Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act

News:Union home ministry has announced several changes in the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act,2010.

Facts:

What are the changes made?

• Government has made it mandatory for each functionary and member of a nongovernmental organization(NGO) seeking registration under FCRA to file an affidavit declaring that the individual has not been involved in any act of religious conversion or prosecuted for communal disharmony. 
• Earlier under the 2011 norms,only top officials had to make this declaration while seeking Ministry of Home affairs permission to receive foreign funds under FCRA.

Additional information:

About Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act:

• The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act,2010 and rules framed under the FCRA regulate the receipt and usage of foreign contribution by non-governmental organisations(NGOs) in India.
• The objective of the Act is to prevent use of foreign contribution or foreign hospitality for any activity detrimental to the national interest.

Salient Features of the Act:

• The act defines the term ‘foreign contribution’ to include currency, article other than gift for personal use and securities received from foreign sources. 
• The act says that organizations having a definite cultural, economic, educational, religious or social programme are entitled to accept foreign contributions under the FCRA. 
• Such contributions may be accepted only with the approval of the Government of India through the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• The act also requires non-governmental organisations(NGOs) to register themselves every five years.
• The act prohibits acceptance and use of foreign contribution or foreign hospitality by certain specified category of persons such as a candidate for election, judge, journalist, columnist, newspaper publication, cartoonist among others.
• The act also mandates that foreign contributions should be utilized only for the purpose for which they were received.It also imposes restrictions on the transfer of contributions.