Ministry of Home Affairs removes data on NGO licences, funding from FCRA website

An MHA official reportedly said that the deleted data was "unnecessary" for public viewing.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) reportedly deleted crucial data from its Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act website, including data on NGOs' annual returns and a list of NGOs whose licences had been cancelled, according to an IE report.

The FCRA website earlier contained detailed information on NGOs who were granted licences, ones with prior permission to receive foreign funds, ones whose licences had been cancelled, ones whose licences were deemed to have expired, and the NGOs' annual returns.

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After the deletion, the website now provides only overall data on the aforementioned indices without a list or tool to identify NGOs. Information on the NGOs' annual returns and the quarterly foreign contributions they receive have also been removed from the portal.

The reason for the data removal is unclear. "Whatever data was deemed not useful or unnecessary has been removed," an official familiar with the development told IE. "The overall data on the number of NGOs that have lost licences and the number of NGOs that have filed annual returns has been maintained as it is."

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The data removal was in line with the changes in FCRA rules announced by the MHA earlier this month, officials said in the IE report.

On July 1, the MHA announced a slew of changes to FCRA rules in a bid to "lessen the compliance burden on NGOs". Among the changes was an alteration to Rule 13, which governs the "declaration of receipt of foreign contribution". The MHA deleted clause (b) of Rule 13, which said, "A person receiving foreign contribution in a quarter of the financial year shall place details of foreign contribution received on its official website or on a website as specified by the Central Government within 15 days following the last day of the quarter in which it has been received clearly indicating details of donors, amount received and date of receipt."

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Back then, several NGOs called the rule change "strange", with some pointing out that the amended rules would decrease transparency vis-à-vis the functioning of the FCRA division.