Author: Pramod Kumar Singh
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: September 19, 2006
If the Foreign Contribution (Management and Control) Bill, 2005 - referred to the Group of Ministers (GoM) by the Union Cabinet - comes into effect, Christian missionaries and other organisations accepting foreign contributions for mass conversions in India will come under the Government's scanner. The Ministry of Home Affairs has put the proposed Bill in the public domain for comments. The Bill consolidates the law relating to the acceptance and utilisation of foreign contribution or foreign hospitality by individuals, associations or companies and prohibits acceptance and utilisation of foreign contributions or hospitality for conversions and anti-national activities.
Religious conversions have been the major cause of concern for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government. The provision to stop religious groups from conversion was missing from the earlier version of Foreign Contribution of Regulation Act (FCRA) 1976.
In its agenda paper prepared by the Government for the National Integration Council (NIC) held in September 2005, the Union Government had attributed conversions as a major cause for disturbing communal harmony in the country.
The note prepared by the MHA for the NIC meet Delhi had then enumerated some sensitive incidents. The MHA had cited the events on the occasion of the annual religious assembly of the Emmanuel Bible Institute Samiti, Kota in Rajasthan. Missionaries and other religious organisations were found accepting large foreign contributions to further their agenda.
The GoM recommended that only such groups and organisations be allowed to receive foreign contributions, "who have not indulged in activities aimed at conversion through inducement or force, either directly or indirectly, from one religious faith to another."
It further adds that a pre-condition to receive foreign funds will be that a group or organisation has not created communal tension or disharmony in any specified area or any other part of the country, has not been found guilty of diversion or misutilisation of its funds or is not engaged or likely to engage to propagate sedition or advocate violent methods to achieve its ends.
The implementing authority should insure that the group or organisation is not likely to use the foreign contribution for personal use or divert it for undesirable purposes.
In recent years, the issue of conversion and re-conversion has also become a major cause of communal tension in some parts of the country. Allegations pertaining to forced conversions and re-conversions and subsequent communal tensions have surfaced from time to time. In order to deal with such situations, States like Arunachal Pradesh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have already passed legislation to regulate conversion by coercive means or offering allurements.