The Union health ministry has launched a CBI inquiry at the regional branches of the Red Cross Society in 4 states and a Union Territory over multiple complaints of corruption and financial irregularities.

According to the concerned officials, the Union health ministry had received multiple complaints alleged corruption and financial irregularities at the regional branches of the Red Cross Society in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, Karnataka and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

In Tamil Nadu, the ministry officials said serious allegations in the functioning of the state branch were brought to the notice of the Governor of Tamil Nadu, who directed the National Headquarters (NHQ) of Indian Red Cross Society for approval under Prevention of Corruption Act to enable CBI to investigate.

However, the accused chairman and other officials of Red Cross Society Tamil Nadu branch obtained a stay from the High Court in Chennai, which stood vacated in June 2022. The chairman has since resigned and the matter is now with the CBI. The state managing committee has been dissolved and replaced with an ad-hoc committee.

In Kerala, the NHQ recommended dissolution of the managing committee, once a case of misappropriation of funds in 2019 allegedly by the chairman came to light. A new managing committee has been put in the place after an interim committee under a High Court judge was appointed just after the dissolution of the state committee.

In Assam, a delay in the election of the state managing committee and a land dispute led the managing body members to request the state Governor to intervene into this issue. The High Court ordered that elections will have to be held and a new state managing committee is in place now.

In Karnataka, a trust was registered in the name of Red Cross by the former chairman of the state branch, and several complaints of financial irregularities were lodged. An FIR has been lodged and now the trust stands dissolved, and CBI will take the case forward.

The history of the Red Cross movement

Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) is a member of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (IFRC). It is a voluntary humanitarian organization that provides relief in times of disasters/emergencies and promotes public health & care. It has a network of over 1100 branches throughout Bharat. The IRCS is closely associated with St John Ambulance. President of Bharat is the President and Union Health Minister is the Chairman of the IRCS.

The Red Cross movement was conceived by Swiss businessman Henri Dunant, a devout Christian, who was appalled at the lack of medical care for injured soldiers during an intra-European battle in Italy in 1859. As a result of discussions triggered by Dunant’s writings, a conference was held in Geneva in 1863 where an ‘International Committee for Relief to the Wounded’ (ICRW) was formed. The next year, the Swiss government held a conference of all European kingdoms and empires/countries that had emerged out of European colonialism like USA, Brazil and Mexico in 1864. There, the first Geneva Convention was adopted to create guidelines for treatment of war casualties. Soon, national societies started in Europe and in 1876, ICRW changed its name to ‘International Committee of the Red Cross’ (ICRC).

The Ottoman empire ratified this treaty in 1865, but they chose to call their organization the Turkish Red Crescent as they identified the cross as a Christian symbol. To counter Turkey’s objections, it was claimed that the cross emblem was formed by reversing the colours of the flag of Switzerland, to honor the country of the movement’s origin.

However, the Red Crescent was formally recognized in 1929 when the Geneva Conventions were amended, and it is today used by national societies of 33 Muslim-majority countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia etc. From 1924 to 1980, Iran used a Red Lion with Sun symbol for its national society, before shifting to the Red Crescent.

Later on, Israel requested the addition of a red Star of David, arguing that since Christian and Muslim emblems were recognized, the corresponding Jewish emblem should be as well. Realizing the need for a third, more neutral symbol and in order to accommodate Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s national emergency service, a third emblem known as the Red Crystal was adopted in 2005.

Though the IFRC claims that ‘neither emblem (cross and crescent) has any religious association’, the Red Crystal emblem was officially adopted in 2005 for states wishing to avoid any perceptions of religious significance.

Although a Wikipedia entry on the emblem topic says that “Hindu swastika design proposed after the Indian independence movement, but abandoned in favor of the Red Cross”, we could not find any corroboration of the same. An article that analyzes the origins of the movement and its symbols states, “in 1977, India also requested a symbol different to the cross or crescent, as did several other countries”.

Intriguingly, in 1922, a Red Swastika Society was formed in China, as part of an effort to build international relief and charitable institutions grounded in Asian traditional religions. Today, the Western world regards the Swastika with horror as a ‘Nazi symbol’, forgetting that what Hitler used is actually the Hakenkrauz (hooked cross). This misappropriation and distortion of a sacred Dharmic symbol, the swastika, is now finally being challenged.

The Red Swastika Society is believed to have had millions of members at one time, and provided relief in different parts of the world before being suppressed during the Maoist era. But it continues its philanthropic work to this today, from its headquarters in Taiwan and centers like one in Singapore.

Maybe it is time for Bharat to rename the Indian Red Cross Society as Indian Red Swastika Society, and push for its recognition with the IFRC?