New Delhi: For a government that has generally been perceived to be trigger-happy in cancelling or stalling the licenses granted under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (FCRA) of an unprecedented number of non-profits over the last decade, its decision to grant the same to a relief fund controlled by Maharashtra’s BJP chief minister Devendra Fadnavis may raise eyebrows.

The Union ministry of home affairs, the nodal body that regulates foreign donations to Indian non-profits, has granted an FCRA registration to Maharashtra’s Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF), The Hindu reported on Friday (May 30).

The ministry under the leadership of minister Amit Shah has allowed the CMRF to receive foreign donations for “social” programmes, making the Fadnavis-led fund the first state government relief fund to have been granted an FCRA license.

Earlier, a similar but technically different move by the Union home ministry had allowed the controversial PM CARES fund to accept foreign donations.

The PM CARES or Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund, a body privately set up in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, was exempted from the FCRA's provisions, which enabled it to open a “separate account for receiving foreign donations”.

The CMRF, however, was directly granted a FCRA registration.

The CMRF was set up to supplement financial aid to people affected by natural calamities, accidents, communal riots, terrorist attacks and those who need medical or educational help.

It was registered as a Trust under the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950 and is supervised and controlled by the chief minister.

Until now, the fund entirely depended on domestic contributions.

Notably, the Union home ministry in 2018 had declined the Kerala government’s request to allow foreign aid for flood relief in the state, the daily reported.

“According to a tender floated in February, the average number of transactions handled by the CMRF are between one lakh and 1.5 lakh per year,” The Hindu said.

The Union home ministry regulates foreign donations through the FCRA to NGOs carrying out social, educational, religious and cultural activities, with an ostensible purpose to ensure that such donations do not adversely affect India’s internal security.

The FCRA was first enacted in 1976 but was replaced by a new legislation in 2010 and further amended in 2020, following which the cancellations of FCRA licenses spiked greatly.

“As on Friday, there were 16,141 FCRA-registered NGOs in the country,” the daily reported.

In February 2024, The Hindu had reported that over 20,000 FCRA licenses were cancelled from 2012, out of which over 10,000 were recorded in 2015 alone.

Multiple prominent social welfare organisations like Oxfam India, think tanks like the Centre For Policy Research or media portals like NewsClick have lost their ability to source foreign donations in the process.

Tamil Nadu-based organisations topped the list with over 2,500 cancellations, while NGOs based in Uttar Pradesh saw the highest number of such cancellations if seen as a share of FCRA licenses granted in a state.

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