MHA tweaks FCRA rules, sedition now a disqualifier
The Union home ministry has revised its rules on NGOs receiving foreign fundingIn a notification, the ministry announced the changes in the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules, 2011
New Delhi: The Union home ministry has revised its rules on NGOs receiving foreign funding, wherein office bearers, key functionaries and members of the organizations will have to declare that they are neither prosecuted nor convicted of religious conversion nor charged with sedition.
In a notification, the ministry announced the changes in the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules, 2011, which include that individuals need not declare personal gifts to the tune of ₹1 lakh anymore. Earlier, gifts worth more than ₹25,000 were required to be declared.
It is also mandatory for office bearers and key functionaries and members to certify that they have not been "prosecuted or convicted" for "conversion" from one faith to another and for creating "communal tension and disharmony".
Earlier, as per the FCRA 2010, only applicants such as directors who sought permission to receive foreign funds were required to make such a declaration. Now, every member of an NGO must, under oath, through an affidavit, declare that they have never been involved in diverting foreign funds or "sedition" or "advocating violent means".
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