India bans another Christian NGO from receiving foreign funds
The Indian government has banned World Vision India, one of the country’s largest Christian voluntary organizations, from accepting foreign funds.
“The federal government has indeed revoked our registration to receive foreign funds,” said an official attached to the Christian NGO.The ban will not adversely affect the agency’s projects in the country that “are supported by the funds generated from within the country,” added the official who did not want to be named.
The official of the child-focused NGO with a footprint in India spanning seven decades, however, refused to divulge details.
The government’s decision to cancel Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration will cripple World Vision India’s work in the country as domestic funds are insufficient to meet the cost of its country-wide operations, sources said.
According to World Vision India, “close to 3,000,000 children and their families in 22 states “are benefiting from its humanitarian services.”
The NGO has inked pacts with many state governments.The home ministry has not given reasons for canceling the NGO’s FCRA registration nor has it cited the date of the cancellation.
The sources said the decision was taken this month.When UCA News contacted World Vision India’s headquarters in the southern city of Chennai, senior officials refused to share details.
World Vision India’s registration was suspended in November 2022, a year after it applied for the renewal of its FCRA license. The government suspended the registration for 180 days. The suspension was extended in May 2023.
The suspension in 2022 affected its operations in the country, forcing the NGO to curb its projects supported by foreign funds.
A proposal by the Christian NGO to access 25 percent of its foreign funds to settle liabilities is pending before the home ministry, the Chennai-based Hindu newspaper reported.
The home ministry this month also canceled the FCRA registration of the New Delhi-based NGO, Centre for Policy Research.
Since pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, the FCRA licenses of more than 16,000 NGOs have been canceled. As of January 2022, there were 16,989 FCRA-registered NGOs in the country.
Modi’s right-wing government has started a campaign against Christian NGOs that mainly work among marginalized people, critics say.
They include Mother Teresa’s organization, the Missionaries of Charity, which has had its FCRA license revoked.
The Church in India, barring a few exceptions, has been silent on the government campaign against Christian NGOs.
This article is originally published on https://www.ucanews.com/news/india-bans-another-christian-ngo-from-receiving-foreign-funds/103925
