The foreign hand: The Hindu editorial on FCRA amendments
4 years, 6 months ago

The foreign hand: The Hindu editorial on FCRA amendments

The Hindu  

Amendments to the FCRA, drafted without consultation with stakeholders and passed with limited discussion in Parliament, further clip the wings of India’s battered civil society. New regulations put onerous conditions on civil society organisations, and educational and research institutions that have partnerships, including of a financial nature, with foreign entities. Passions overwhelm rationality in conversations on foreign influences, and it could well be true that a portion of such foreign assistance may be reaching the wrong hands. To be fair, this approach predates the current government, and it was during the UPA that an official report even quantified the GDP losses allegedly caused by environmental NGOs, insinuating a foreign conspiracy against India.

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History of this topic

PFI Ban and After: Govt Must Plug FCRA Loopholes to Block Foreign Funding to Anti-India Outfits
2 years, 5 months ago

PFI Ban and After: Govt Must Plug FCRA Loopholes to Block Foreign Funding to Anti-India Outfits

News 18  

The Government of India raiding the Popular Front of India has sent shockwaves among Islamist and other anti-India outfits. The PFI exploited two major loopholes in the Foreign Contribution Act, 2010 to get funding from foreign sources for subverting India’s unity, integrity, sovereignty, and social and economic stability of the country. This explanation to Section 2 says, “Any amount received, …

When less is not more – FCRA amendments and Supreme Court’s rights jurisprudence
2 years, 9 months ago

When less is not more – FCRA amendments and Supreme Court’s rights jurisprudence

Hindustan Times  

Quite often, judgments of the Supreme Court criticised for being lengthy and cumbersome. The SC’s recent judgment in Noel Harper v. Union of India, affirming the validity of certain amendments to the Foreign Contribution Act, 2010, despite being of decent length, could have fared better on both counts. The FCRA regulates acceptance and utilisation of foreign contribution or foreign hospitality …

Supreme Court Upholds FCRA(Amendment)Act Of 2020
2 years, 11 months ago

Supreme Court Upholds FCRA(Amendment)Act Of 2020

Live Law  

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the 2020 amendments made to the Foreign Contribution Act 2010, which introduced restrictions in the handling of foreign contributions by organizations in India.A bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar pronounced the judgment in PILs challenging the Foreign Contriubtion Amendment Act 2020 Act 2010, which introduced restrictions in the handling of …

Centre has justified FCRA non-renewal for NGOs in Supreme Court
3 years, 2 months ago

Centre has justified FCRA non-renewal for NGOs in Supreme Court

The Hindu  

The non-renewal of the Foreign Contribution Act registration of the Missionaries of Charity citing “audit irregularities” comes shortly after a line of argument made by the government in the Supreme Court recently that NGOs have no fundamental right to receive “unbridled foreign contributions”. Foreign contributions, considering their nature and vast expanse of abuse, area tightly and controlled means.” the MHA …

Complaints received against 18 NGOs in Andhra Pradesh about alleged conversion: Govt to Lok Sabha
3 years, 3 months ago

Complaints received against 18 NGOs in Andhra Pradesh about alleged conversion: Govt to Lok Sabha

India TV News  

Highlights FCRA provides a legal mechanism to deal with violation of its provisions Complaints received against alleged indulgence in conversion to Christianity Complaints have been received against 18 FCRA-registered NGOs in Andhra Pradesh regarding their alleged indulgence in conversion to Christianity through "inducements, allurement and misrepresentation" since 2018, Union Minister Nityanand Rai said in Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The minister …

FCRA Amendments Aim To Prevent Foreign Powers Interfering With Internal Polity, Diversion Of Funds By NGO : Centre Tells Supreme Court
3 years, 5 months ago

FCRA Amendments Aim To Prevent Foreign Powers Interfering With Internal Polity, Diversion Of Funds By NGO : Centre Tells Supreme Court

Live Law  

Defending the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act 2020, the Central Government has said that the changes in the law were necessary to prevent malpractices and diversion of funds by NGOs.The Centre said that the amendments were necessary in view of the fact that some foreign powers and foreign state and non-state actors continue to take up activities that amount to interference …

India tightens oversight on funds received by NGOs
4 years, 1 month ago

India tightens oversight on funds received by NGOs

The Hindu  

The Ministry of Home Affairs has laid down a charter for banks which says that “donations received in Indian rupees” by non-governmental organisations and associations from “any foreign source even if that source is located in India at the time of such donation” should be treated as “foreign contribution”. Last September, the Foreign Contribution Act, 2010, was amended by Parliament …

Indian law on foreign funding a ‘tool to silence’ civil society
4 years, 4 months ago

Indian law on foreign funding a ‘tool to silence’ civil society

Al Jazeera  

International Commission of Jurists says amendment to FCRA law will ‘obstruct’ the work of NGOs in the country. Rights defenders have criticised an amendment to the Indian Foreign Contributions Act, which oversees foreign funding to NGOs, with International Commission of Jurists saying it is “a tool to silence” civil society organisations in the South Asia nation. In a briefing paper …

Choking the NGO sector: The FCRA 2020 amendment deepens a licence raj that could throttle civil society
4 years, 5 months ago

Choking the NGO sector: The FCRA 2020 amendment deepens a licence raj that could throttle civil society

Times of India  

The passing of Foreign Contribution Amendment Bill, 2020, in both Houses of Parliament, without any real deliberations, poses deeply troubling and ominous messages for civil society and democracy in India. Before the amendment, the FCRA organisation needed a FCRA number or prior permission to receive money from a foreign source; the money can come to a designated account, which is …

Don’t weaponize the foreign contribution law
4 years, 6 months ago

Don’t weaponize the foreign contribution law

Live Mint  

The central government of India has passed the Foreign Contribution Amendment Bill, 2020, and thereby made significant changes to the Foreign Contribution Act, or FCRA. The greatest uptick, however, has been in restrictions on international funding, which now account for 35 percent of all restrictive measures.” Rutzen goes on: “The justifications that governments use for enacting restrictions on CSOs fall …

The Hindu Explains | What is Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, and how does it control donations?
4 years, 6 months ago

The Hindu Explains | What is Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, and how does it control donations?

The Hindu  

September 13, 2020 12:42 am | Updated 09:57 am IST The story so far: The licences of 13 non-governmental organisations have been suspended under the Foreign Contribution Act, 2010, this year. However, in 2017 the MHA, through the Finance Bill route, amended the 1976-repealed FCRA law paving the way for political parties to receive funds from the Indian subsidiary of …

How foreign ‘donations’ pose a serious danger to our national security
5 years, 1 month ago

How foreign ‘donations’ pose a serious danger to our national security

Op India  

There is no such thing as free lunch. Large amount of funding for the so called non-profit or non-commercial sector in India is generated as overseas ‘donations’ by various organizations that are affiliated to foreign State and non-State actors. 2,08,096 Crores of foreign ‘donations’ has been pumped into the country, in the last two decades, by foreign sources through official …

Government tightens the noose on foreign funded NGOs
5 years, 6 months ago

Government tightens the noose on foreign funded NGOs

Op India  

In order to put a curb on the rampant religious conversions associated with many foreign-funded NGOs, the Home Ministry has modified rules for foreign funding for key officials and members of the NGOs receiving overseas funds. Addressing a key issue of religious evangelism carried out by many foreign-funded NGOs, the government issued a notification announcing the changes made in the …

Charity under threat
7 years, 11 months ago

Charity under threat

The Hindu  

FAITH-BASED charities that are not aligned to the interests of the ruling dispensation have been under threat of closure in India in the past three years. Santiago Jimmy Mellado, president and chief executive officer of CI, said: “When the new administration came in three years ago, it began to scrutinise all the work done by NGOs in the country. Our …

BJP, Congress flouted foreign funding norms: Delhi HC
10 years, 11 months ago

BJP, Congress flouted foreign funding norms: Delhi HC

The Hindu  

The Delhi High Court on Friday asked the Centre and the Election Commission to take appropriate action against the Congress and the BJP for allegedly accepting foreign funds in violation of the law. A division bench of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Jayant Nath held that the two national political parties flouted the norms of the Foreign Contribution Act, rejecting …

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