Mr. Chairman, Sir, I thank you for giving me this
opportunity to speak on this important Bill on behalf of YSR Congress Party.
The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020 amends the Foreign
Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 which regulates the acceptance and utilization
of foreign contribution by individuals, associations and companies. The
Bill prohibits acceptance of foreign contribution by public servants as
defined under the Indian Penal Code. This would be extremely
useful in preventing officers to accept undue favours from sources that are not
in favour of the country’s interest. The Bill also says that any person
seeking prior permission, registration or renewal of registration must
provide the Aadhaar number of all its office bearers, directors or key
functionaries120 as an identification document. This is also a good move to increase
transparency and we welcome it. The Bill further140
provides that the Government may conduct an inquiry before renewing the
certificate to ensure that the person making the application160
is not fictitious or benami, has not been prosecuted or convicted for creating
communal tension or indulging in activities aimed at religious conversion, and
has not been found guilty of diversion or misutilization of funds,
among other conditions. Apart from that, in the earlier Act, a person who
receives foreign contribution must use it only for the purpose for
which the contribution is received. Further, they must not use more than 50
per cent of the contribution for meeting administrative240 expenses. This Bill
reduces this limit to 20 per cent which is a very good move. In addition, under
the earlier Act, the Government could suspend the registration of a person for
a period not exceeding 180 days. The new280 Bill says that such suspension may be
extended up to an additional 180 days. In conclusion, I would like to
mention that the Bill is a timely effort by the Government in
ensuring transparency wherever foreign contributions are taken and320
shall also reduce malpractices wherever foreign funds are involved. This Bill
was much needed and our Party supports the Bill.
Respected Sir, today we are
discussing about a law which is undergoing the third amendment. This law was
enacted in360
2010 and became applicable from 2011. Subsequently in 2016 and 2018, this law
underwent two amendments. Now we are going to amend it for the third time
which will certainly make it worthy of implementation. When our country
became independent, some people were saying that this was not the real
freedom. They were ready to fight for real freedom by400 an armed struggle and
used to garner resources from abroad. Then there were some other people
who sought financial aid from foreign countries and utilized them for religious
conversions. In 1954 a law was enacted in Odisha to prevent religious
conversions. Later on, the M.P. Government also enacted a similar law. Nowadays
many State Governments in India have similar anti-conversion480 laws
in place. The then Ministry of Home Affairs was well aware of the fact that
funds from foreign countries were being utilized in conversion. Hence the
Ministry of Home Affairs had enacted a similar law in 1975 to prevent misuse of
foreign contribution. So, it is nothing new. I am surprised why
it is being opposed now! Perhaps some people are apprehensive that their
interests will be hindered. In this country, there is a lot of scope to
indulgev560
in philanthropic activities. But when the Government asks a person or
institution about their source of fund, whether they were utilized for
personal indulgence or philanthropic activities, one must be ready to
submit the detailed report. What is the objection600 here? As far as I
know, all those institutions who accept foreign contribution should
submit a report before the Chief Secretary through their District
Magistrates. I know about some institutions which have not
submitted any such reports for years together. 640 I have noticed
it myself that in my State as well as in other States, many
high-ranking officials have floated some NGOs and are spending the foreign
funds as per their own desire. Hence, I believe this is a timely and much
needed step in the right direction. The power that Government is acquiring now
to scrutinize should be exercised700 with competence and efficiency. The
right to keep a vigil on these institutions must rest with the chief Secretary
and720
the district administration. They must pay adequate time and attention to these
institutions. A question is being raised as to why Aadhar is essential? I want
to state here that Aadhar, like Passport, is one way of identification. One can
submit Aadhar or Passport as an identification document. There are several
alternatives as well. So, why should anyone object? A beneficiary of the
foreign contribution sometimes partakes his money and fails to submit correct
information. In my own State as800 well as in the entire country we have
seen such cases where foreign contribution has disrupted our social fabric.
Sir, I support this Bill whole- heartedly.
I would like to raise a few pointed
questions and I would ask the840 hon. Minister to reply to all the four
questions because I myself come from a background of NGOs and it is an
unfortunate day that the way the Treasury Benches defended this Bill was
unfortunate. But I will ask for four clarifications and then make my comments
on what the Treasury Benches said. My first point is this. You have brought
down the administrative cost and salaries from 50 per cent to 20 per cent. How
have you reached this magic number of 20 per cent? Is that how you are going to
control salaries and jobs and the number of people in NGOs? What is the logic
behind this 50 per cent and how can any Government control the960
donors who give the money? Tomorrow, you will say that salaries of CEOs need
to be controlled. It is a980 million-dollar question. Second, I
clearly need a clarification because I think there is some disparity in
understanding and we need to clarify this to the nation. You should
clarify why you need an Aadhar compulsorily, when the hon. Supreme Court
repeatedly has ordered that it cannot be made compulsory. The FCRA
account has to be opened only in Delhi. Why should the account be opened
only in Delhi? You have recommended only State Bank of India. What logic does
it make in this age of technology where everything can be managed so well? I
cannot understand why only State Bank1080 of India has
been recommended and other banks have been left out. This is nothing but
harassment. Are you trying to say that other banks are not capable of opening
of FCRA account or managing them? The other point is1120 that there is
arbitrariness of 180 days and then NGO can stop work. We do not think NGOs do a
bad work. It is very unfortunate that one of the Members from the Treasury
Benches, who is a former police officer, made such a bad speech. As a
retired police officer from Maharashtra, what example did he give by saying
that one NGO did not do good work? I am really offended. If he was the
police commissioner, what action1200 did he take on them? One NGO may be
doing a bad work, but there are thousands of NGOs doing very good work for the
education of the sex workers’ children. In this pandemic, the Government has
done excellent work but please do not undermine the NGOs, which have been
doing very good work for years. Whether we are on1260 that side or
this side, we have to see what they are doing. I have one last point which
is1280
most important. He has defended a case which happened in Odisha. It
is about a family which was burnt alive. Whatever actions they did, no law
anywhere in the world allows you to burn people and burn their children.
What1320
is even more shameful is that a Member from the Treasury Benches, who was in
the police, today says that the CBI has said so. Does that mean whatever the
CBI says is all right. Is it all right to burn somebody’s young children
because of the actions of the family? I take complete objection to this. Just
because there is one bad NGO does not mean all the NGOs are bad. So, it is
absolutely unfair. You specifically talked1400 about Greenpeace. What
is wrong about that? There are NGOs; there are lobbies; there are 100 other
ways but that does not mean you call them corrupt or they work with any agenda.
I request the Central Government to stop1440 bulldozing people who do good work. We
come from an Indian culture. Ours is the oldest culture in the universe. It
talks about good work and service. This Government thinks that everybody is
doing something bad. I would like to defend the NGOs. Let me be very
candid in admitting that there is one community in this country
that is doing yeomen service as far as spreading education in this country is
concerned. It is the Christian community of this country. They
have so many convent schools across the country. I personally feel that this
Bill somewhere is trying to create hurdles in the smooth running of those
schools. You talked about emergency. This is an undeclared emergency. This1560
Bill is a multi-pronged attack on the civil societies and minorities. It
is an effort to silence the voice of the voiceless and suppress the
power of the powerless.
