NGOs receiving foreign funds to disclose website & social media during Registration, Audits

The Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) receiving foreign funds will have to mandatorily disclose their website and social media accounts while seeking registration and filing of audit reports, according to new rules.

Such organisations will also have to provide details of publications brought out by the NGOs with brief descriptions of articles with dates of its release, the notification by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said.

The fresh rules had earlier said that foreign funds for NGOs and other institutions will be restricted to 105 religious, cultural, economic, educational and social activities while barring anything related to religious conversion. 

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) also imposed new penalties for violating the law regarding receipt and utilisation of foreign contributions by NGOs, which include spending such funds for speculative activities and in states and union territories for which it does not have registration.

At present, there are 14,460 organisations and institutions with licence to collect foreign funds. Around 52,000 NGOs and institutions had licence to collect foreign funds since 2010 but of this, around 37,700 have their registrations cancelled or deemed to have expired as on Wednesday. The fresh rules have attracted criticism from various quarters, including the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) which called it "unnecessary" as it is aimed at making such activities dificult