Jamia Milia Islamia among 6000 universities, NGOs taken off FCRA list

NEW DELHI: The Centre has taken 6000 organizations including universities and colleges out of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) list.

These include Oxfam India, Common Cause, Jamia Milia Islamia, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML), Kolkata-based Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, and the India Islamic Cultural Centre (IICC).

Others include Hamdard Education Society, Indian Institute of Technology (Hauz Khas), Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), National Foundation for Communal Harmony (NFCH), Delhi College of Engineering, Goa Football Association, Press Institute of India, The Lepra India Trust and Indian Institute of Management (Calcutta), Medical Council of India, Emmanuel Hospital Association, which runs over a dozen hospitals across India, Tuberculosis Association of India, Vishwa Dharamayatan, Maharishi Ayurveda Pratishthan, National Federation of Fishermen’s Cooperatives Ltd, Bhartiya Sanskriti Parishad, DAV College Trust, and Management Society, Godrej Memorial Trust, etc.

Around 5,789 organizations were taken out of the FCRA because they didn’t apply for renewal of licence, mandatory for receiving foreign funding, while licences of 179 organizations were canceled in violation of the act after scrutinizing their documents.

Till Friday, there were 22,797 FCRA registered organizations in the country, which has now come down to 16,829 after the removal of 5,968 organizations (including 5,789 which didn’t apply  and 179 rejected for violation) as on December 31, 2021, The Hindustan Times quoted unnamed MHA official

He said that as of January 1, the FCRA registration of a total of 16,829 organizations were “alive or active”, which means they are eligible to receive funds from abroad and use them for specified purposes.

The Centre amended the FCRA in 2020 allowing conducting an inquiry before renewal and giving organizations to surrender the license if an organization doesn’t want it.