FCRA Bill, 2020

●The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act 2010 regulates the acceptance and utilisation of foreign contribution by individuals, associations and companies. 

●The FCRA Bill seeks to amend the FCRA Act of 2010.

●Foreign contribution is the donation or transfer of any currency, security or article (of beyond a specified value) by a foreign source.

●Prohibition to accept foreign contribution : Under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, certain persons are prohibited to accept any foreign contribution.

●These include: election candidates, editor or publisher of a newspaper, judges, government servants, members of any legislature, and political parties, among others.

●The Act states that a person may accept foreign contribution if they have obtained a certificate of registration from central government or obtained prior permission from the government to accept foreign contribution. 

The Bill which seeks to amend FCRA Act ,2010 has provisions mentioned below:

●It seeks to prohibit ‘public servants’ from receiving any foreign funding.

●FCRA account: The Bill states that foreign contribution must be received only in an account designated by the bank as FCRA account in such branches of the State Bank of India, New Delhi. No funds other than the foreign contribution should be received or deposited in this account.

●Aadhaar for registration: The Act states that a person may accept foreign contribution if they have obtained a certificate of registration from central government or obtained prior permission from the government to accept foreign contribution. The bill makes Aadhaar mandatory for registration.

●Restriction in utilisation of foreign contribution: The Bill gives government powers to stop utilisation of foreign funds by an organisation through a “summary enquiry”.

●Reduction in use of foreign contribution for administrative purposes: The bill decreases administrative expenses through foreign funds by an organisation to 20% from 50% earlier.