Indian NGOs need to acquire fund-raising skills

Experts Root for a professional approach to fund-raising for better social service and accountability

NewDelhi– Working to promote a good cause sounds exciting to many. However one of the biggest challenges a social enterprise faces is raising funds to sustain its good inititiaves. With international funding drying up in India, NGOs today realise this fact more than ever before, and are therefore seeking professional ways to raise funds within the country. The Resource Alliance, an affiliate of RA UK helping NGOs in their resource mobilization efforts, believes in imparting skills to them in order to make them sustainable in the long run.

“NGO workers are excellent grassroots level workers. But they lack good marketing and communication skills. And that is why many good organisations face perpetual fund crisis,” says Maj. Gen. Surat Sandhu, Chair, The Resource Alliance

Experts are stressing the need for more professionalized ways of fund raising for better programme implementation & accountability among not-for-profit organisations in India. Most NGOs in India are dependent on funding and support from government and international donors and sadly have not been able to develop their own visions and organisational goals. This (over)dependency can be attributed to historical reasons and the lack of professional fundraisers available in the country.

In the West, trained fundraisers are able to raise billions of dollars each year for the not for profit sector. However, in India only about a billion dollars (Rs 6 to 7,000 crores) are raised every year by NGOs in spite of the potential being over $ 15 Billion a year.

“Capacity building of young fundraisers has now become a priority, which alone can make NGOs sustainable, accountable, transparent and credible. India boasts the biggest middle class population. Indian corporations are also looking to invest in CSR. They need to develop skills to tap indvidual and corporate donors,” adds Maj. Gen. Sandhu.

More than $ 3 billion dollars come into the country through the FCRA route as foreign funding but not even a small fraction of 1% of this is spent on training, skill building and up gradation in fundraising. Foreign funding has also brought in certain complacency amongst NGOs which, while getting these funds have not developed their indigenous fundraising. NGOs getting foreign funds need to realize that this funding is not likely to continue for ever and they need to invest in local fundraising which alone can move them to sustainability and independence.

However there are also NGOs who have done remarkably well in this area. For example, Save Life Foundation has tied up with many corporations to raise the issue of road safety in the recent past.

The Company’s Act 2013 has facilitated the availability of funds from the Corporates for development work thereby creating massive opportunities for NGOs to raise and use these funds. In a scenario such as this, it is all the more imperative for NGOs to sharpen their skills in resource mobilization and enable themselves to access the funds from the Corporates.

“SRF Foundation being an implementing NGO, set up by parent corporate body for its CSR action, commands respect from the community because of its grassroots work. While carrying CSR mandate of parent body, it also attracts funding from other corporate bodies by building collaborations and taking care of quality program delivery, branding and employee volunteering etc.” says Dr. Y. Suresh Reddy of Gurgaon based SRF Foundation.

Latest economic surveys have revealed an increase in the level of disposal income among households in India followed by over a million high net worth individuals (87,000 millionaires in dollar terms) who remain untapped. Many would wish to support if approached professionally. This untapped potential further expedites the need for creating fundraisers urgently in India.
In order to address this urgent, important but ignored need, The Resource Alliance does many programmes and is also holding an International Workshop on Resource Mobilisation (IWRM) Asia 2015 from 24-27 August this year.

About The Resource Alliance India

The Resource Alliance India is an affiliate of international not-for-profit organisation The Resource Alliance UK which is working globally to build the capacity of civil society organisations towards greater financial sustainability. This is done through workshops, seminars, accredited courses that are run in partnership with business schools and consulting and advisory services. Source: http://www.nagpurtoday.in/indian-ngos-need-to-acquire-fund-raising-skills/06091233

Licenses of 4,470 NGOs, Including Those Funding Supreme Court Bar Association, Cancelled

NEW DELHI: In another round of action against erring non-profits, the government has cancelled the licence of another 4,470 organisations. But surprisingly, the list includes a number of top universities, Supreme Court Bar Association and the Escorts Heart Institute, which bars them from receiving foreign funds.

Other prominent organisations whose licences were cancelled under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act include Panjab University, Chandigarh, Gujarat National Law University, Gargi College, Delhi, Lady Irwin College Delhi, Vikram Sarabhai Foundation and Kabir floated by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

The Union home ministry's crackdown on the organisations comes after they were found to have engaged in irregularities including non-filing of annual returns. The associations were given a notice asking for reply, official sources said.

In April, the licences of nearly 9,000 NGOs were cancelled for alleged violation of FCRA.

In January, Greenpeace India activist Priya Pillai was offloaded from a London-bound flight by immigration officers in New Delhi airport. She was on her way to UK to address British parliamentarians.

The Delhi High Court later overturned the action and Ms Pillai's "offload" passport stamp was expunged in May.

In April, the Centre had blocked Greenpeace India's bank accounts, following which the environmental group had to seek interim relief from the Delhi High Court. The government had also ordered that funds coming from the US-based Ford Foundation should not be released by any bank to any Indian NGO without the mandatory permission from the Home Ministry.

A crisis response campaigner with Greenpeace International, Aaron Gray-Block, was denied entry into India on Saturday as his name figured in a Home Ministry "black list".

The fresh round of cancellation process of the 4,470 NGOs started on May 6 and the highest number of such voluntary organisations -- as many as 971 -- were de-registered today.

Source: http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/government-cancels-licenses-of-4-470-erring-ngos-entities-barred-from-funding-supreme-court-bar-asso-770210

Manish Sisodia's NGO Kabir barred from foreign funding

New Delhi: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's NGO Kabir is among the list of 4,470 NGOs whose licences to receive foreign funds were cancelled by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) yesterday.

In another round of action against erring non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the government on Tuesday cancelled the licences of 4,470 such entities including a number of top universities, Supreme Court Bar Association and Escorts Heart Institute, which bars them from receiving foreign funds.

The decision to cancel the registration of these entities under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) was taken by the Union Home Ministry after examination of their activities that allegedly included non-filing of annual returns and other anomalies.

All associations were given notices by the foreigners division of the home ministry with adequate time to reply before their FCRA licences were cancelled, official sources said.

Other prominent organisations whose licences were cancelled included Panjab University, Chandigarh, Gujarat National Law University, Gargi College, Delhi, Lady Irwin College Delhi and Vikram Sarabhai Foundation.

In the last round of crackdown, licences of about 9,000 NGOs were cancelled in April for alleged violation of FCRA .

Source: http://www.indiatvnews.com/politics/national/manish-sisodia-ngo-kabir-barred-from-foreign-funding-30009.html

Scroll explainer: Why 4,470 NGOs have lost their foreign funding licence

On Tuesday, the home ministry wrapped up another round of foreign funding crackdowns by revoking the FCRA licences of nearly a thousand non-profits. Here is what it's all about

On Tuesday, nearly 1,000 Indian non-profit organisations lost their licences for foreign funding, in the latest instance of the central government cracking down on “defaulting” trusts and institutions.

Since May 6, the ministry of home affairs has cancelled the licences of a total of 4,470 non-profit organisations under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, which was passed in 2010 to keep a tab on the funds that the social sector receives from outside India. Earlier this year, in April, 8,975 other NGOs and trusts across India had their licences revoked.

The names of the penalised organisations are diverse and surprising: it includes the Supreme Court Bar Association, the Vikram Sarabhai Foundation, the All India Lawn Tennis Association and even a host of premier educational institutes like the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Gujarat’s Sardar Patel University and the National Institute of Fashion Technology.

The FCRA penalises non-profits for violating various aspects of the act, and in most cases, it is because the organisation failed to file its annual returns. But what does it mean for an organisation to lose its FCRA licence? How big an offence is it, and what does an NGO have to do to get its licence back?

What kind of foreign funding does the FCRA monitor?
Broadly, within the context of the FCRA, foreign funding refers to the donation of any article or currency or security received by an Indian social sector organisation from a foreign source. The source could be any foreign company, agency, government or citizen, but excludes some specific agencies listed with the ministry of home affairs, such as the United Nations or the World Bank.

Any organisation with a cultural, social, educational, religious or economic programme can receive foreign contributions if it is licensed by the FCRA. To apply for a licence, the organisation must be registered either under the Societies Registration Act, the Indian Trusts Act or section 25 of the Companies Act for at least three years.

Why is foreign funding monitored?
The stated aim of the FCRA is to ensure that foreign contributions to Indian organisations come from legitimate sources and are used for legitimate purposes. NGOs are not allowed to use these funds for anything that contains an element of risk, which includes mutual funds or other speculative investments. The foreign funds cannot be mixed with local funds and tax returns have to be filed separately.

Through FCRA licensing, the government says it aims to ensure that foreign funds coming to the Indian social sector do not affect the sovereignty, security or integrity of India, or its strategic, scientific or economic interests.

There is no similar monitoring of foreign funding in the commercial sector, however.

What if an NGO is not regular in filing annual returns?
For not filing returns on foreign funding in time, an organisation can be fined by the home ministry. If an NGO is 90 days late, the fine is either 2% of the foreign funds it received that year or Rs 10,000, whichever is higher. For a 180-day delay, the fine increases to 4% of the funds or Rs 20,000, and any further delay can invite a fine of 5% of the foreign funds or Rs 50,000.

For what reasons can an FCRA licence be revoked?
Under the Act, the central government can cancel an FCRA licence if an organisation has made a false claim at the time of registration, violated the terms and conditions of the Act, failed to engage in “reasonable activity” in its chosen field or become defunct for two years and if the government feels it is necessary to cancel the licence “in public interest”. But a licence can only be cancelled after the organisation in question has been given an opportunity to be heard.

What is the fallout of losing a licence?
If an FCRA licence or certificate has been cancelled, the organisation’s foreign funding will be cut off for at least three years. During this time, the organisation will not be eligible to apply for re-registration with the FCRA to get grants.

Sometimes, the outcome can depend on the reason for cancellation of the licence. Last year, for instance, the government had blocked foreign funding to PRS Legislative Research – a non-profit research institute that helps members of parliament – because its members work too closely with MPs and foreign funding could lead to “lobbying”. Even though PRS represented its case before the home ministry, its FCRA licence has been completely refused and it now has to rely entirely on domestic funding from Indian corporates.

In the past month, a host of premier educational institutions have also lost their FCRA licence. This could affect their research capacities for the next three years, since institutes of higher education typically accept foreign funds for academic research.

Cancellation of licences, however, is different from the suspension of an FCRA license – which is also a fate that many organisations have faced. A licence can be suspended for a maximum of six months if the government’s decision of cancelling the licence is pending and it feels the need to block foreign funding meanwhile.

Source: http://scroll.in/article/733536/what-does-it-mean-for-4470-ngos-to-lose-their-foreign-funding-licence

How FCRA norms may hurt CSR contributions of Indian companies with large foreign shareholding

Please visit: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/how-fcra-norms-may-hurt-csr-contributions-of-indian-companies-with-large-foreign-shareholding/articleshow/47593143.cms

Can NGOs raise enough funds from domestic sources?

For advocacy and rights-based NGOs, getting domestic funds from CSR corpus or government sources is tough

The middle-class and corporate sector are first-generation donors who do not want to antagonize the government, says Rajesh Tandon, founder of PRIA. Photo:Nayan Shah/Mint

A decade ago, New Delhi-based non-profit organization Aman Trust applied to the ministry of home affairs for a licence under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) after foreign donors approached the trust with financial aid. Among them were the Ford Foundation, The Hunger Project and the Tides Foundation.

Over the years, however, the non-profit that works on violence and conflict-related issues has started attracting domestic funding. Its projects are now a combination of foreign and domestic funders. In the current fiscal, for instance, 50% of Aman’s funds are from domestic sources.

The non-governmental organization (NGO)’s own desire to raise funds from home, coupled with strict curbs imposed by the government on foreign funds, contributed to the change in its funding pattern.

Broadly, a non-profit working in India has five options in its search for funds to carry on its work—foreign funders, corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds, the government, Indian foundations or charitable trusts and the general public. A close look at each of these options gives interesting insights on how a non-profit pools together funds to keep it going.

Foreign freeze

A non-profit can access foreign funds by applying for a licence under FCRA. Recent instances of government action against NGOs—freezing accounts and suspension of FCRA registration—will lead one to believe that a sizeable number of NGOs with FCRA licences have access to foreign funds.

Yet, an analysis commissioned by Mint and conducted byhowindialives.com, a search engine for public data on India, of the information available on the MHA website revealed that the bulk of foreign funds for NGOs that entered the country over the past eight years has gone to just 18% of these NGOs, and the amounts range between Rs.1 crore and Rs.10 crore. And 40% of NGOs that have an FCRA licence received no foreign funds between 2006 and 2014.

Amnesty International India (AII), the Indian arm of the international non-profit, has chosen not to take the FCRA route to funding—a decision it took soon after it resumed operations in India in 2012. “FCRA was, and is, a much-abused law, and NGOs have experienced the unfairness of it both in the bureaucratic sense of inordinate delays (especially for those that seek prior permission) and in the more overt sense of it being used too often to curb the freedom of expression of NGOs,” former chief executive G. Ananthapadmanabhan said in an April 2014 post on AII’s website.

AII does not accept money from the government and companies for its human rights research or campaigns. It raises funds through two entities—a charitable trust and a tax-paying private limited company. The former carries out human rights education work and the latter provides research consultancy and technological services to other organizations in the social sector.

Over the past two years, it has raised Rs.5 crore from more than 65,000 Indians. Last year, the average contribution per donor was Rs.317. “The charity is expected to receive as much Indian donation income as it spends. This year we hope to receive between 35% and 40% of the full budget (that covers our entire operations) from Indian donations,” said Ananthapadmanabhan in his web post.

So, how successful has the Aman Trust been in sourcing domestic funds? Availability of domestic funding has certainly increased over the years, says Aman’s director Jamal Kidwai. “Yet access to domestic funds is still not easy. Most of the funds are corporate funds that are for limited activities. There is not enough flexibility like there is for foreign funds,” he said.

Majority of domestic funds that Aman has raised is from corporate funders. Kidwai says the money is for work which is “not remotely controversial”.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of companies have the potential to contribute Rs.20,000-25,000 crore every year to social development. But a study that looked at the top 300 firms in India found that only 30% of the firms collaborate with non-profit organizations to carry out their CSR activities. Mostly, funds are given to the corporate’s foundation rather than to an NGO.

An Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility Expenditure in India, published in the Economic & Political Weekly in December 2014, found that firms mostly undertake CSR expenditure for the welfare of rural communities around their areas of operation. “We did find instances of funds going to NGOs working in the health sector,” said co-author of the study Shachi Rai, a research scholar at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

The findings are along the lines of how the NGO sector perceives CSR funds—narrow and inflexible in approach and not eager to support innovative projects. “Indian CSR is in its nascent stages and it may take years before it is ready to support activities with ‘not so tangible outcomes’ like advocacy or policy dialogues,” said Participatory Research in Asia’s (PRIA) director Kaustav Bandyopadhyay. PRIA is an international centre for learning and promotion of citizen participation and democratic governance.

No-go area

A major factor in determining access to funds is the nature of the non-profit’s work. For instance, an NGO engaged in promoting rights-based work is seen as “confrontational”, says Seema Misra, a Delhi-based lawyer who works on access to justice. The reason for the conservative approach to funding, according to PRIA’s founder-president Rajesh Tandon, “is because our middle-class and corporate sector are first-generation donors who do not want to antagonize the government”.

Tandon said international funders bridge the funding gap for non-profits engaged in what he calls “software development”—capacity building, mobilization, awareness programmes, and so on. “The government of India is peculiar in that it has never spent its own funds for software development. So NGOs will get money from the government to build toilets but not to make people aware or motivate them to use it,” he said.

New trend

The trend, however, appears to be shifting with more Indian philanthropic organizations filling the domestic funding space.

The Mumbai-based philanthropic foundation Dasra is a case in point. It recently set up a ‘governance fund’.

In 2014, Dasra launched a study that identified more than 120 non-profits and social businesses in India that are strengthening governance by building state capacity and expanding civil society engagement. The plan was to engage more than 200 Indian philanthropists and foundations.

“Many non-profits have relied heavily on foreign funding to sustain their work. This has been due to the fact that strategic and cause-driven philanthropy is relatively nascent in India,” said Gayatri Divecha, who heads the funding team at Dasra. “Though the role of foreign funds cannot be ignored completely, the axle needs to shift and domestic capital needs to play a prominent role.” Dasra’s governance fund has amassed Rs.16 crore so far in its quest to direct Rs.50 crore to 15-20 of the most high impact and scalable non-profits over the next 3-5 years.

Push & pull

The Indian government is a big source of funds to the NGO and voluntary sector. “And the funding available to the voluntary sector is not small, it’s substantial,” Tandon said.

Studies show that government allocations for social welfare have increased over the years, although the utilization of funds has remained low due to procedural difficulties, delays in accessing resources, corruption and political interference.

A former bureaucrat who does not want to be identified said the ministries of social justice and empowerment, rural development and the women and child development are among those that made the most allocations.

The most recent study to put a value on the funds was one carried out by the Delhi-based Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) in 2013. It filed RTI queries to ascertain the size of grants given to the voluntary sector. The study found that central ministries and state governments had providedRs.6,654.35 crore as grants to NGOs and voluntary organizations between 2002-2003 and 2008-2009—an average of Rs.950 crore a year.

“We found that in a majority of cases, only those NGOs or voluntary organizations that were close to government officials or had some political pull were selected,” said ACHR director Suhas Chakma.

The study also found that the governments were selective with funding. Only projects for service delivery were given funds. There was nothing to spare for monitoring the implementation of laws or for safeguarding the rule of law. Essentially, a non-profit doing work that “challenges the status-quo” will be turned away if it knocks on the government’s door.

Sources: http://www.livemint.com/Politics/Pysrjh47l9OTHYf2gLQXXL/Can-NGOs-raise-enough-funds-from-domestic-sources.html

Indian NGOs need to acquire fund-raising skills

Experts Root for a professional approach to fund-raising for better social service and accountability

NewDelhi– Working to promote a good cause sounds exciting to many. However one of the biggest challenges a social enterprise faces is raising funds to sustain its good inititiaves. With international funding drying up in India, NGOs today realise this fact more than ever before, and are therefore seeking professional ways to raise funds within the country. The Resource Alliance, an affiliate of RA UK helping NGOs in their resource mobilization efforts, believes in imparting skills to them in order to make them sustainable in the long run.

“NGO workers are excellent grassroots level workers. But they lack good marketing and communication skills. And that is why many good organisations face perpetual fund crisis,” says Maj. Gen. Surat Sandhu, Chair, The Resource Alliance

Experts are stressing the need for more professionalized ways of fund raising for better programme implementation & accountability among not-for-profit organisations in India. Most NGOs in India are dependent on funding and support from government and international donors and sadly have not been able to develop their own visions and organisational goals. This (over)dependency can be attributed to historical reasons and the lack of professional fundraisers available in the country.

In the West, trained fundraisers are able to raise billions of dollars each year for the not for profit sector. However, in India only about a billion dollars (Rs 6 to 7,000 crores) are raised every year by NGOs in spite of the potential being over $ 15 Billion a year.

“Capacity building of young fundraisers has now become a priority, which alone can make NGOs sustainable, accountable, transparent and credible. India boasts the biggest middle class population. Indian corporations are also looking to invest in CSR. They need to develop skills to tap indvidual and corporate donors,” adds Maj. Gen. Sandhu.

More than $ 3 billion dollars come into the country through the FCRA route as foreign funding but not even a small fraction of 1% of this is spent on training, skill building and up gradation in fundraising. Foreign funding has also brought in certain complacency amongst NGOs which, while getting these funds have not developed their indigenous fundraising. NGOs getting foreign funds need to realize that this funding is not likely to continue for ever and they need to invest in local fundraising which alone can move them to sustainability and independence.

However there are also NGOs who have done remarkably well in this area. For example, Save Life Foundation has tied up with many corporations to raise the issue of road safety in the recent past.

The Company’s Act 2013 has facilitated the availability of funds from the Corporates for development work thereby creating massive opportunities for NGOs to raise and use these funds. In a scenario such as this, it is all the more imperative for NGOs to sharpen their skills in resource mobilization and enable themselves to access the funds from the Corporates.

“SRF Foundation being an implementing NGO, set up by parent corporate body for its CSR action, commands respect from the community because of its grassroots work. While carrying CSR mandate of parent body, it also attracts funding from other corporate bodies by building collaborations and taking care of quality program delivery, branding and employee volunteering etc.” says Dr. Y. Suresh Reddy of Gurgaon based SRF Foundation.

Latest economic surveys have revealed an increase in the level of disposal income among households in India followed by over a million high net worth individuals (87,000 millionaires in dollar terms) who remain untapped. Many would wish to support if approached professionally. This untapped potential further expedites the need for creating fundraisers urgently in India.
In order to address this urgent, important but ignored need, The Resource Alliance does many programmes and is also holding an International Workshop on Resource Mobilisation (IWRM) Asia 2015 from 24-27 August this year.

About The Resource Alliance India

The Resource Alliance India is an affiliate of international not-for-profit organisation The Resource Alliance UK which is working globally to build the capacity of civil society organisations towards greater financial sustainability. This is done through workshops, seminars, accredited courses that are run in partnership with business schools and consulting and advisory services.

Source: http://www.nagpurtoday.in/indian-ngos-need-to-acquire-fund-raising-skills/06091233

NGOs: How the new rules will check foreign funding?

All NGOs will have to submit details of their foreign funding within 48 hours of receiving them says a note from the Prime Minister's Office. There is a proposal to amend the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act which makes the entire foreign funding process to NGOs in India more transparent. Several NGOs in India have come under the scanner following an explosive Intelligence Bureau report on how they were hurting the country's economy.

The Prime Minister's Office has instructed the Home Ministry to put in place a set of rules to ensure that the NGOs receiving foreign funds are monitored. The Home Ministry is currently working on the recommendations and the same could be in place by the end of this month, sources say.

Once the new rules come into force, NGOs would have to declare within 48 hours the foreign funds they receive. Once the funds come in from a foreign country, the new rules would mandate that the same is declared within 48 hours or two days, the new rules state.

Also read: NGOs: Some fly by night, many stay on stubbornly In addition to this the NGOs would also have to declare on their respective websites all details of the funds they get from abroad. Detailed information relating to the funding received by the NGOs would have to mandatorily put up on the websites of the NGOs the proposed rules also state.

Inform government about spending:

The new rules also state that the NGOs would have to declare the nature of spending as well. Not just the flow of the funds, the intent behind spending the same would also need to be declared both to the government and also on their websites, as per the new rules.

Further the rules also mandate that the funding of the previous years will also need to be put up on the website. The inflow of the previous years funds and how the same was spent will also have to be declared, the proposed rules state. Failure to provide details will lead to action: Once the new rules come into force, any NGO which fails to declare the flow of the funds or how the same was spent will be liable for action. According to the new rules there would be strict action taken if the NGOs fail to adhere to the new rules.
Not just action, but such NGOs will also be subject to frequent checks and auditing by the government officials, the rules also state.

Further the government will also ensure that there is a link between the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Reserve Bank of India and the banks of the NGO. This would help the government effectively monitor the flow of funds into the accounts of NGOs which are receiving foreign funds.

Source: http://www.oneindia.com/feature/ngos-how-the-new-rules-will-check-foreign-funding-1766236.html

Foreign funding for NGOs: After inputs from IB, PMO tells Home Ministry to tighten FCRA regulations

NEW DELHI: Acting on instructions from the PM's Office (PMO), the home ministry is stepping up scrutiny of foreign-funded non-governmental outfits based on recommendations of Intelligence Bureau, a move that could prove controversial coming as it does after actions against Ford Foundation and Greenpeace.

The ministry plans to tighten some rules of the principal law governing the sector — the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).

The home ministry has quickened its review of FCRA rules after the PM's Principal Secretary Nripendra Misra wrote to Home Secretary LC Goyal asking him to put a mechanism in place "without any delay" to monitor foreign funding of NGOs.

The Intelligence Bureau's recommendations, numbering a dozen, were received last week. Encouraging transparency and improving oversight will be the "guiding principles" of the exercise, ET has learnt.

PMO is said to be keen to have the new measures in place by June 15 in the interest of India's "economic security", officials said, explaining the urgency of the matter. The FCR rules were brought in by the erstwhile UPA government after FCRA was enacted in 2010, and these rules are now being tightened further.

As part of the proposed changes, NGOs may have to provide details of all foreign funding within 48 hours to ensure transparency.

"NGOs would be mandated to have a website on which they will be required to put out the details of each foreign inflow for public viewing within 48 hours of receiving the funds. This will include the source of funds, the intended activity for which the funds are expected to be used and the details of its partner NGOs in that specific project," disclosed a senior government official. Annual audited reports for previous years should also be made public, the official said.

The 'oversight' part of the new measures would allow the government to keep close tabs on NGOs through stricter checks and inspections. A detailed oversight system, describing each step, is being worked upon by the home ministry, officials said. "Each NGO would know the parameters on which it will be inspected," an official said.

The PMO communication to home ministry had stressed the "need for effective linkage between MHA, Reserve Bank of India and banks for effective monitoring" of NGOs. IB's recommendations on the 'oversight' aspect is based on "it's expertise in tracking NGOs misusing FCR Act and FCR rules," a senior ministry official told ET.

Action against foreign-funded NGOs

The Modi administration has been accused by critics of clamping down on foreign funded NGOs. The US-based Ford Foundation, one of the biggest nonprofit organisations across the world, was put on a watch list by MHA and each of its foreign donations is now vetted before permission is given for it to be credited to any FCRA-registered NGO in India.

"Officials of the Ford Foundation had met senior home ministry bureaucrats last week asking for a rethink on the move. Right now, there is no plan for a rethink till the inquiry against certain NGOs funded by Ford Foundation is complete.

The ministry is soon going to take a decision on the propriety of the funding given to Teesta Setalvad's NGOs by Ford Foundation," a senior home ministry official said.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/foreign-funding-for-ngos-after-inputs-from-ib-pmo-tells-home-ministry-to-tighten-fcra-regulations/articleshow/47521262.cms

Be Warned. Today Greenpeace, Tomorrow You

To his somewhat startled surprise, Modi has discovered that he can't do in Delhi, as freely as he did in Gandhinagar, all he wants to do and get away with it. For the Constitution that Ambedkar gave us and the democracy that Nehru nurtured have taken such firm roots that Modi, unlike Hitler who overthrew a fragile 14-year old Constitution and the frail democratic Weimar Republic, is confronted in Delhi with the rule of law, a Parliament in which he lacks a majority in the Rajya Sabha, an alert media, and well-established institutions of governance, including, above all, the courts that cannot be trifled with.

Thwarted in his efforts to undermine the basic functioning of our democracy in the political and administrative sphere, Modi is now probing the Achilles heel of our democracy - the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) who have evolved under the umbrella of the Constitution's Fundamental Rights but do not enjoy the protection of any direct reference to them in the Constitution. This is perhaps because, back in 1948-50, when the Constitution was being framed, there were few NGOs. At any rate, they did not loom large on the political horizon. In any case, the Constitution assumed, as it did with Panchayat Raj, that the need for local self-government and an active civil society were so obvious that any special provisions for them in the Constitution were unnecessary.

In regard to panchayats, the Constitutional lacuna was filled at Rajiv Gandhi's initiative that led in 1992 to the passing of the two longest amendments to the Constitution (Parts IX and IXA relating respectively to 'The Panchayats' and 'The Municipalities'). It now appears necessary to similarly safeguard, sanctify and sanction NGOs as Modi has begun his assault on unprotected NGOs, making an example, on the one hand, of Teesta Setalvad who bravely continues baiting him on the pogrom in Gujarat in 2002, and, on the other, Greenpeace India that continues with the noble work it has been engaged in for a decade and a half. Teesta is entitled to a column - indeed, an encyclopaedia - on her own. I will here focus on the persecution to which Greenpeace India is being subjected.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) have charged Greenpeace India, and its affiliate, Greenpeace Environment Trust, with misusing foreign funds and foreigners for "anti-national" activities. MHA apparently regards testifying about India before a meeting abroad as "anti-national". On the other hand, it seems MHA regard it as perfectly patriotic for the Prime Minister to go abroad and claim on foreign soil (once in the presence of a foreign PM) that all Indians were ashamed of being Indian until he, Modi, became PM!

So, in MHA's twisted logic, it is patriotic to lie about India's great past and denigrate everything India has achieved 15 August 1947-26 May 2014, in New York, Sydney, Toronto and Shanghai, but anti-national to explain why Greenpeace India is fighting for displaced tribals, forest dwellers' rights and protection of the environment - all of which is written into the law of the land by the holiest shrine of democracy - our Parliament. Else why did they detain Priya Pillai, a Greenpeace activist, as she attempted to board a flight to London in January this year to address a meeting of those who seek to protect the global environment?

There would appear to be little difference between Rajnath Singh and Rowlatt of the Rowlatt Act, 1919. And, to protect our precious fundamental rights, we will have to fight Rajnath Singh and Modi quite as vigorously as we fought Rowlatt and Lord Reading to protect and promote our freedom and liberty.

Standing firmly behind the nation's and the NGO cause are our courts. On 20 January 2015, the Delhi High Court delivered a stinging retort to MHA when it invalidated their order freezing Greenpeace India's accounts in the wake of Pillai's detention, the judge stating in court that MHA's conduct was "arbitrary, illegal, and unconstitutional" (which would be a good way of describing the Rowlatt Act!). On 12 March 2015, Priya Pillai's constitutional right to travel was decisively upheld by the same High Court, Justice Shakhder "rubbishing the reasons given by MHA" against her travel abroad.

Nevertheless, the persecution continues. At MHA's instance, the Reserve Bank of India on 23 March 2015 blocked all transfer of funds from the renowned Greenpeace International to Greenpeace India. MHA then followed this up with an order to banks to deep-freeze Greenpeace India's accounts with immediate effect. For the last three months, Greenpeace India have not had access to virtually any funds, domestic or foreign, with which to carry on their good and great work.

That is because Modi and Rajnath do not regard Greenpeace India's work as good and great. They regard it as "anti-national" for an Indian NGO, which receives 70 per cent of its funding from Indian sources, to fight for Indian causes that have twice within the first quarter of this year been upheld by the courts as perfectly legitimate and kosher.

Thus, the right to freedom of thought, speech and action is being throttled - only because Greenpeace India's conception of what is in the interest of the Indian people is not the same as that of our suit-boot sarkar. What, after all, is "anti-national" about demanding clean air and safe food, standing up for forest and community rights guaranteed under Indian law, and highlighting the dangers of climate change?

At the same time, the Modi-Rajnath duo is running a clandestine smear campaign against Greenpeace India. They thus seek to silence criticism and dissent - which are the blood stream of democracy, in India if not under the Gujarat of Narendra Modi. They claim to have conducted an "investigation" last year into Greenpeace India's affairs, but even six months after the submission of that "intelligence" report - which seems prima facie to be wanting in that one quality - those arraigned are not being given access to the dossier on the specious ground that the report is "secret". This is similar to the grounds on which the Prime Minister's wife is being denied information that is hers of right under the Right to Information Act.

Some of Greenpeace India's domestic accounts have been frozen although the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) has nothing to do with domestic donations. International experts who have visited Greenpeace India on valid visas are being defamed and prevented from again lending their valuable services. Bogus claims of Greenpeace India endangering India's "economic security" are being bruited about. Blatant lies are being spread by and on behalf of the government regarding a foreign TV programme about a proposed British investment in a mine project in India. What if not a smear campaign is this by a jackbooted government? Be warned. First an NGO. Next - YOU!

Source: http://www.dailykashmirimages.com/news-be-warned-today-greenpeace-tomorrow-you-80251.aspx