The Ministry of Home Affairs restored the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration of the Missionaries of Charity (MoC) founded by Mother Teresa.
It comes two weeks after the Union government has moved to cut off foreign funding to one of the most prominent groups running shelters for the poor, saying the Catholic organisation did not meet the FCRA criteria. Union government’s statement said the reason was “not meeting the eligibility conditions” under the FCRA after “adverse inputs were noticed”, without giving further details.
The FCRA registration is mandatory to receive foreign donations.
On Friday, the MoC was removed from the list of around 6,000 NGOs whose registration has ceased to exist. The NGO with the registration number-147120001 was included in the list of 16,908 NGOs whose FCRA registration is active as of January 7, according to The Hindu.
Earlier the charity, headquartered in West Bengal, said in a statement the government had not frozen its accounts but added that its FCRA renewal application had not been approved. “Therefore … we have asked our centers not to operate any of the (foreign contribution) accounts until the matter is resolved,” it said.
Nobel Peace laureate Mother Teresa, a Roman Catholic nun who died in 1997, founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950. The charity has more than 3,000 nuns worldwide who run hospices, community kitchens, schools, leper colonies and homes for abandoned children.
The renewal and refusal moves came amid ongoing hate crimes against Christians across the country by the supporters of governing Bharatiya Janata Party. Several right-wing Hindu groups disrupted Christmas mass in parts of India during the weekend, including in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency.
6000 NGOs including Oxfam, Jamia Millia lose FCRA licence
The Home Ministry said on 1 January that the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act licenses of over 6000 NGOs and other organisations have expired.
IIT Delhi, Jamia Milia Islamia, Oxfam India, Indian Medical Association, and Nehru Memorial Museum and Library are among the entities whose FCRA registration deemed to have ceased on the first day of 2021.
According to the Union government, these entities either did not apply for renewal of their FCRA license or the Union Home Ministry rejected their applications.
Among those organisations whose FCRA registration ceased were Medical Council of India, Emmanuel Hospital Association, which runs over a dozen hospitals across India, Tubercolosis Association Of India, Vishwa Dharamayatan, Maharishi Ayurveda Pratishthan, National Federation Of Fishermen’s Cooperatives Ltd.
The Hamdard Education Society, Delhi School Of Social Work Society, Bhartiya Sanskriti Parishad, DAV College Trust and Management Society, India Islamic Cultural Centre, Godrej Memorial Trust, The Delhi Public School Society, Nuclear Science Centre in JNU, India Habitat Centre, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi College of Engineering and All India Marwari Yuva Manch are also among these entities, PTI reported.
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