The Home Ministry on Tuesday claimed that Monday’s news report in this newspaper headlined “Government suspends FCRA clearance of 4 Christian groups” gives “an impression” that the action had been taken as they belong to a particular religion.
“This impression not only comes out in the headline but also in the very first sentence of the report. This is far from the factual position as licenses of NGOs and Associations are regulated based on well established rules, as provided under the FCRA,” Nitin Wakankar, Director-General (MHA Media), said in a response to The Hindu’s report on Tuesday.
Mr. Wakanakar stated that the Ministry was “provided serious adverse inputs regarding the working of dozens of FCRA NGOs in tribal areas and the names of the four NGOs mentioned in the report of The Hindu figured in that list.”
After considering the matter, the Ministry found prima facie violations of Sections 8, 12(4)(a)(vi), 12(4)(f)(iii) and 12(4)(f)(vi) of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010.
“Therefore, MHA suspended FCRA certificate of 13 NGOs, which included the four aforesaid NGOs. Their bank accounts were frozen and they were asked to explain their position regarding violations of FCRA,” Mr. Wakankar added.
