As most of the stakeholders associated with Voluntary Sector had been lamenting regarding shrinking of FCRA funds for the Sector. Now this is confirmed. In a press report based on a RTI application filed by NewsLaundry.com, a media portal, it is now confirmed that FCRA funds for FY 2014-15 were only Rs 8756 crores compared to Rs 13,115 crores during FY 2013-14. A reduction of over 33% of funding.
State-wise most states funding has come down, but Delhi, having a large number NGOs’ Head Offices’ used to be the highest FCRA fund receiver, however it has been drastically come down by more than 50%. Tamilnadu and Andhra are the other two states where FCRA funds have declined significantly.
Considering that many religious organisations are likely to continue to receive funds, even if reduced marginally, the impact is likely to be most pronounced on the organizations working in the social development sector and worse off are likely to be the ones predominantly in the advocacy and human rights arena. Several social development organizations fear this trend is likely to continue for the time being.
Dear all:
For everyone’s information, there is a press conference today at IWPC, 5, Windsor Place, Ashok Road, New Delhi to discuss shrinking space for civil society organizations and the changing regulatory environment for NGOs. Among the issues to be discussed will be the use of FCRA 2010 as a way to stifle dissent and rights based work among CSOs by restricting funding avenues.
The presscon is being organized by the Free Civil Society coalition, a network of organizations working for the creation of an enabling, just & fair policy environment that supports and sustains a strong, vibrant & active civil society sector. More than 700 CSOs and CSO networks will be represented by the panelists.
Panelists include:
Mathew Cherian (Chair, Voluntary Association Network of India)
Venkatesh Nayak (Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative)
Anjali Bharadwaj (National Campaign on the Right to Information)
Paul Divakar (National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights)
Anand Grover (Senior Advocate and Lawyers Collective)
Mona Mishra (Sexual Health Activist)
Moderator: Biraj Patnaik
Please do attend if you are interested. You can also follow the event on the coalition’s Facebbok page (“Free Civil Society”) and on its Twitter handle (@freecivilsoc).
Dear Accounts Aid Team,
I am very happy to see Account Aid team on this forum and acknowledge its contribution to the Sector. Sharing & discussing of issues is a win-win situation, and whole-heartily welcome you on these pages. Please keep visiting and commenting.
Regarding your comment while generally I agree, but not sure of the last sentence, as I do not have required data to make estimate. However considering newslaundry.com news is based on RTI response received from FCRA Dept, accuracy or inaccuracy of the FCRA receipts as reported depends on the accuracy of Dept’s response.
rgds
Why not this be taken as a challenge and opportunity to rejuvenate Volunteerism and community initiatives?
V.B.Chandrasekaran, Chatti Mahatma Gandhi Aashramam,
Chatti Post, Chinthur Mandal, East Godavari District,
Andhra Pradesh, Pin Code: 507129.
Mr. V.B.Chandrasekaran has raised a very important question. I am eagerly waiting for the solution not only in terms of volunteerism and community initiatives, but also in terms of written answers and opinions to his question.
I would also like to add a question: Can India donors and foundations including the CSR fill the gap ?
Pradeepta Nayak
Instead of traditional and humanist “Voluntary Organisation” why we are calling ourselves NGOs?
This report Link is huge information by the very world bank.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-wsk44KmY3wcGk0N045X3ZlSWc/view?usp=sharing
We should have a dialogue on Volunteerism which we lost and are in the present FCRA loop.
Data used for Newslaundry report (http://www.newslaundry.com/2016/05/20/under-modi-government-foreign-funding-of-ngos-has-come-down/) appears to be old or incomplete. It talks about foreign funds being received by 12,014 NGOs only, whereas FCRA site shows 18,819 NGOs have filed their FCRA returns for FY 14-15 till date.
Unfortunately, the total receipts per FCRA data (Rs.23,944 crore) are also not correct. While data for FC-6 filed till 14-Dec-15 has been compiled correctly, the data for FC-4 filed from 14-Dec-15 onwards included opening balance, secondary receipts, interest income also.
In our assessment, the total receipts for FY 14-15 might show an increase/decrease of 10% but nothing of the kind that the newslaundry report suggests.