Licence-permit raj for NGOs

It can be no one's case that all NGOs (non-government organisations) are virtuous organisations, or that they and the individuals who get funds from abroad never misuse the money. But if you start with suspicion and a policeman's attitude, you will get laws that suit only policemen""in the same way that the old licence-permit system for industry served no one's purpose other than the bureaucrats administering it. The existing Foreign Contribution Regulations Act (FCRA) has not stopped misuse of money that reaches NGOs after due government scrutiny (as anyone who follows the trail of some West Asian money will be able to testify), and it is doubtful therefore whether the new 'improved' version of that Emergency-era law will achieve better results.

What the government seeks to do through the changes suggested in the new Foreign Contribution Regulation Act Amendment Bill that is to be tabled in Parliament, is to make life more difficult for NGOs in a manner that can serve little purpose. Companies can bring in virtually unlimited amounts of foreign funds under the RBI's automatic rule, with no monitoring of what they do with the funds, but the NGO community has to adhere to rules which stipulate, for instance, that administrative expenses are to be capped at 50 per cent of the foreign contribution (what other expenses can there be if you are working on freeing bonded labour, or campaigning against water pollution caused by a factory?). Any such expenses beyond the stipulated limit are to be incurred only after the prior approval of the central government, but this is a process that takes months. NGOs are now to register themselves with the home ministry, and get the registration renewed periodically (the permanent registration that is now available to organisations with an established record is to be withdrawn) so that they can receive foreign funds. And if these funds, or the earnings from them, have been used to buy any property, that cannot be sold as there is a provision to proscribe the use of foreign contributions or any income arising out of them for speculative business. So, if you're an NGO using foreign funds, the first rule is that you will operate only out of rented premises. Perhaps the only saving grace of the new Bill is that it allows foreign contributions to be deposited and used from more than one bank account!

It is legitimate to track foreign fund inflow, but the straitjacketing that is proposed will make this a hurdle race that many of the smaller NGOs will simply not be able to complete. Also, administering such a complex scheme will lead to the same results as complicated licensing rules did in industry-nirvana for meddlesome bureaucrats, corruption of all kinds, harassment for the people in the field, and sub-optimal results. The ways in which the existing FCRA has worked (and plenty of NGOs have horror stories to relate) should provide enough clues.

The new law covers not just NGOs but also individual citizens who are in sensitive positions or professions (like law and journalism). That is fine, but if the government has to vet every bit of hospitality offered overseas, including the travel costs for attending a conference, the desire to control and supervise reaches proportions of the kind seen only in totalitarian systems where every citizen is suspect in the eyes of the state. In the world's largest democracy, approaching the 30th anniversary of the ending of the infamous Emergency, this Bill is a disgrace.