The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday (16 September) made it mandatory for all functionaries and members of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to declare they have not been linked with religious conversion or booked for communal disharmony, reports The Economic Times.

The ministry said the declaration was now a requirement to register under Foreigners Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) for any individual working at an NGO. According to the Foreign Contribution registration Rules (Second Amendment) Rules, 2019, each office bearer, functionary, and member has to file an affidavit on a Rs 10 non-judicial stamp paper and get it attested by notary public.

Earlier under the 2011 norms, only top officials had to make this declaration while seeking MHA’s permission to receive foreign funds under FCRA.

The FCRA rules monitoring NGO licences to seek outside the country funding have been previously amended in 2012, 2015, and 2019. The personal gift value, however, has now been increased from Rs 25,000 to Rs 1 lakh in a financial year by amending rule 6A of the act.

The amendment also made a change in the rules for medical emergency situations which now says, “In case of emergency medical aid during a visit abroad, the acceptance of foreign hospitality has to be intimated to the government within 30 days instead of 60 days earlier.”