Modi government to keep an eagle eye on foreign-funded NGOs

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is getting more vigilant over foreign funding to Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and has asked the home ministry to tighten rules of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).

Acting on the instructions, the home ministry will scrutinise foreign-funded NGOs based on recommendations of Intelligence Bureau.

The home ministry expedited 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 PMO wants to put in place new measures by June 15 in the interest of India's "economic security", officials told Economic Times, explaining the urgency of the matter. The FCR rules were brought in by the Congress-led Indian government after FCRA was enacted in 2010.

Under the proposed changes, NGOs may have to provide details of all foreign funding within two days 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," a senior government official told ET. Annual audited reports for previous years should also be made public, the official said.

The official added that the 'oversight' part of the new measures would allow the government to keep close tabs on NGOs through stricter checks and inspections.

A senior ministry official told ET that 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.

The move comes amid criticism faced by PM Narendra Modi over his clamp down on foreign-funded NGOs. The US-based Ford Foundation, one of the biggest non-profit organisations across the world, was put on a watch list by home ministry.

(Image: PIB)