UPSC Articles
Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA)
Part of: GS Prelims and Mains II and III – Polity, law, fundamental rights, NGOs; Economy
What is FCRA?
- It is a law enacted by Parliament to regulate foreign contribution (especially monetary donation) provided by certain individuals or associations to NGOs and others within India.
- FCRA Act was originally passed in 1976 and majorly modified in 2010.
- The government has used the act over the years to freeze bank accounts of certain NGOs who it found were affecting India’s national interest for wrong purposes.
Do you know?
- As per the FCRA Act 2010, all NGOs are required to be registered under the Act to receive foreign funding.
- According to terms stipulated in the FCRA, an organisation cannot receive foreign funding unless it is registered under the 2010 Act, except when it gets government approval for a specific project.
- Under the FCRA Act, registered NGOs can receive foreign contribution for five purposes — social, educational, religious, economic and cultural.
Important value additions:
NGOs
- The term ‘NGO’ is used to describe a body that is neither part of a government nor a conventional for-profit business organisations
- Groups of ordinary citizens that are involved in a wide range of activities that may have charitable, social, political, religious or other interests.
- Helpful in implementing government schemes at the grassroots.
- In India, NGOs can be registered under Indian Societies Registration Act, 1860, Religious Endowments Act,1863, Indian Trusts Act, etc.
- India has the largest number of active NGOs in the world.
- NGOs receive funds from abroad, if they are registered with the Home Ministry under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA).
