66 per cent NGOs under FCRA cannot receive foreign funds

A total of 66 percent of NGOs registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulations Act (FCRA) from across India cannot receive foreign funds as their license have either been canceled or expired.

New Delhi: A total of 66 per cent of Non-Governmental Organization (NGOs) registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulations Act (FCRA) from across India cannot receive foreign funds as their license has either been cancelled or expired.

"As on May 2022, out of the 50,204 NGOs registered under the FCRA, licenses of 20,679 organizations have been cancelled, the license of 12,654 organizations deemed to have expired while 16,871 NGOs remained active under the FCRA. It implies that out of the 50,204 NGOs registered under the FCRA, about 33,333 NGOs (over 66 per cent) can't receive funds," said Suhas Chakma, director of the Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG).

On Tuesday, on the occasion of the enactment of the FCRA (Amendment), 2020, the RRAG stated that foreign funding to political parties under the Electoral Bond Scheme 2018 without any security is more "detrimental to the national interest and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto" than funding to the voluntary sector.

Under the Electoral Bond Scheme, a citizen of India or a body incorporated in India including by the foreigners are eligible to purchase the bond of the political parties contrary to Section 2(g) of the FCRA, Chakma said. On June 30 this year, the central government issued the latest notification on the electoral bonds. A total of 15 per cent of Christian NGOs (3152) lost their FCRA license.

"When the denial of renewal of the FCRA licenses came up in January this year, out of the 2,257 religious nature NGOs who lost their licenses, the licenses of 1,626 NGOs were registered with the intent of running social programmes aligned to for Christian religion," the human rights watchdog (RRAG) said.

It further said that the targeting of the voluntary sector led to the fall of foreign funding from Rs 16,490 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 2,190 crore in 2019-20.