Govt Suspends Foreign Funding Licence Of Centre For Policy Research

New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has suspended the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licence of public think-tank Centre for Policy Research (CPR) over violation of laws.

The CPR had been under scrutiny following Income Tax surveys on it last September.

Following the suspension of its licence, CPR will not be able to receive any funds from abroad.

Donors of CPR included Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the University of Pennsylvania, World Resources Institute and Duke University, officials said.

CPR, founded in 1973, is one of India’s leading policy research institutions.

Members of NITI Aayog, former diplomats, civil servants, members of Indian Army, journalists and leading researchers are among full-time and visiting scholars at CPR.

A non-profit organisation, CPR also receives grants from Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR) and is a recognised institution of Department of Science and Technology.

“We are in complete compliance with the law and are routinely scrutinised and audited by government authorities, including the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. We have annual statutory audits, and all our annual audited balance sheets are in the public domain. There is no question of having undertaken any activity that is beyond our objects of association and compliance mandated by law,” CPR said in a statement.

“In light of the current MHA order, we will explore all avenues of recourse available to us. Our work and institutional purpose is to advance our constitutional goals and protect constitutional guarantees. We are absolutely confident that the matter will be resolved speedily, in fairness and in the spirit of our constitutional values,” the statement added.

CPR’s FCRA licence, last renewed in 2016, was due for renewal in 2021.