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Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (India)
John Dayal
Secretary General, All India Christian Council
After his cabinet colleagues had spoken copiously to friendly newspapers on how they are planning to stop funds to Muslim madrassas and Christian
missionaries, Union law minister Arun Jaitely is at pains to explain that he has been instrumental in the Cabinet bringing before the current session of Parliament a new Bill to repeal and replace the Foreign
Contributions regulation Act, FCRA, which has been the bane of NGOs, social activists and the Christian church. Apparently the brief was prepared for the Cabinet, but anticipating a national outcry on the Prevention
of terrorism Ordinance POTO – whose tremors are still being felt in Parliament -- the government felt it, would not be proper to open another front on the FCRA.
The temporary pause has not assuaged NGOs and
development agencies of the Minorities and Secular NGOs. The All India Christian Council has described it as a Financial POTO, and fears with the others that Education, Health and pro-Dalit programmes will suffer
most once new legislation is eventually passed to choke off foreign contributions to organisations targeted by the Sangh Parivar and other mavericks in power at the Centre and in the States in the guise of curbing
terrorism (Muslims) and preventing mass conversions (Christians).
According to the Catholic Bishop's Conference of India, there are approximately 1,100 registered foreign missionaries in the country;
in 1993 there were 1,923. Most of them have lived in India for periods ranging from 20 years to 60 years. This is far removed from the image that the Sangh Parivar, and the government, paints of a land teeming with
western missionaries.
The FCRA is an illegitimate child of the State of Emergency that was imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975. The law was brought about to curb foreign money coming to certain institutions
associated, ironically with Jay Prakash Narain and some Gandhians, who, the then prime minister feared, were hell bent on fomenting a coup against her. Successive governments chose not to repeal the FCRA though they
demolished several other measures she had installed during the Emergency which ended with the 1977 elections that threw her out and brought the first Janata party into power, with Morarjee Desai as Prime minister,
Atal Behari Vajpayee as foreign minister, George Fernandes as Industry minister and Lal Krishan Advani as Information and Broadcasting minister. Charan Singh and Rajiv Gandhi retained the law, as did Rajiv’s cabinet
colleague turned foe, and now liberal voice, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, socialist Chandrashekhar, farmer Deve Gowda mild mannered diplomat Inder Kumar Gujral. Each found some reason to stick with the FCRA despite a
sustained outcry by civil society and developmental NGOs who saw in it nothing but memories of a tyrannical and dictatorial period in India’s history.
VANI, the network of voluntary associations, kept up the
pressure on government on the FCRA all these years. It may surprise many that religious organisations, smug in their cocoon of ignorance and temporary safety, never did quite make a loud enough noise to get earlier,
and far friendlier governments, to repeal the FCRA.
VANI has in detailed arguments pointed out that the FCRA has done more harm than good. It failed to curb militancy, whether it was in Punjab or Kashmir, and
it certainly failed to curb criminals as FERA had failed against money launderers. The criminal mind always found an alternate route – Hawala was one, which was used by smugglers and is now reportedly being used by
several fundamentalist organisations, including those of the Sangh Parivar – to get in money from the UK and the United States.
FCRA has however hurt innocent NGOs and well-meaning social workers. It has led
to the fattening of crooked chartered accountants and consultants who specialize in expediting FCRA clearances, obviously in league with corrupt officials and politicians. It has also led to corruption among some
sectors of civil and religious society. Well meaning religious persons with orphans to look after, schools to run and charity work to do, have taken the short cut, at the behest of their consultant, and have parted
with money to officials in the government to get their coveted FCRA clearances.
And of course, it has been used as an instrument of blackmail, all too often. Recent examples were at the time of the last
general elections. Once the BJP came to power with the NDA, many NGOs, which had taken part in educating the people on issues of communal harmony, democracy and civil liberties, were served notices why their FCRA
licences should not be revoked. Government officials sat through for hours pouring over the accounts of such civil society groups and some Christian bodies. Others had the unwelcome inspectors taking down copious
notes from obscure documents, threatening organisations that their FCRA would be revoked for issues ranging from minor accounting anomalies to alleged diversion of funds into prayer groups or salaries of pastors.
The FCRA had in twenty years become a potent instrument of control and of ensuring silence from this section of civil society. Many NGOs did not even protest the nuclear bomb fearing their FCRA would be lost, and
others withdrew from human rights work for the same reasons.
The current government has been the worst so far in its record of misusing the FCRA provisions to curb dissent and throttle the voices of civil
society. The home minister has added innuendo to the normal rhetoric, repeatedly insinuating that Christian organisations were receiving massive funds for conversions, and Muslims were getting money for setting up
madrassas to teach terrorism. Ministers from Mr. Advani downwards have hinted they have direct evidence of all this, but each one of the worthies has shied away from the open demand by human rights groups and
Christian organisations that the government publish a White Paper on the entire FCRA issue, pointing out which organisation has received what money and from whom, and how it has spend it. There is reason for the
government’s coyness. If honest investigations were to be done, it would be clear that the bulk of the money is coming not to Christians and Muslims but to others. And of course the Sangh Parivar has never bothered
to submit any accounts whatsoever even of its Indian donations to the Income tax. The last officer who dared to ask for accountant was summarily thrown out of the department.
Church groups had over the year
pointed out that there was nothing covert or secret about their accounts, which were audited every year. Civil society NGOs had made the same appeal.
But the government still wants to have its way.
The September 11, 2001 bombing of America has given it just the excuse it wanted to ram POTO and its financial cousin down the country’s collective civil throat.
BJP governments in recent times have
repeatedly tried to throttle religious freedom. The Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act made it an offense to use any religious site for political purposes or to use temples for harboring persons
accused or convicted of crimes. While specifically designed to deal with Sikh places of worship in Punjab, the law applies to all religious sites. The state of Uttar Pradesh passed the "Religious Buildings and
Places Bill" during the state assembly budget session from March to May 2000. The bill requires a permit endorsed by the state government before construction of any religious building can begin in the state.
The bill's supporters say that its aim is to curb the use of Muslim institutions by Islamic fundamentalist terrorist groups, but the measure has become a controversial political issue among religious groups in the
northern part of the country. Most religious groups from all of the communities oppose the restriction on building religious structures and view it as an infringement upon their fundamental rights, even the US
report on religious freedom for the year 2000 has pointed out.
Not much is public about the proposed post-FCRA legislation other than what officials and minister have leaked, but it boils down to three
things. Everything that is harsh in FCRA is being retained and sharpened, but the powers are being passed down also to the State governments and finally to the district collector, who eventually becomes the cock of
the roost. NGOs and others are also required to get their licences renewed every five years.
Keeping FCRA in the Union home ministry was bad enough. Getting state governments and deputy collectors, the
bureaucratic pawns of political, caste and communal vested interests, as the policemen, jury and judge of the case, would open a Pandora’s box of corruption and coercion. The five-year term would add just the
uncertainty that the government wants in the voluntary sector so as to keep it under its political thumb.
As Stanley Diamond said, and quoted by People’s Union for Civil Liberty’s national president advocate
Kannabiran, “Restrictive legislation is almost always a signal of repressive institutional change.”
Kannabiran goes on to add, in the context of POTO: “the BJP never had any faith in the Constitution nor had
any pretensions to democratic faith. Opposing POTO is a fundamental duty and not a crime against the nation. India has a plethora of legislation covering the areas and activities covered by the Ordinance. The
pre-Constitution British colonial laws, the National Security Act 1980, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958, the Disturbed Areas Act 1999, the Anti-Hijacking Act 1982, the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against
Safety of Civil Aviation CT 1982, the Disturbed Areas Special Courts Act 1976, the Telegraph Act 1885, the Information Technology Act 1999, the Essential Services Maintenance Act, the Prevention of Black Marketing
and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act 1980, the Arms Act, the Explosive Substances Act 1908 with the latest Amendment providing for death sentence, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act
1967 almost cover the entire field covered by POTO. Apart from the Indian Penal Code, there are several state laws including the Organised Crimes Act passed in three southern States, covering the field of law and
order and public order.”
It is important to remember Kannabiran List, if I may call it that, for the stated reason for tightening the FCRA is to curb terrorism.
If it were just to enforce financial transparency, the land’s Income tax laws are sufficient.
On December 8, 2001, All India Christian Council released a press statement as follows
Christian
leaders have told the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee and the Law Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitely, that restrictions that the government has mooted on foreign funds for NGOs and minority groups will seriously
affect the education, health and social development sectors.
These apprehensions were conveyed to the Prime minister by church leaders who were invited to the Prime minister’s house on Thursday, 6th December
evening, following the recent legislation removing gender bias in inheritance laws of the Christian community.
Delhi Methodist Bishop Nimrod Christian in his speech and All India Christian Council in its
written memorandum told the Prime Minister of apprehensions in the minds of the community which runs about 40,000 educational and other institutions in the country. The Council described the proposed legislation on
foreign contributions as a `Financial POTO’. Although the Bill has been deferred and not introduced in the current session of parliament, several union ministers have been quoted by the media spelling out the
draconian provisions of the bill.
Minority groups fears that the proposed laws give state governments and district collectors extraordinary powers that can be misused under political and communal pressure.
Provisions for registration of NGOs and groups every five years will also severely affect continuation of educational and health projects, the prime minister was told. Statements were also presented to the prime
minister on behalf of the Catholic Bishops Conference, and the Anglo Indian Community.
The following is the substantive portion of the text of the Memorandum submitted to the Prime minister by the All India
Christian Council. The letter was signed by council President Dr Joseph D Souza and secretary general Dr John Dayal:
“Two major and antiquated personal laws still remain to be updated and made
gender-friendly. These relate first to the law on Marriage, which is still to be put before Parliament. The other is on adoption. As you are aware, Christians cannot adopt children in India. We hope the government
will soon bring forward legislation to incorporate the demands of the Christian community.
We take this opportunity to draw your attention to the apprehensions in the community on the proposed legislation to
replace or amend the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act. The text of the proposed legislation has not been made available to us so far, but various Union ministers have spoken about it in public. Their statements
have created justifiable anxiety among the Christian community, who seem to be a major target of the bill. The Council requests the Hon’ble Prime Minister to clarify the position and reassure the minorities. We feel
there is absolutely no need of bringing any further regulations in this regard as the existing provisions are even by themselves much too harsh and have hindered much sincere social work. It would seem the proposed
FCRA changes are the financial equivalent of the POTO designed to hit out at all charitable and development work.
The Government has many provisions in the laws both of the Centre and of the states to crack
down on anyone misusing foreign funds, or anyone involved in anti national and criminal activity. This has been amply demonstrated in the recent debates in Parliament.
You are aware of the deliberate campaign
of disinformation that has been carried out in certain quarters against the Christian clergy and NGOs alleging that the money received from foreign is being used for conversions. No state government has been able to
adduce any evidence of this, nor has this charge been proved in any court of law. An impression is also given as if it is only the Christians who get most of the foreign funds. We think it is not proper to isolate
any community, be it the Muslims or the Christians or the Buddhists, on the issue of foreign funds without also saying that other religious groups also receive foreign money.
Government sources have been
reported as saying about Rs. 4,000 crores are coming in from abroad as aid or donations. Among the recipients are major Hindu organisations as well as ordinary NGOs and organizations connected with the Christian,
Muslim, Buddhist and other communities. The real picture will emerge if the Government publishes a White Paper on the entire issue of the foreign donations and funding. We and the nation would like to know which
organisations are getting funds, where are the funds being spent, which organisations are misusing the funds or indulging in criminal activities. Only a White Paper will clarify the real position.
The people
of our nation know the social work that the Christian community has done in the last 150 years. They have opened schools and brought education to the deepest areas. Christians run hospitals and dispensaries where
even government doctors and nurses refuse to go. There are over 40,000 educational and Medicare institutions being run by the community in various parts of the country. Over 40 lakh students pass through Christian
schools, colleges and training institutions. How many of them are converted? Perhaps not one. But these students emerge out of Christian schools as law abiding and patriotic Indian citizens ready to contribute to
nation building.
A majority of the students who study in Christian schools are non-Christians. Similarly most of the staff is of other communities. The Christian hospitals serve each and everyone without
reference to religion, caste or creed, in tribal areas, among Dalits and the poorest of the poor, patients of AIDS and leprosy,
We do not think it will be for the good of the nation if this work is allowed
to suffer for want of funds. It would seem as if the government is deliberately curbing charitable work and empowerment activities from the poorest of the poor. A democratic government must not restrict aid coming
in through the non-profit organisational sector that is severely needed by the Dalits, the poor and other sections of the community.
We feel it is time that the FCRA bill was completely repealed. Christian
developmental agencies and other groups must be encouraged to work among the needy areas and people of the nation. True nationalism lies in taking care of the developmental needs of the poor, the backward, the
tribals and the Dalits and not in just shouting slogans and religious hate and extremism.
We hope you will accept our two demands, which are:
1. Issue a White Paper on all foreign funds
received by India organisations, groups and NGOs, how these funds are being utilized, and list of those misusing these funds.
2. Repeal the existing FCRA, and drop the proposed bill.
BIOGRAPHY:
Dr. John Dayal, Secretary General, All India Christian Council, and National Vice President, All India Catholic Union, is internationally recognized as the face and voice of the
Christian Human Rights movement, not just in India, but also in South Asia. Equally important has been his role in the peace movement in the Subcontinent. His was the first voice raised, in a joint statement signed
with Bishops Karam Masih and Vincent Concessao in May 1998, against the nuclear weapon tests by India and Pakistan.
Monitoring closely the growth of violent Hindutva fundamentalism, it was alarmingly clear to
Dr. Dayal by the mid-Nineties that the next targets of violence would be Christians. His early distant warnings to the church and the government helped formulate a united Christian response. By 1998 Dr. Dayal had
mobilized an international network of human rights organizations and activists.
In the process, he has faced threats to his life and to his family. Several government ministers in national and state
levels have joined India’s Hindutva fundamentalist elements in targeting him in an aggressive, vicious and malicious hate campaign. Recipient of numerous national awards for his journalism and Human Rights advocacy,
John Dayal was awarded the first Graham Stuart Staines Award for Religious Freedom and Human Rights created in memory of the Australian missionary who with his two sons was burnt alive by Hindutva fanatics in the
Indian state of Orissa in January 1999.
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