The foreign funding that non-profits in India received in 2016-’17 fell by Rs 11,274 crore – from Rs 17,773 crore in 2015-’16 to Rs 6,499 crore. Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju revealed the figures in a written response to the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
The dip comes as the Ministry of Home Affairs has been cracking down on thousands of NGOs that receive funds from abroad and cancelling their licences for violating the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.
NGOs and activists have claimed the government’s action is a way to suppress dissenting voices.
In 2016, Opposition leaders had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asked the Centre to not indulge in vindictive politics by “selectively” cancelling the foreign funding licences of NGOs that are critical of government policies.
In his reply on Wednesday, Rijiju said the government had cancelled the licences of 18,868 NGOs between 2011 and 2017, of which 4,842 NGOs had lost their registrations in 2017.
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