Sakshi Education
By Srirangam Sriram, Sriram's IAS, New Delhi.
The rationale is given in the ‘Statement of Objects and Reasons’ of the amendment Bill:
That is basically for two reasons:
The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Act 2020 made a number of drastic changes to the law governing receipt of foreign contributions:
- It reduces the limit of usable foreign contribution for administrative expenses from 50% to 20%
- Prevents transfer of foreign funding by one NGO to another NGO.
- It enables the Centre to allow an NGO or association to surrender its FCRA certificate.
- All foreign-funded NGOs have to bank with a single State Bank of India (SBI) branch in New Delhi, to allow for strict monitoring.
- Public servants now cannot be part of organizations that receive foreign funds.
- The Act also gives the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) powers to suspend FCRA certificates for more than 180 days, without specifying an upper limit.
The rationale is given in the ‘Statement of Objects and Reasons’ of the amendment Bill:
- The annual inflow of foreign contribution has almost doubled between the years 2010 and 2019, but many recipients of foreign contribution have not utilized the same for the purpose for which they were registered or granted prior permission under the said Act.
- Many of them were also found wanting in ensuring basic statutory compliances such as submission of annual returns and maintenance of proper accounts. This has led to a situation where the Central Government had to cancel certificates of registration of more than 19,000 recipient organisations, including non-Governmental organisations, during the period between 2011 and 2019.
- Criminal investigations also had to be initiated against dozens of such non- Governmental organisations which indulged in outright misappropriation or mis-utilization of foreign contribution.
That is basically for two reasons:
- to achieve greater accountability through elaborate monitoring and
- Prevention of misuse of funds for suspect, anti-national activity.
Some NGOs have been fronts of racketeers engaged in siphoning off funds meant for public causes. There have been documented histories of foreign spies working through missionary organizations in border areas. But we cannot tar them all with the same brush.
There are many reasons for civil society objections.
There is a change that bans fund transfer from one NGO to another. This amendment is objected to as a major blow to NGOs working collaboratively on projects and programs. This may also place donors in difficulty.
There are many reasons for civil society objections.
There is a change that bans fund transfer from one NGO to another. This amendment is objected to as a major blow to NGOs working collaboratively on projects and programs. This may also place donors in difficulty.
Published date : 18 Nov 2020 01:24PM
