Author:
Publication: Cyber News & Views
International
Date: March 1, 2004
URL: http://www.cnvi.us/dtdsp.php?date=01-03-2004&group=NW&sgroup=HD&seqno=13
In A move that has generated concern
among some quarters, the Government is ready to delegate power to regulate
foreign contributions to state governments.
The 1976 Foreign Contributions Regulation
Act (FCRA) will be rechristened the Foreign Contribution Management Act
(FCMA), with the district administration getting the right to decide what
foreign aid gets into the country.
The final touches have been given
by the Union Home and Law Ministries and are awaiting clearance by the
Cabinet. However, Parliament will have to approve the changes before the
FCMA comes into force.
The new Act has been drafted despite
stiff opposition from a section of the voluntary and Christian organisations,
as well as some of the donors.
The stakes are quite high. There
are around 25,000 organisations loosely defined as NGOs in the country,
which annually receive Rs 4,500 crore (almost $1 billion). Sixty per cent
of these funds go to religious, mostly Christian, organisations. The amount
of foreign funds coming in has been increasing 10-15 per cent every year.
Under the proposed Act, applicants
for foreign funds will now have to approach local collectors and district
magistrates. However, clearance for certain ''sensitive'' categories of
NGOs will be retained by the FCRA division in New Delhi.
'A disastrous move'
* Just another tool to tighten screws
on the voluntary sector. The Home Ministry wants control... This will be
disastrous
Anil Singh,
Voluntary Action Network India
* I envisage huge problems in states
like Gujarat and Bihar. While NGOs in the service sector may not suffer,
NGOs in the rights sector will
Alok Mukhopadhaya, Voluntary Health
Organisation of India
* Our organisation disburses Rs
20-30 crore every year and we fear there will be a wide gap between what
the Govt is professing and what it will practise...
Tom Palakudiyal,
Christian Aid
The move to delegate powers to the
district administration was initiated almost seven years ago, and has gained
momentum in the BJP's regime.
FCRA chief Pravin Srivastava told
The Indian Express: ''The new law is required to make the FCRA more transparent
and to introduce a better system of monitoring inflow of funds. Some organisations
did feel they were being targeted but we have tried to explain the rationale
of the move to them.''
Srivastava says they receive hundreds
of complaints of minor and serious FCRA frauds. Every year, hundreds of
NGOs are asked to seek fresh clearances before receiving foreign funds
while dozens others have their accounts frozen.
Adds Srivastava: ''With a staff
of around 25 people, it is impossible for the FCRA office in New Delhi
to verify the antecedents of NGOs. It will be far easier for the district
administrators to do so.''
The final FCMA draft was prepared
after a series of meetings between NGO groups and Home Minister L K Advani
and Law Minister Arun Jaitley.
