NGOs, Lost In The FCRA Maze Menaka Doshi 07:00 AM IST, 22 Jan 2022 https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/ngos-lost-in-the-fcra-maze Copyright © BloombergQuint
By one estimate, in this latest round, 5,844 non-governmental organisations saw their registrations under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 'deemed to be ceased' or, simply put, not renewed by the Indian government.
But, 62% of them were not actively receiving foreign funds or at least not large amounts of them. 3,604 received an average Rs 45,000 per annum in foreign contributions. Another 1,341 reported an average of Rs 4 lakh p.a. 790 reported an average of Rs 30 lakh p.a. The worst hit were 108 who were reporting an average of Rs 22 crore p.a.
the 1976 law mostly targeted foreign contributions to political organisations, the new law in 2010, shepherded by the UPA government, went after NGOs. It required FCRA registrations, earlier open-ended, to be renewed every five years.
Sidharth Luthra, senior advocate and former Additional Solicitor General of India, on the the wording of Section 12 (4) that lays down conditions for grant of FCRA certificate and prior permission to receive foreign contributions. " "The use of words ‘undesirable purposes’ and use of the term ‘reasonable’ as a prefix to activity or project without defining them add vagueness and are apt to lead to a misuse of discretion as there are no legal guiding factor on how it is to be understood,"