New Delhi: The Union home ministry has suspended think tank Centre for Policy Research’s (CPR’s) licence to receive foreign funding over alleged violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), sources in the ministry told ThePrint Wednesday.
“The licence has been suspended after violations were found in CPR’s funding. Prima facie, they have been found to have violated the norms of the FCRA, ” a source said. The suspension period is of six months, after which a decision for renewal or cancellation is taken, based upon the findings.
The licence was suspended Monday. The CPR issued a statement Wednesday, which said that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had intimated the think tank about the suspension for a period of 180 days, and that it has and will always cooperate with the authorities.
The statement mentioned the I-T surveys conducted at its premises and says “exhaustive and detailed” responses were given to the notices served. “We are in complete compliance with the law and are routinely scrutinised and and audited by government authorities, including the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.”
“There is no question of having undertaken any activity that is beyond our objects of association and compliance mandated by law. In the current MHA order, we will explore all avenues of recourse available to us,” the statement further read.
According to its website, the Delhi-based CPR, founded in 1973, is a non-profit, non-partisan, independent organisation dedicated to conducting research that contributes to high quality scholarship, better policies, and a more robust public discourse about issues impacting India.
The think tank has received Rs 10,09,84,203 as donations from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, University of Pennsylvania, and World Resources Institute among others, according to the data on its website.
In last year’s April to June quarter, it also received funding from the Ford Foundation, which came under scrutiny for a grant to Sabrang Communication and Publishing Pvt Limited, with which activist Teesta Setalvad is associated.
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I-T searches & surveys
Last September, acting on information about alleged tax evasion, the income tax department had searched the premises of the CPR, and sought details of international funding. According to ministry sources, the findings of the I-T searches seem to have impacted the think tank’s FCRA licence.
In January last year, Oxfam India’s FCRA licence was revoked after it filed a renewal petition with the MHA. Not just Oxfam India, a total of 6,000 organisations lost their licence to receive foreign funding then.
In October last year, the centre government cancelled the FCRA licences granted to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust citing alleged irregularities that came up during scrutiny.
The MHA, in September 2022, extended the validity of FCRA registration of all NGOs till 31 March this year. Under the Act, the licence needs to be renewed every five years.
In the last few years, the MHA has cancelled the FCRA licences of over 1,800 NGOs over alleged violations of norms. Additionally, the permission for renewal of licences of 783 NGOs was denied in 2019-2021.
A total of over 12,000 organisations have lost their FCRA licence in the last few years, including the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Jamia Millia Islamia, and India Islamic Cultural Centre.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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