Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 : In News
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has, for the first time, explicitly listed the reasons for denying the clearance needed under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act to receive funds from abroad.
- Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 is a law enacted by Parliament to regulate foreign contributions(especially monetary donations) provided by certain individuals or associations to NGOs and others within India.
- The FCRA was originally enacted in 1976 and significantly revised in 2010.
- The Act falls under the purview of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
- ‘Foreign Contribution’ means the donation, delivery, or transfer made by any foreign source of any:
- Any article(not being an article given to a person as a gift for his/her personal use, the market value of which is not more than one lakh rupees);
- Any currency, whether Indian or foreign.
- Any security, including foreign security.
- This will also cover:
- Contribution received from any person who has in turn received it from a foreign source.
- Interest accrued on foreign contributions deposited in the bank
- It creates registration requirements and spending restrictions on Indian nonprofit organizations receiving foreign donations.
- It aims to prevent foreign organisations from influencing electoral politics, social, political, economic, or religious discussions in India for wrong purposes and activities detrimental to the public interest.
- Contributions made by a citizen of India living in another country (e.g., a Non-Resident Indian (NRI)) from his/her personal savingsthrough the normal banking channels, will not be treated as foreign contributions.
- The foreign contribution received has to be utilised only for the purposefor which it has been received, and not more than 20% of the foreign contribution received in a financial year can be utilised to defray administrative expenses.
- The FCRA requires every person or NGO seeking to receive foreign donations to open a bank account for the receipt of foreign funds in the State Bank of India, Delhi.
