{"id":2812,"date":"2016-01-09T06:58:29","date_gmt":"2016-01-09T06:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.srr-foundation.org\/?p=2812"},"modified":"2016-01-09T07:18:01","modified_gmt":"2016-01-09T07:18:01","slug":"resolution-of-ford-foundations-working-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.srr-foundation.org\/?p=2812","title":{"rendered":"Resolution of Ford Foundation\u2019s working in India"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Resolution of Ford Foundation\u2019s working in India <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In April last year, Ford Foundation was put on \u2018watch list\u2019 by MoH. It created a huge stir within the NGO community as well as in diplomatic relations considering the clout of Ford Foundation in US Administration. Ford Foundation has been behind several think tanks and research endeavors in India. It is reported that it has invested some $ 500 million (as per a report in Huffington Post) in India since 1952.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">While the initial action against the Ford Foundation may have been due to political reasons, it later turned out that Ford Foundation had never registered itself in India, despite the requirements, thus clearly putting Ford Foundation on defensive.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Requirement:<\/em> Ford Foundation set up its office in India way back in 1952, when even Companies Act 1956 was not on statute book. Companies Act 1913 which was operative then required that all foreign entities incorporated outside British India, but starting a place of business within British India would need to be registered as Foreign Company under the 1913 Act. The same position continued under the Companies Act 1956, albeit British India replaced with India. It is not clear, if Ford Foundation took necessary registration under this Act. At that time situation was quite informal and several agencies got into India, based on even bilateral agreements between Indian Govt and the entities concerned. It is understood that Ford Foundation was operating under an invitation from former prime-minister Jawaharlal Nehru.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">However in 1973 with promulgation of Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA), RBI became the nodal agency for regulating all such entities with registration outside the country. This Act was replaced by Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999. RBI came out with an order notified through a circular in May 2000. This Order basically brought out specifics on how such agencies were required to become operative. One of the essential requirement was that every company having a place of business in India, but incorporated outside would formally apply to RBI for permission and obtain a UIN no. It seems Ford Foundation never complied with this regulation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Thus the present resolution seems to be that Ford Foundation would be registered under FEMA, which it is understood, it has already done so and also approved by the Govt. \u00a0However an Economic Time report states that it would still need to \u2018inform\u2019 MoH of all donations \/ grants that it makes to Indian NGOs and individuals, however whether this would mean \u2018seeking permission\u2019 or just \u2018intimation\u2019 can be said only after reading the RBI order that has allowed Ford Foundation to operate in India.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Although question remains how this \u2018intimation\u2019 <em>vs <\/em>\u2018Permission\u2019 reconciles with FCRA is anybody\u2019s guess?<\/p>\n<p>_______________________________________<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>Socio Research &amp; Reform Foundation (NGO)<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n512 A, Deepshikha, 8 Rajendra Place, New Delhi \u2013 110008<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Resolution of Ford Foundation\u2019s working in India In April last year, Ford Foundation was put on \u2018watch list\u2019 by MoH. It created a huge stir within the NGO community as well as in diplomatic relations considering the clout of Ford &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.srr-foundation.org\/?p=2812\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fcra-tax-legal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.srr-foundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.srr-foundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.srr-foundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.srr-foundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.srr-foundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2812"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.srr-foundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2814,"href":"https:\/\/blog.srr-foundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2812\/revisions\/2814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.srr-foundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.srr-foundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.srr-foundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}