Govt set to amend FCRA, to make Aadhaar mandatory for foreign contribution

The Centre on Sunday proposed amendments to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, or FCRA, to make Aadhar mandatory for all office bearers of non-governmental organisations that seek foreign contributions. The proposed stringent amendments also seek to bar public servants from receiving foreign funding.

This means any person who makes an application for prior permission, seeks registration under the FCRA, or wants to renew their FCRA licence, would first have to mandatorily furnish the Aadhar numbers of all office bearers, directors or other key functionaries.

The Foreign Contribution Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2020, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha during Sunday’s session, also proposes to enable the Centre to allow an NGO or association to surrender its FCRA certificate. Besides this, the draft bill proposes to decrease administrative expenses through foreign funds by an organisation to 20% from the current 50%.