86 Ex-Civil Servants Including Former Odisha Cadre IAS Officers Write To Amit Shah; Allege Harassment Of NGOs Under FCRA

Bhubaheswar: More than 80 retired civil servants, including at least four ex-IAS officers of Odisha cadre, have sought Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s intervention to put an end to alleged harassment of voluntary organisations under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).

The group of 86 former civil servants of the All India and Central Services, which calls itself ‘Constitutional Conduct Group’, includes former Odisha cadre IAS officers like Anita Agnihotri, Aurobindo Behera, Jugal Mohapatra and Meena Gupta.

In a letter to the Home Minister, the group has expressed concern over the “negative” approach of the Central government over the renewal of FCRA licenses of certain non-profit organisations claiming that this “relentless harassment” amounts to cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face.

The group, which professes to be without any political affiliations, said these voluntary organisations were supplementing the government’s efforts in crucial areas of health, education, employment and human rights basically working in areas where the government’s reach was limited or ineffective.

The ex-civil servants urged the government “to adopt a cooperative rather than an adversarial relationship” with nonprofit organisations working towards the cause of India’s marginalised sections.

Voicing concern over the cancellation or suspension of the FCRA licenses of several NGOs in the recent past, the former bureaucrats in their open letter said, “Every expression of difference of opinion or dissent cannot be construed as violating the integrity and sovereignty of the country or as being against the public interest. The actions of your [Home] Ministry and the various law enforcement agencies give rise to a strong suspicion that independent assessments of or perspectives about socio-economic indicators of the country are not welcome.”

Newspaper reports indicate that the FCRA registrations of nearly 5933 NGOs lapsed as of 1 January 2022, the letter said. While there are undoubtedly cases where NGOs have not applied in time for renewal, the denial of renewal to a number of internationally reputed NGOs occasions cause for concern, it said.

Referring to the cancellation or suspension of four well-known nonprofits – Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Oxfam India, Centre for Policy Research (CPR), and Centre for Equity Studies (CES) – the former bureaucrats said that their activities are aimed at addressing the problems of the most marginalised sections of Indian society.

“The cancellation/suspension of the FCRA licences of these organisations and the initiation of punitive action by various law enforcement agencies of the Government of India is an outcome of the highly flawed provisions of the FCRA,” they said.

The letter further said it seems as though, using the FCRA, the government seeks to deter civil society organisations from seeking funding from foreign sources while allowing the private sector, digital and print media, and political parties freely access foreign funds.

Calling for a drastic overhaul of the FCRA, they said it should be made more “facilitating rather than a restrictive piece of legislation”.