The Union home ministry on Tuesday told parliament it has rejected renewal of licences under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) of 466 non-government organisations (NGO) since 2020 as they did not fulfil the eligibility criteria under the law. It added there were 100 refusals in 2020, 341 in 2021 and 25 this year so far.
Oxfam India’s application for FCRA licence renewal was rejected in December 2021. The United Kingdom has raised the refusal with India. The Centre has also removed 5,789 organisations from FCRA ambit as they did not apply for renewal of licences, which are mandatory for receiving foreign funding.
Licences of 179 organisations were cancelled for violating the law after scrutiny of their documents. Officials said many of these organisations have filed for renewal of their licences but decisions remain pending. The government last week extended the deadline till June 30 for deciding on these applications.
The refusals to renew the licences in 341 cases in 2021 were the highest since 2020. About 6,000 odd organisations were refused renewals till December 31. “The final number of refusals will be known after June 30,” said an official, who did not want to be named.
