NEW DELHI: THE Lok Sabha passed a Bill on Monday to amend the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act that seeks to make it mandatory for the office-bearers of an NGO to provide their Aadhaar numbers during registration.
Amid concerns raised by various Opposition members about The FCRA Bill, 2020, Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said the legislation was not against any religion or NGO. Rai asserted the Bill will help in curbing misuse of foreign funds and was necessary for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
Among other provisions, the bill proposes to enable the Centre to allow an NGO or association to surrender its FCRA certificate. Congress MP Anto Antony said an attempt was being made to ‘suffocate the NGOs.’
He said action should definitely be taken if an NGO is found involved in anti-national activities. But in some cases it has been seen that due to technical reasons licences get cancelled “which is an attack on the minority.” TMC’s Sougata Roy said there was “no need” for the Bill. NCP’s Supriya Sule wanted to know why the government was doing ‘micromanagement’.