{"id":43399,"date":"2024-11-12T09:01:33","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T03:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=43399"},"modified":"2025-05-06T02:16:30","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T20:46:30","slug":"ngos-to-lose-fcra-license-over-conversions-anti-development-acts-mha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/ngos-to-lose-fcra-license-over-conversions-anti-development-acts-mha\/","title":{"rendered":"NGOs to Lose FCRA License over Conversions, Anti-Development Acts: MHA"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>About Foreign Contribution Regulation Act<\/li>\n<li>Major Provisions Under the FCRA, 2010<\/li>\n<li>For What Purpose a Registered NGO can Receive Foreign Contributions?<\/li>\n<li>Who Cannot Receive Foreign Funding?<\/li>\n<li>Foreign Contribution Regulation Amendment Act, 2020<\/li>\n<li>News Summary<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Why in the News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Central Government announced that any NGO involved in anti-developmental activities and forced religious conversions will face cancellation of their registration under Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 2010.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>About Foreign Contribution Regulation Act<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The FCRA was first enacted in 1976 in order to maintain strict control over voluntary organisations and political associations that received foreign fundings.<\/li>\n<li>In 2010, the Act was repealed and a new Act with strict provisions was enacted.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Objective:<\/strong> To regulate foreign donations and ensure that such contributions do not adversely affect internal security of India.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Nodal Ministry:<\/strong> Ministry of Home Affairs<\/li>\n<li>It is applicable to all associations, groups and NGOs which intend to receive foreign donations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Major Provisions Under the FCRA, 2010<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It is <strong>mandatory for all such NGOs to register themselves under the FCRA<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The registration is initially valid for five years and it can be renewed subsequently if they comply with all norms.<\/li>\n<li>For such NGOs, <strong>filing of annual returns<\/strong>, on the lines of Income Tax, is compulsory.<\/li>\n<li>In 2015, the MHA notified new rules, which required NGOs to give an undertaking that the acceptance of foreign funds:\n<ul>\n<li>Does not affect the sovereignty and integrity of India<\/li>\n<li>Does not impact the friendly relations with any foreign state<\/li>\n<li>Does not disrupt communal harmony<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>All such NGOs would have to operate accounts in either nationalised or private banks which have core banking facilities to allow security agencies access on a real time basis.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>For What Purpose a Registered NGO can Receive Foreign Contributions?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>A registered NGO can receive foreign contributions for the following five purposes:\n<ul>\n<li>Social<\/li>\n<li>Educational<\/li>\n<li>Religious<\/li>\n<li>Economic<\/li>\n<li>Cultural<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Who Cannot Receive Foreign Funding?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Following individuals\/organizations cannot receive foreign funding:\n<ul>\n<li>A candidate contesting elections<\/li>\n<li>Media persons<\/li>\n<li>Judges<\/li>\n<li>Government employees<\/li>\n<li>Political parties<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Foreign Contribution Regulation Amendment Act, 2020<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Amendment adds Public Servants to the list of people who cannot accept foreign contributions.<\/li>\n<li>It <strong>prohibits the transfer of foreign contribution to any other person<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>The term \u2018person\u2019 under the Act includes an individual, an association, or a registered company.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>It makes it <strong>mandatory to provide Aadhar number<\/strong> for any person seeking prior permission, registration or renewal of registration.<\/li>\n<li>It provides that the government may conduct an inquiry before renewing the certificate.<\/li>\n<li>It adds a provision allowing the central government to permit a person to surrender their registration certificate.<\/li>\n<li>It makes it mandatory for all NGOs receiving foreign aid to <strong>open an account in State Bank of India\u2019s New Delhi branch<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>News Summary<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Indian government announced that NGOs involved in anti-development activities, forced religious conversions, or actions affecting social or religious harmony may have their Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) registration cancelled.<\/li>\n<li>The notice states that NGOs using foreign funds for personal gain, undesirable activities, or with links to terrorist or radical groups will also face cancellation.<\/li>\n<li>Additionally, NGOs not using foreign funds according to their stated objectives may lose their FCRA registration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1. What is a Political Pressure Group?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Political pressure groups are organisations set up in order to influence government policy-making, legislation, and public opinion.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2. Are NGOs exempted from GST?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>&#8216;Charitable Activities&#8217; A special exemption is provided in GST for NGOs registered under sec. 12AA. They need not pay any GST on &#8216;charitable activities&#8217;. Similarly, they need not pay GST even if they charge fees for training or coaching in arts, culture or sports.<\/p>\n<p><strong>News: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/news\/india\/fcra-licence-of-ngos-to-be-cancelled-if-involved-in-religious-conversion-anti-development-acts-mha\/articleshow\/115186983.cms?from=mdr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NGOs to lose FCRA licence over conversions, anti-development acts: MHA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FCRA was first enacted in 1976 in order to maintain strict control over voluntary organisations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":43400,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-43399","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}