the nation’s interests-those who seek to weaken India at every opportunity.”

The BJP alleges that foreign-backed civil society organisations and NGOs, particularly those linked to Mr Soros, have been working to influence Indian politics. 

The Bangladesh Situation 

The announcement that $29 million was marked for “strengthening the political landscape in Bangladesh” comes just days after President Trump addressed allegations of ‘deep state’ involvement in the recent political developments in Bangladesh. Asked during a joint press briefing with PM Modi whether the previous Biden administration had orchestrated a regime change, President Trump denied any such involvement.

“There was no role for our deep state. This is something the Prime Minister has been working on for a long time, for hundreds of years, frankly. I have been reading about it. I will leave Bangladesh to the Prime Minister,” President Trump said.

The response has done little to quell speculation. The ousting of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the subsequent rise of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus as the country’s interim leader have fueled claims of US-backed political manoeuvring.

Since Ms Hasina’s departure, diplomatic tensions between India and Bangladesh have escalated. Delhi has raised concerns about increasing attacks on religious minorities under the new regime.

\George Soros, founder and chairman of the Open Society Foundations, attends the European Council on Foreign Relations Annual Council Meeting, May 29, 2018, in Paris. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)
| Photo Credit: AP

Despite years of internal turmoil and changes, Open Society Foundations wants those in the human rights sector to know their movements will still receive support from the organization, its president Binaifer Nowrojee said Tuesday (December 10, 2024).

The foundations, founded by billionaire investor George Soros and now led by one of his sons, Alex Soros, have historically been one of the largest funders of human rights groups. But since 2021, they closed some of their programs and reduced their staff as part of a major internal reorganization.

In the process, many grantees and others in the human rights movement have waited anxiously to see where the chips would fall.

“A reimagination has taken place under the leadership of the new board chair at Open Society Foundations,” Nowrojee said, referring to Alex Soros.

“One of the reasons that we wanted to really reiterate in a large way, with balloons, et cetera, that we are still committed to human rights, is because of this fear that’s permeated with the changes that somehow Open Society Foundations is no longer going to be working on rights or equity or justice,” she said in advance of Human Rights Day, which the United Nations observes on Dec. 10.

Ms. Nowrojee offered few new details about OSF’s specific funding priorities, though earlier this year, the foundations committed $400 million toward green jobs and economic development.

Another new program focuses on protecting environmental defenders that will work in a few countries, like Colombia and the Democratic Republic of Congo and end after five years, said Sharan Srinvias, a director of programs at OSF.

“We did a survey of what other donors are supporting and in general, we saw that this is where the gap is,” he said of people who come under attack for defending land, water or other resources. “Especially bilateral donors find it much easier to support global organizations, who in turn are able to support prominent rights defenders in capital cities who are well known.”

One benefit of the limited time horizon, Mr. Srinvias said, is his team will mostly make grants of three or five years — longer than OSF’s typical grants — and offer grantees more flexibility. It will also have some funds to respond to emergencies for human rights defenders all over the world.

In 2020, OSF was the largest global human rights funder, giving out the most money overall and making the largest number of grants. That’s according to the Human Rights Funders Network, a membership organization of grantmakers that tracks philanthropic funding for human rights groups.

“When major funders adjust their priorities, it can have a ripple effect. Their decisions can dramatically impact the human rights movements they once supported, especially in regions where they’ve been a long-time champion,” HRFN wrote in its most recent Advancing Human Rights report from September.

To add to the atmosphere of uncertainty, another major human rights funder, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, announced earlier this year that it would end its work by 2028.

OSF’s board aims to employ 600 people in total around the world, Nowrojee said, which is down from a reported 800 in 2021.

Some of the changes OSF made in the last three years include winding down its global public health program and significantly diminishing its programs in the European Union. It spun off its area of work focused on Roma communities into a new organization and issued final grants to many of its partners.

“You never want philanthropy to just be doing the same thing. You want philanthropy to be getting out of stuff,” Ms. Nowrojee said. “And so there’s large areas of work where huge achievements were made, which we have retreated from, not because we don’t think that there’s value in them, but the movements themselves have strengthened.”

People who worked for OSF’s public health program and some of their grantees have spoken about its impacts over almost three decades through an oral history project led by University of Southern California Institute on Inequalities in Global Health and funded by OSF.

Jonathan Cohen, who led the OSF public health program and now holds positions at USC, told an interviewer with the oral history project about a decision in 2020 by OSF’s leadership to take funding from its programs and reallocate it to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“That claw-back in April should have been a sign, I think, to all of us that we were not long for this world,” Cohen said, of the public health program. “But of course, you don’t accept that. You fight. You resist. You try to keep your program, which is what we did until we couldn’t.”

Among the movements that OSF had supported under its public health program was the the Network of Sex Work Projects, a global coalition of sex worker groups. It formed in 1992 in part in response to the killing of sex workers who had HIV, said Ruth Morgan Thomas, who was NSWP’s global coordinator for many years, as part of the oral history project. She said she was saddened to see the closure of OSF’s public health work.

“I hope as it reemerges and its global strategy reemerges, it will retain its stance and support for promoting the realization of sex workers’ rights and inclusion in our societies,” she said.