‘FCRA Spells Doom For Grassroots NGOs, Workers’
The NDA government, in September 2020, notified the amended Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act which disallows disallows re-granting of FCRA funds to another FCRA-compliant organization. Civil society organisations told LokMarg that this would cripple small, grassroots NGOs who depend on re-granting of funds from larger NGOs for survival and work.
Rajeev Kumar, Convener, RTE Manch, says the legal motive to bring transparency into grants and re-grant is a weak ploy as all these transactions happen via bank accounts, in full view of government agencies.
Sajida Khanam of Initiative For Social Upliftment, an NGO, rues that there were no debate or dialogue with the affected parties before bringing in such an important law. The new provisions have rendered majority of workers in her organization jobless.
Ramesh Paswan, of NGO Jansandesh, says the NGOs were already reeling under fund crunch and other issues when the new law has completely crippled their social work. The bigger NGOs have withdrawn their commitments impacting the grassroots organistions.
Watch the full interview here:
