The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) registration certificates of 1,811 associations have been cancelled from 2019 to 2021, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai shared the input in a written reply to a query of Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Ray."During the last three years from 2019 to 2021, the FCRA Registration Certificates of 1,811 associations have been cancelled under section 14 of The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (FCRA, 2010) due to violation of provisions of the FCRA, 2010," the Minister mentioned in the reply.
Whenever any inputs pertaining to the use of foreign contributions to spread terror activities are received by the MHA, Rai said appropriate action under the FCRA, 2010 and other extant laws and rules is taken.
Asked whether the FCRA licence cancellation caused a lack of funds for humanitarian assistance in the country, the Minister said "No, Sir."
The FCRA was enacted during the Emergency in 1976 amid apprehensions that foreign powers were interfering in India's affairs by pumping money into the country through independent organisations. These concerns were, in fact, even older -- they had been expressed in Parliament as early as in 1969.
The law sought to regulate foreign donations to individuals and associations so that they functioned "in a manner consistent with the values of a sovereign democratic republic".
An amended FCRA was enacted under the UPA government in 2010 to "consolidate the law" on the utilisation of foreign funds, and "to prohibit" their use for "any activities detrimental to the national interest".
The law was amended again by the current government in 2020, giving the government tighter control and scrutiny over the receipt and utilisation of foreign funds by NGOs.
Broadly, the FCRA requires every person or NGO seeking to receive foreign donations to be (i) registered under the Act, (ii) to open a bank account for the receipt of the foreign funds in the State Bank of India, Delhi, and (iii) to utilise those funds only for the purpose for which they have been received and as stipulated in the Act.
They are also required to file annual returns, and they must not transfer the funds to another NGO.
( With inputs from ANI )
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