The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020, which seeks amendment to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, proposes to include “public servants” in the prohibited category and decrease administrative expenses through foreign funds by an organisation to 20 per cent from 50 per cent earlier.
“This bill is not to suppress anyone but to control those who try to suppress the people of the country.” Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai said adding the law does not breach the right of any organisation if they follow the law.
“We only take action against any organisation under the rule when they do not follow the law,” he added.
The Minister assured that amendment in the law is “not against any NGO as well as any religion”. “FCRA is a national internal security law…This amendment is necessary for Aatmanirbhar Bharat,” Rai said while clearing doubts of other MPs regarding the Bill.
The new Bill is also seen as a move that could adversely affect thousands of social workers including Catholic organizations.
The amendments are expected to sail through parliament because of the BJP's majority in the house. But it aims to "crush dissent," opposition Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said in the lower house of parliament.
His party colleagues and another opposition member belonging to Trinamool (Grassroots) Congress supported him.
"This is an example of big brother watching — that is, the central government keeping an eye on all those receiving foreign contributions. It is mainly directed at minority organizations or institutions," said Saugata Roy of Trinamool Congress.
Several Christian social workers in the northeast have also decried the government's move, saying that FCRA norms have been stringent in India. The government has "misused" it to discriminate against charity organizations run by religious minorities.
Three years ago, an influential US-based Christian donor called Compassion International was forced to stop its Indian operations. Since it came to power in 2014, the Modi government has been enforcing FCRA provisions rather harshly, said Jewel Marak, a social worker in Shillong in Meghalaya.
In 2018, Baptist World Alliance chief Reverend Paul Msiza could not attend the 150 years of celebrations of Christianity in the Garo Hills in Meghalaya after the government denied him a visa.
The Modi government canceled the FCRA licenses of about 10,000 organizations in 2015 alone. It included funding agency Ford Foundation and the global environmentalist group Greenpeace.
However, leading Catholic organizations were cautious in their reactions to the proposals, saying it was premature to comment on them.
Father Paul Moonjely, director of Caritas India, told UCA News that "it was too early to comment because we are not sure what the new FCRA bill has."
"We have to study, consult our expert and legal advisor and follow accordingly. It is a very sensitive issue, so better we wait," said Father Moonjely, the head of Caritas India, the social service wing of the Catholic Bishops' Conference and the biggest networked non-governmental agency in India.
Amitabh Behar, CEO of Oxfam India, is against the proposal. "Devastating blow. Red carpet welcomes for foreign investments for businesses but stifling and squeezing the non-profit sector by creating new hurdles for foreign aid which could help lift people out of poverty, ill health and illiteracy," he tweeted.
A social worker in Christian-dominated Nagaland state said the government exhibits hypocrisy. "They want foreign corporate investment but no charity?"
"This law is against Christians and Muslims. This is a move to target people who speak against the government. It seeks to scare away the common people who dare to vote against the BJP," he said.
A government statement explaining the amendment's reasons said the annual inflow of foreign contributions has almost doubled between 2010 and 2019. "But many recipients of foreign contributions have not utilized the same for the purpose for which they were registered or granted prior permission" under the law.
A right-wing Hindu intellectual, S. Gurumurthy, said that "the so-called social entrepreneurs can't get dollar-rated salaries, five-star accommodation and executive class travel and a posh office and secretariat."
The Lok Sabha on Sept 21 unanimously passed a Bill making Aadhaar mandatory for registration of organisations receiving foreign funds and to give the government powers to stop utilisation of foreign funds by an organisation through a “summary enquiry”.
A right wing intellectual, S Gurumurthy said: "The so called Social Entrepreneurs can’t get dollar rated
salaries, five star stay and execute class travel and posh office and secretariat".
In the past, several right wing organisations like VHP and Bajrang Dal have said that some Christian
NGOs have indulged in illegal conversions and abused the foreign funding and also the permission to run
such organisations
Of course the Christian NGOs and churches have always denied indulging in forced conversions of Hindus
or others in this multi religious country.
Congress MP Tewari says: "FCRA provisions need to be relaxed rather than made stringent".
He further said - "the United Nations Special Rapporteur on rights to freedom of peaceful assembly has
stated that the FCRA provisions and rules are not in conformity with international
law, principles, and standards".
In addition, he says, "Clause 3 of the Bill which inserts a new Section in place of the old one violates the
Wednesbury Principle, which is intrinsic to Article 14 of the Constitution of India".
Predictably, some Christian organisations and others have reacted adversely to the government move.
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