Kicking hard to illegal foreign funders, Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licenses of around 14,000 NGOs have been cancelled by the government after they were found to be allegedly violating various provisions of the FCRA, thus barring them from receiving foreign funds.
The Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha said, “registration of more than 14000 Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have been cancelled during the last four years under The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. “
“The complaints received in this regard from the NGOs are examined and redressed in Ministry as per the provisions of the FCRA, 2010 and the Rules made there under,” Rijiju added.
Notably, the government has integrated 32 banks with the Public Financial Management System, which can monitor the receipt and use of foreign funds. The order comes amid several measures the Ministry of Home Affairs has taken to crack down on thousands of NGOs that receive funds from abroad. It has also cancelled some of their licenses for violating the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.
Nearly 5,000 NGOs were barred by the government from receiving foreign funding after cancellation of their licences since April 2017, the Lok Sabha was informed on March 20.
The Government said during the last five financial years, Directorate of Enforcement has registered cases against 2,745 companies under the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999, out of which 537 cases have been closed and 183 show cause notices have been issued.
Further, cases against 289 companies have also been registered under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
Courtesy: NewsBharati
