1,736 NGOs lose licence to get foreign funds

NOW, THE NUMBER OF NGOS PERMITTED TO RECEIVE FOREIGN FUNDING HAS COME DOWN TO LESS

THAN 19,000

NEW DELHI: As many as 1,736 more non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the country have lost the licence to get foreign funds, authorities announced on Friday.

Prominent names in a fresh list the Union home ministry put out were the Dr Hedgewar Smarak Seva Nidhi, Don Bosco High School Society, Ramkrishna Math, Mata Amritanadmayi Math, Leprosy Mission Hospital, Church of South India Diocese of Madras, Sacred Heart Church, Ramkrishna Mission Ashram, St Teresas Orphanage, Indian Institute of Forest Management and IIT, Roorkee.

A senior home ministry official told HT that time was over for these NGOs to submit documents. “Therefore, their foreign funding registration has lapsed. If they give us a representation, we will consider them on merit,” he added. Last week, more than 11,000 NGOs lost their foreign funding registration because they did not apply for renewal of licence by the end-June deadline. There were 25 other NGOs the ministry did not deem fit for foreign funding registration due to their alleged adverse activities.

The 1,736 NGOs disqualified on Friday had applied before June 30 for renewal of their registration, granted under the Foreign Contribution Registration Act (FCRA), but the ministry found their applications deficient on documents or statutory requirements.

The ministry had given the NGOs time till November 8 to submit documents in support of their application. On Friday, it said their applications have been “closed”.

With this, the number of NGOs permitted to receive foreign funding has come down to less than 19,000. Till two years ago, the country had around 42,500 FCRA-registered NGOs.