A week after the Centre for Policy Research received a final order cancelling its licence under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), its president Yamini Aiyar has said its funding had been “choked”, its staff strength was now “skeletal’’ and programming is down to a bare “minimum”. The CPR, established in 1973 and one of the country’s premier public policy think tanks, has seen its fortunes reversed since September 2022 when it was subjected to a survey by the Income Tax (IT) Department. Since then, CPR, which works with several state Governments and Central Ministries, has had its income tax exemption status cancelled and its FCRA licence (through which it receives 75% of its funding) first suspended and on January 10, finally revoked. The cancellation of the IT exemption has been currently stayed by the Delhi High Court and Aiyar said the organisation was “examining all options and recourses” for the loss of its FCRA licence too. Speaking to The Indian Express, Aiyar described her situation, as the current head of CPR, as “beleaguered but confident” and said that in comparison to March 2023, the think tank’s staff strength was down from 150 people to just 20. “There is little funding and since the dispute… whatever funds we have are also frozen as per FCRA rules. So how do we pay salaries? It has been heart-breaking to see such challenges in an institution which has so much credibility and which has made so much contribution to policy making for 50 years.” She pointed out that with its employee strength whittled down and funding gone dry, the CPR has been forced to scale down its activities but that she was determined to “keep CPR going.” She added, “We are hopeful it will go the right way and we will get administrative redressal and relief from the courts.” It was in August 2023 that the Delhi High Court stayed the Income Tax proceedings against the CPR. That stay order has now been challenged by IT authorities and hearings are in progress. It is the alleged “violations” traced by the IT authorities in CPR’s functioning and finances following the September 2022 survey that has formed the basis of the twin cancellations. While Aiyar said the FCRA cancellation order, received on January 10, was “not a detailed order”, the case against CPR is contained in the final 115-page notice sent to it by IT authorities on June 30, 2023. This notice, accessed by The Indian Express, alleges that the CPR had taken part in activities which were “not as per the objectives of the Trust or were apparently not genuine.’’ The authorities have also challenged the manner in which the CPR didn’t maintain separate accounts and mixed up its accounts for funding received and from what the IT sleuths have categorized as “business activities.” Both the FCRA and IT authorities have used documents and contracts recovered during the survey and other “evidence” such as contents of WhatsApp chats between CPR consultants and employees to bolster their case. In a statement issued Wednesday, Aiyar said the basis of the FCRA cancellation was “incomprehensible and disproportionate,” and “some of the reasons given challenge the very basis of the functioning of a research institution.” This, she said, includes the “publication on our website of policy reports emanating from our research being equated with current affairs programming.” The statement added: “CPR firmly reiterates that it is in complete compliance with the law, and has been cooperating fully and exhaustively at every step of the process. We remain steadfast in our belief that this matter will be resolved in line with constitutional values and guarantees.”
