FCRA Bill may be sent to joint committee for scrutiny
The government is considering referring the FCRA Amendment Bill, 2026, to a joint committee of Parliament for further examination. Congress and some opposition parties have demanded its withdrawal, while others support scrutiny by a joint parliamentary committee
New Delhi: The government is considering sending ‘The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026’ to a joint committee of both Houses of Parliament for further examination, even as the Congress and some other opposition parties have demanded that it be withdrawn, sources said on Tuesday.
The Congress and TMC were among the parties which raised the issue during the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the Rajya Sabha, though it was not part of the agenda, asking when the FCRA Bill will be taken up in the House, to which the government said a decision will be taken on it in due course.
The two parties demanded that the Bill be withdrawn, but others, like the BJD, are of the view that the Bill could be sent to a joint committee of Parliament for further scrutiny.
DMK leaders Tiruchi Siva and P Wilson later said the party wants the Bill to be completely withdrawn. The party voiced its stand during the BAC meeting also.
The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on March 25 this year and proposes tighter government oversight on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and foreign funding in the country.
Government sources said it is considering sending the Bill to a joint committee of both Houses of Parliament and a motion may be brought in the Lok Sabha in this regard on Wednesday.
The Bill seeks to create a designated authority to manage and dispose of assets if an organisation loses its FCRA licence.
The opposition parties, which have raised strong objections to the FCRA Bill, allege that it targets minorities as certain provisions will choke legitimate funding for Christian NGOs and minority-run social welfare and educational institutions.
Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma and leading Christian organisations had earlier urged the Centre to refer the contentious Bill to a joint committee of Parliament for detailed examination.
Lalduhoma and Christian organisations had met Home Minister Amit Shah and expressed their concerns over the proposed legislation.
DMK MP Wilson also led a delegation of Church leaders to the Home Minister, seeking withdrawal of the amendment Bill and the repeal of Section 15 of the existing law. DMK chief MK Stalin also urged the Centre to withdraw the FCRA Bill.
However, the government has made it clear that the proposed legislation is not religion-specific and is aimed at regulating foreign contributions.
Voicing strong concerns against the proposed amendment Bill, Congress leader K C Venugopal had alleged that it targets minorities and NGOs and said the Opposition would not allow it to be passed.
“Even if Amit Shah comes to pass this anti-people Bill, there is no doubt that he will have to face strong protests in Parliament. This Bill is unconstitutional and anti-people. We will not allow such an anti-people and unconstitutional Bill to be passed,” Venugopal had said.
NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule had, in her remarks made last week, opposed the FCRA Bill in its present form, saying one cannot always view foreign funding with suspicion, and urged the Centre to either withdraw it or refer it to a joint committee.
Some US lawmakers of both Democratic and Republican parties, including Senator James Risch, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have voiced concerns over the planned changes to the FCRA, saying they could adversely impact Christian organisations and other civil society groups.
India, however, rejected the criticism, describing the legislative matter as an internal affair.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the proposed changes to the FCRA are an internal legislative issue of India.
India’s Ambassador to the US Vinay Mohan Kwatra has said the amendments to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act were aimed at bringing in more transparency and expected organisations to receive money through a laid-down process.
In a series of posts on X, Kwatra on Sunday said regulating foreign financial flows in public and political spaces is a sovereign step driven by national security concerns and cited similar laws enacted by the US for this purpose.
“The US has had FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) since 1938 and FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) since 2010. Australia legislated in 2018, Canada in 2024. The UK’s scheme came into force in July 2025. The EU is legislating now,” he said.
The Tuesday meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of the Rajya Sabha was chaired by Chairman C P Radhakrishnan and attended by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, Leader of the House J P Nadda and opposition leaders including Jairam Ramesh (Cong), Tiruchi Siva (DMK) and Sasmit Patra (BJD).
During the meeting, BAC allotted two hours for ‘The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026’; two hours for ‘The Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2026’; three hours for ‘The National Co-operative Development Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2026’; and 1.5 hours for ‘The Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026’.
Later, Deputy Chairman Harivansh announced the decisions of BAC in the House.
