India cancels FCRA licences of 20,000 NGOs for violating norms

NEW DELHI (INDIA): Licences of around 20,000 of 33,000 NGOs have been cancelled by the government of India after they were found to be allegedly violating various provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), thus barring them from receiving foreign funds.nnThis was conveyed to home minister Rajnath Singh during a review of the Foreigners Division of the Home Ministry.nnGiving a detailed presentation, home Ministry officials said after cancellation of FCRA licences of around 20,000 NGOs, only 13,000 NGOs in the country are legally valid now.nnThe exercise of reviewing the working of the NGOs was started about a year ago and the process is still continuing, official sources said.nnAmong the 13,000 valid NGOs, around 3,000 have submitted applications for renewal while Ministry of Home Affairs received 2,000 new applications for registration under the FCRA for the first time.nnAn additional 300 NGOs are currently under prior permission category but not registered under the FCRA.However, FCRA licences of around 16 NGOs were renewed by the home ministry under the “automatic” route and all the cases were reviewed thoroughly. Except in two cases, 14 NGOs have been put under the prior permission category while papers of the two NGOs are under examination.nnAs per FCRA, if an NGO is put under prior permission category, it is barred to receive foreign funding from abroad without taking permission from the Home ministry.nn nnSource: Press Trust of Indiann