Over 12,000 Indian NGOs lose foreign funding licence

New Delhi: Licenses under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 2010, required to receive foreign funding, of more than 6,003 non-profit organisations (NGOs) have been ceased, the Union home ministry showed in its updated list.
The dashboard also listed 12,580 organisations who cease to have their FCRA registration as on January 1. But officials indicated this was a cumulative list and includes organisations which lost their FCRA registration under similar conditions in previous years. The removal of 6,003 organisations has brought down the list of FCRA registered organisations in the country from 22,832 to 16,829, according to the home ministry’s dashboard of organisations considered “alive or active”.
Ministry officials also said that reminders had been sent to make the application before the deadline but many had not done so. The applications of 179 others, including Mother Teresa's charity, have been rejected, and scrutiny of the other applications is ongoing, the Home Ministry said.
The list of entities whose FCRA licenses are deemed to have been seized includes Medical Council of India, Oxfam India, Common Cause, Emmanuel Hospital Association, and Tuberculosis Association Of India, Asha Kiran Rural Educational Development Society, Chaitanya Rural Development Society,
among others.
Hamdard Education Society, Delhi School Of Social Work Society, Jamia Milia Islamia, DAV College Trust and Management Society, Kolkata-based Satajit Ray Film and Television Institute, India Islamic Cultural Centre (IICC), Nuclear Science Centre in JNU, India Habitat Centre, Lady Shri Ram College for Women are also on the list.
Mother Teresa's charity confirmed their renewal had been rejected, and that "we have asked our centres not to operate any of the FC (foreign contributions) accounts until the matter is resolved". Controversy erupted after it emerged that accounts belonging to the Kolkata-headquartered charitable group, including those with the State Bank of India, had been frozen.
Opposition leaders, including Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, ripped into the government, particularly for 'freezing' the accounts on Christmas Day. Father Dominic Gomes, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Calcutta, also hit out at what he said was a "dastardly attack on the Christian community".
Refusing FCRA clearance has been listed by critics of the government as its way of suppressing organisations whose work or officials are not considered supportive enough of the centre. The validity of FCRA registration of some NGOs that were expiring between September 29, 2020, and September 30, 2021, was extended till March 31, 2022.