Monday, 13 February 2017

Foreign fund permit for Nizam’s museum lapses

By Udumula Sudhakar Reddy

The Foreign Contribution Regulation Act registration of at least 1,500 NGOs from Hyderabad, TS and AP, lapsed after they failed to renew it.

These include HEH The Nizam Museum, HEH the Nizam Jubilee Pavilion Trust, Andhra Mahila Sabha, Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church and Catholic Hospitals Association of India. These entities cannot receive foreign funds.


Top NGOs failed to submit required papers
Some of them might be defunct or no longer receiving funds from abroad and may have chosen not to apply for renewal, added the ministry of home affairs source.

Among the others in the two Telugu states were Sree Vijayawada Gosamrakshana Sangham, The Anglican Church Of India, Anglican Diocese of AP, Hyderabad Management Association, Bala Vikas, Chiranjeevi Charitable Trust, Cuddapah Diocese Educational Society and the Nalgonda Diocese Social Service Society.

These are among the 11,391 in the country which lost their registration in a new list put out by the Union home ministry. According to the MHA, the FCRA of these institutions was valid till October 31, 2016, and they had not applied for renewal by June 30, due to which their validity of registration will be deemed to have expired from November.

The FCRA Act was amended in 2010 and made more stringent. According to MHA, more than 40,000 organisations were registered and most of those that receive the highest funding are from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Earlier, cracking the whip, the Centre has denied renewal of FCRA registration to 25 NGOs after they were allegedly found to be involved in anti-national activities, and also derecognised more than 11,000 organisations for failing to apply for renewal.

A senior home ministry official confirmed the move, saying the continuation of the 25 NGOs' operations in the country are “contrary” to the provisions of the Foreign Contribution Regulations Act (FCRA) and allegedly anti-national.

The names of these non-government organisations (NGOs) were not immediately known. The Home Ministry said it had closed the application for FCRA licence renewal in 1,736 cases due to “non-submission of documents or deficient documents or other statutory shortcoming within the stipulated time”.

These 1,736 NGOs include some branches of the Ramakrishna Mission, Mata Amritanandamayi Math as well as the Krishnamurthi Foundation of India, and they had applied online for renewal of their registrations before June 30, 2016.

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