A day after the Income Tax department raided Delhi-based think-tank, Centre for Policy Research’s (CPR) office, the organisation put out a statement saying that they extended full cooperation during the raid and are “confident that we (they) have done nothing wrong.”
A statement was released by the President and Chief Executive of CPR Yamini Aiyar on Twitter.
“We hold ourselves to the highest standards of compliance and are confident that we have done nothing wrong. We are committed to working with authorities to address any questions they might have,” the statement from CPR read.
They further said, “We are committed to our mission to provide rigorous research to policy making in India.”
On September 7 and 8, the Income Tax Department searched the offices of Centre for Policy Research.
The action is “connected to” simultaneous raids in Haryana, Maharashtra, and Gujarat, among other places, “over funding of more than 20 registered but non-recognised political parties, sources told NDTV.
The CPR governing board is currently chaired by Meenakshi Gopinath, a political scientist who taught at Jawaharlal Nehru University and was the principal of Lady Shri Ram College in New Delhi.
Concerning funding, the think tank states on its website that because it is recognised by the government of India as a not-for-profit society, contributions to it are tax-exempt. “CPR receives grants from a variety of domestic and international sources,” it says, adding that “a full accounting of annual finances and grants” is available on the website.
It was founded in 1973 and describes itself as “a non-partisan, independent institution dedicated to conducting research that contributes to high-quality scholarship, better policies, and a more robust public discourse about issues affecting Indian life.”
