FCRA licence of Centre for Policy Research suspended: Report

NGOs receiving foreign funds in India should be registered with the Home Ministry which gives a unique FCRA number. The FCRA needs to be renewed every five years

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The
Foreign
Contribution
Regulation
Act
(FCRA)
licence
of
Delhi
-based
public
think-tank,
Centre
for
Policy
Research
(CPR)
has
been
suspended
by
the
Central
Government.

The
FCRA
licence
of
the
CPR
was
under
scrutiny
following
the
income
tax
raids
that
were
conducted
last
September.
The
raids
were
conducted
on
Oxfam
India
as
well.

As
per
the

Economic
Times
()
report,
CPR’s
licence
was
revoked
due
to
non-compliance
with
FCRA
rules.
CPR
had
filed
for
the
renewal
of
its
licence.

The
report
while
citing
officials
said
that
the
modalities
are
being
worked
out
for
CPR
to
utilise
the
funds
received
in
the
FCRA
account.
As
per
the
CPR
filing,
during
the
period
of
October
2022
and
December
2022,
funds
amounting
to
the
tune
of
Rs
10.1
crore
were
received
from
the
Bill
and
Melinda
Gates
Foundation,
University
of
Pennsylvania,
the
World
Resources
Institute
and
Duke
University.

One
of
the
main
reasons
that
led
to
the
suspension
of
the
licence
was
due
to
the
findings
during
the
IT
raids.
The
Ministry
had
sought
clarification
and
documentation
pertaining
to
FCRA
funds
received
by
CPR.

Under
FCRA
licences
of
1,811
organisations
have
been
cancelled:
MHA

In
September
last
year,
Income
Tax
raids
were
conducted
on
the
Centre
for
Policy
Research.
CPR
is
headed
by
Yamini
Aiyar,
the
daughter
of
Congress
leader,
Mani
Shankar
Aiyar.

CPR
on
its
website
states
that
it
is
recognised
as
a
not-for-profit
society
by
the
government
of
India
and
contributions
to
it
are
‘tax
exempt.’

“CPR
receives
grants
from
a
variety
of
domestic
and
international
sources,
including
foundations,
corporate
philanthropy,
governments,
and
multilateral
agencies,”
the
note
also
states.

The
ET
report
also
said
that
the
review
and
and
renewal
applications
of
many
NGOs
are
under
process
and
licences
of
more
than
200
NGOs
have
been
revoked
or
have
lapsed
in
the
past
six
months.

This
year,
over
6,000
NGOs
have
approached
the
Supreme
Court
after
their
licences
were
withdrawn.
Their
pleas
were
however
rejected
by
the
Supreme
Court.

In
order
to
receive
foreign
grants,
NGOs
must
register
with
the
Home
Ministry,
which
assigns
a
FCRA
registration
number,
which
would
be
renewed
every
five
years.