Fund of confusion

FCRA policy should benefit from transparency

The controversy over Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licences points to the opaque and arbitrary nature of a policy that impacts not just non-government organisations (NGOs) themselves but civil society. It speaks volumes for the nature of the environment in which the voluntary sector has come to operate that the licences of over 6,000 NGOs lapsed on the first day of 2022; 179 had either been rejected or were under scrutiny. The reported rejection of the seven-decade-old Missionaries of Charity’s licence on the basis of a police complaint in Gujarat that the organisation was attempting to convert young girls has