Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA)

• FCRA was enacted to regulate the acceptance and utilization of foreign contribution by certain individuals or associations.
• It aims to prohibit the utilizations of foreign funds in the activities detrimental to the national interest.
• The act is under the purview of Home ministry, which is responsible for giving FCRA licence to NGO’s receiving foreign funds.
• The following are prohibited to receive foreign contributions
  • A candidate for election, judge, government servant, member of any legislature,
  • Correspondent, columnist, cartoonist, editor, owner, printer or publisher of a registered newspaper,
  • Organisation of political nature,
  • Association or company engaged in the production or broadcast of audio news or audio visual news or current affairs programmes through electronic mode.
• The Home Ministry has recently declined to renew the FCRA licence of four NGOs which received funds from U.S based Bloomberg Philanthropies.