War on Covid: Nasscom seeks easing of FCRA for smoother foreign aid flow

Also wants govt to allow all WHO-approved vaccines into the country

IT services industry body Nasscom has sought for a temporary relaxation in the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) for foreign aid to come smoothly into the country to fight the surge in Covid numbers. The industry body also requested that the government should allow all WHO-approved vaccines into the country.

Nasscom said in a letter: “Many countries and global companies are providing aid to India and are helping the healthcare infrastructure deal with the surge. However, the amended provisions of the FCRA Act, 2020 are proving to be a deterrent. Given the humanitarian crisis, we would request the government to grant a temporary waiver to the FCRA Act and the 2020 amendments. This will enable NGOs to transfer funds between two FCRA approved NGOs and non-FCRA approved NGOs.”

It also asked the government to liberalise the vaccine imports further and make them available for the private sector as well. “While we are attempting to source available vaccines in India, we request the government to provide emergency-use authorisation for all WHO-approved vaccines-–Pfizer, Moderna, J&J, and others that have gone through stringent approval process globally, to ensure there is no vaccine divide in the country.”

The industry body also urged that the government must take its recommendation of building a data utilisation strategy to deal with the CVID crisis. Covid tracking and vaccination, insights, and analytics from data could play a key role in decision making and early warning signals. Data is one of the most strategic ammunition available to manage the pandemic and respond better. “We must ensure effective access to data for insights and planning, across all states and key departments, on a priority,” said Nasscom in its letter to the PM.

Times like this call for greater partnership and collaboration across industries and the government. Nasscom in its letter to the Prime Minister has made three critical asks which will enable the industry to do more and act faster to help the country navigate the second wave and be better prepared to deal with future waves.