In News

Recently, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the Missionaries of Charity’s application for renewal of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (amended in 2020) registration was rejected on December 25 for not meeting eligibility conditions and after “some adverse inputs” were received.

Why this move?

Licences of non-governmental organisations are routinely checked and suspended if the MHA finds any irregularities regarding their working in the country.

NGOs Funding

• More than four-fifths of the applications of the 22,000-plus NGOs that have sought renewal have yet to be scrutinised. Unless the Government extends the deadline by midnight, all of them stand to lose their ability to access international funding in the new year.
• The NGOs have to prove not only that the source of funding and their usage of the funds is appropriate but also establish that their work does not qualify as harmful to “public interest” or “national security” — ambiguous terms that are left to MHA officials to define.
• So, as many as 2,000 NGOs under scrutiny may be denied a renewal of their FCRA licence.

Organizations with suspended FCRA regulation:

• Prominent names among nearly 20,000 NGOs to have lost their foreign-funding licences since 2014 include Amnesty International, Greenpeace India, People’s Watch, European Climate Foundation, Compassion International and the Gates Foundation-backed Public Health Foundation of India.

Challenges associated with decisions

• The Government gives a more transparent account of its actions against NGOs.
• Like those of China and Russia which have used their NGO laws to shut down dissent and criticism.
• Given the relative ease with which political parties are able to access foreign funds for their campaigns through electoral bonds, under the same FCRA that seeks to restrict funds to NGOs.

Way forward

• The government needs to bring in more transparency in the procedures adopted in banning the organizations.
• Issue of banning foreign funds for NGOs is a very serious and needs to discussed with all stakeholders.
• But at the same time it is very important to see that these NGOs are working round the clock at the time of Pandemic.