Govt ''crackdown'': Foreign funding licences of 20,000 NGOs cancelled

New Delhi, December 27

The central government has cancelled licences of 20,000 out of 33,000 NGOs in the country for having been breached Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.

In his presentation during a review of his ministry’s Foreigner’s Division, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said only 13,000 NGOs still had their FCRA licences.

Cancelling an NGO’s FCRA licence means hat it can no longer receive funds from foreign sources.

The ministry began vetting NGOs a year ago, official sources said.

Of the 13,000 NGOs, 3,000 have their applications for renewal pending before the home ministry.

The ministry has also received 2,000 first-time applications for registration under the FCRA.

An additional 300 NGOs are currently under prior permission category but not registered under the FCRA.

The ministry has renewed FCRA licences of 16 NGOs under the "automatic" route, the minister said.

The rules state that an NGO under prior permission category is barred from receiving foreign funding from abroad without taking permission from the Home Ministry.

The home ministry’s cancellation of licences has drawn criticism for being “a crackdown” on NGOs. — PTI