New Delhi: The Home Ministry has stipulated that the NGOs that are receiving foreign funds under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) must inform the ministry if there is any change in office bearers of the NGO. The ministry released a circular today concerning this.
In the circular, the Home Ministry has demanded that every NGO must receive approval from the ministry before there is any change of guard of office bearers.
The ministry said that NGOs which are receiving foreign funds under section 11 and 12 of Foreign Regulation Act are bound to give information about their office bearers at the time of registration. However, the ministry said that this practice is not being followed once the registration is complete and many NGOs do not inform the ministry when there is change of office bearers.
Home Ministry has asked all NGOs to furnish the details of any change of office bearers within one month, failing which there will be penal action against those NGOs.
Since the Narendra Modi government took office in 2014, the NGOs which were receiving foreign funds came under the scanner and many restrictions were put in place to check the unrestricted flow of foreign money to these NGOs.
The government took stringent actions against those NGOs which were not complying with the rules and thousands of NGOs lost their FCRA approval. During 2016-17 there were around 23, 176 NGOs with FCRA registration, but currently number of NGOs with FCRA registration has come down to 12,000.
Last year the government introduced online portal to monitor those organizations which were receiving foreign funds. It made tabs on how much money was being pumped in to the country and where there being used and how. This online system helps officers at the Home Ministry to keep track of the money flowing into the country.
There are allegations that NGOs set up by minority communities are receiving large amount of foreign funds for conversions, political works against the government, lobbying and subversive activities.
Reports say that NGOs working in environmental issues have deliberately involved in protests and subversive activities. The NGOs with huge funding from foreign countries are allegedly working against the interest of India.
