MHA bars 8,000 NGOs from seeking foreign funds

These organisations will now have to get prior approval of the government before seeking foreign funds.

Among the organisations that have been barred from seeking foreign funding without prior approval are: Madras University, Panjab University, Jamia Milia Islamia, Indira Gandhi National Open University, Sakhshi, Khoj, Aasra, Roman Catholic Church Society and Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre.

When contacted, officials at the CII, Kshitij, a Mumbai-based NGO, and University of Delhi said they have not received the notification yet.

Says Ranjan Yerdoor, CEO, Credibility Alliance, a consortium of NGOs: ‘‘The notification was issued in November but it has still not been dispatched to the organisations concerned.’’ According to Account Aid, a consulting firm for NGOs, the last such notification was issued in 1997 when about 900 organisations were denied permanent numbers. For the past 10-12 years, the percentage of defaulters has been around 30 per cent.

Voluntary organisations have been lobbying that monitoring of foreign funds be brought under the scanner of the Ministry of Finance, as it would be able to institute better administration. Says Yerdoor, ‘‘The huge numbers of defaulters, who are not even informed of such a notification in the first place, is a clear example of how flawed FCRA is. What we need is more public accountability and transparency for which it is necessary that foreign fundings of the voluntary organizations be monitored by the Ministry of Finance under Foreign Exchange Management Act, FEMA as advised by the Planning Commission.’’

The notification is now on the website of the Home Ministry, http://www.mha.nic.in.