Explained | How will the foreign funding for charity issue be resolved?

Under the amended Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, what are the rules? What lies ahead for NGOs like Missionaries of Charity?

: On December 25, the Ministry of Home Affairs under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. The Ministry stated that the FCRA registration of Missionaries of Charity, a Catholic religious congregation set up by Nobel laureate Mother Teresa, was not renewed as it did not meet eligibility conditions after “some adverse inputs” were received. It also mentioned audit irregularities.

The registration under FCRA was valid up to October 31, 2021, but had been extended till December 31, 2021. In a statement, the MHA also said that it did not freeze any account of the Missionaries of Charity but that the State Bank of India (SBI) had informed it that the organisation itself sent a request to the bank to freeze its accounts, which the Missionaries of Charity too confirmed in a statement. The MHA is the controlling authority of FCRA and it conducts inspections and audits of NGOs to establish if their books are in order.