Body to help CRPF given FCRA licence

nNEW DELHI: The Centre’s “Bharat ke Veer” platform that collect funds for families of central paramilitary personnel who are killed in action has been given permission by the ministry of home affairs to receive funding from abroad under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), people familiar with the development said.

The trust, launched by senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadera and then home minister Rajnath Singh and actor Akshay Kumar on April 9, 2017, has received Rs 332 crore in donations till date, largely contributions by individuals within India.

A large number of non-resident Indians (NRIS), too, expressed their desire to contribute to the platform to help the families of troopers killed in the line of duty. After the Pulwama suicide bombing on February 14, 2019, in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed, many NRIS and foreign nationals approached Indian authorities through social media platform and embassies abroad, enquiring about ways to donate.

In the absence of a FCRA licence, they had to send their contributions to the embassies or local consulates.

Bharat ke Veer’s nodal officer, CRPF deputy inspector general (DIG) Vijay Kumar, said: “A large number of NRIS and nationals from other countries understand the plight of families of martyrs who die fighting terrorists or extremists in Jammu and Kashmir, Naxal-affected states or northeast and used to contact us asking how they can contribute. When we didn’t have FCRA licence, we used to tell NRIS to send the money through the embassy or an organization (registered to send money to India). People can now send money from anywhere in the world directly”.