The government has cancelled the FCRA registration of nearly 1,900 NGOs for violating various provisions of the law in the last five years. There were 22,762 FCRA-registered organisations till December-end 2021.
The adjudicating authority of the Enforcement Directorate ED has adjudicated a show cause notice issued to Amnesty India International Pvt Ltd (AIIPL) and its CEO Aakar Patel for contravention of the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act and imposed a penalty of Rs 51.72 crores and Rs 10 crores respectively on them, the probe agency announced on Friday.
No one can capture an inch of Indian land till the Narendra Modi government is in power, Home Minister Amit Shah said Tuesday and claimed the actual reason behind the Congress disrupting Lok Sabha proceedings was not the clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers but a question on the cancellation of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) registration of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.
'Not even a single rupee from the electoral bonds should be allowed to be used in the election.' 'If it is used in the election, it will taint India's electoral process itself.'
The money-laundering case was filed by the ED after taking cognisance of a CBI FIR against the accused, whom the latter agency had booked for alleged violations of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 2010 and under section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
e of them requires MPs to follow the norms including the Code of Ethics, which mandates them not to take gifts that may interfere with honest and impartial discharge of their official duties.
In a countrywide crackdown, the Central Bureau of Investigation conducted operations at 40 locations and apprehended around 14 people including home ministry officials, NGO representatives and middlemen for allegedly facilitating the clearance of foreign donations in violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, officials said on Tuesday.
The Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday said the Missionaries of Charity's application for renewal of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) registration was refused on December 25 for not meeting eligibility conditions as some adverse inputs were received.
Capital markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday barred five brokerage houses for up to six months from making fresh applications seeking registration as commodity brokers as they failed to meet 'fit and proper' criteria in the NSEL case. The affected brokerage houses include India Infoline Commodities, Anand Rathi Commodities and Geofin Comtrade (banned for 6 months each), and Phillip Commodities and Motilal Oswal Commodities Broker (for 3 months each). "There were enough red flags for a reasonable person to come to conclude that what was being offered as paired contracts on NSEL were not spot contract in commodities," Sebi said in five separate orders.
The US state department in its annual report to the Congress on international religious freedom has alleged that in India in 2021, attacks on members of the minority communities, including killings, assaults, and intimidation, occurred throughout the year.
Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi stoked a fresh controversy on Thursday, remarking that the anti-Sterlite protests in the state in 2018 had been fuelled by foreign funds and was aimed at hindering progress. His comment instantaneously drew an outcry from the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and its allies.
The registration was cancelled as Infosys Foundation allegedly did not file income and expenditure statement on foreign funding for the past few years, officials said.
Foreign funding licences of 8,353 NGOs were not renewed by the Union home ministry and the registration of 264 NGOs was suspended in the last five years, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is expected to question representatives of NGOs whose names have cropped up during its probe against a Home Ministry official Anand Joshi who was allegedly issuing notices of foreign remittances violations to voluntary groups in an arbitrary manner.
The agency said in a statement that a provisional order has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act "attaching bank accounts of Amnesty International India Pvt Ltd (AIIPL) and Indians for Amnesty International Trust (IAIT)".
'However, to establish a quid pro quo, one can potentially see several things, like whether they got any benefits from the party that they gave money to. That is something that people (of India) will gauge. But to finally establish that there was money paid as consideration, it would require an investigation, a proper investigation, to be able to come up with such conclusions.'
The guidelines have been prepared in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 that has envisioned that top universities in the world will be facilitated to operate in India.
EU special representative for human rights Eamon Gilmore said on Friday that in his meetings with the Indian government he has discussed issues such as the use of sedition and anti-terrorism laws, condition of minorities, communal violence and the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Licences of around 20,000 of 33,000 NGOs have been cancelled by the government after they were found to be allegedly violating various provisions of the Foreign Contribution (regulation) Act, thus barring them from receiving foreign funds.
A special court on Tuesday granted bail to home ministry official Anand Joshi, who was arrested for allegedly issuing Foreign Contribution Regulation Act notices arbitrarily to several NGOs.
The US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) also recommended to the Congress to raise the issue of religious freedom during US-India bilateral meetings, and hold hearings on it.
'Mr Modi believes the world is like him. He thinks every one has a price or can be intimidated. He will never understand that those who fight for the truth have no price and cannot be intimidated,' Gandhi said in a tweet.
Religious freedom and related human rights in India are under ongoing threat, the US Commission for International Religious Freedom alleged on Tuesday in an unusual year-end update of the status of its assessment of religious freedom in the country.
Modi shared the warmth of Chief Minister M K Stalin who briefly held the PM's hand and patted the back of the latter's palm while walking through the displays exhibited at the new Chennai airport terminal.
Any NGO critical of the government is unlikely to receive a green signal. The new amendment will leave NGOs vulnerable to harassment. It was the NGO sector that helped provide compassion and food to millions of people during the lockdown. The new Bill will render such cooperation and camaraderie impossible in future, observes Rashme Sehgal.
Justice M S Sonak in an interim order on Monday restrained the Charity Commissioner from attaching the assets and accounts of the NGO. The HC also ordered defreezing of the domestic and non-FCRA bank accounts of the NGO.
The Union home ministry said it has cancelled registration of 11,319 organisations that had not applied for renewal of registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulations Act by the June 30 deadline this year.
'Laws have been used in a way to serve the needs of the current regime and its authoritarian ideology.'
'It is especially discouraging for young people in the development sector. I've noticed that many of them are actively considering other career options to escape this atmosphere.' Geetanjali Krishna reports.
To the disappointment of the Forward Markets Commission, the commodity markets regulator, the standing committee of Parliament examining the Bill seeking to amend the Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1952, has invited suggestions from the public and stakeholders, including consumer bodies.
The retrospective amendment will help BJP and Congress escape the fallout of a 2014 Delhi high court judgment that held both guilty of violating the FCRA.
Grover had said a summons was issued by the special court in Ghaziabad against Ayyub for January 27 and therefore the matter be listed urgently.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear the petition of journalist Rana Ayyub challenging the summons issued to her by a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ghaziabad in a money laundering case lodged against her by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
In a circular, the ministry said all NGOs registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act should receive foreign donations in a single designated bank account.
The Dabangg star, who has been providing assistance to those in need amid the ongoing pandemic through his charitable trust, on Monday posted a statement on his social media handles.
Two non-government organisations run by social activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband have been served notice by the home ministry for alleged violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act and asked to reply within 15 days.
A US Congress-constituted quasi-judicial body on Wednesday asked the Joe Biden Administration to designate four nations, including India, as "countries of particular concern", alleging that religious freedom conditions there in 2020 continued their negative trajectory.
The searches are in connection with alleged violation of foreign direct investment norms that is linked to an earlier case of revocation of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act licence of the NGO by the Union home ministry in 2010, the ED said.
It should stop what it is deliberately doing to the NGO sector and let it operate as freely as the rest of the private sector, asserts Aakar Patel.
The order said the NGO has transferred an amount of Rs 2.46 lakh from its foreign contribution designated account to Sabrang Trust domestic account, thus mixing of domestic and foreign funds and violating the rules.
