Parliamentary panel sets first meeting on proposed FCRA changes

The Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, is scheduled to hold its first meeting on September 18, according to a notice circulated by the Lok Sabha Secretariat. The 31-member panel is chaired by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sanjay Jaiswal. It was constituted after the government moved a motion on August 12 during Parliament’s Monsoon Session, which had not yet been prorogued when the notice was issued.

Officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs are expected to brief committee members on the Bill’s provisions at the first meeting. The legislation was introduced in the Lok Sabha on March 25 and proposes tighter government oversight of non-governmental organisations and foreign funding. Opposition parties have called for the Bill to be withdrawn, arguing that it could target minority-run institutions.

Their main objection concerns the proposed “designated authority”, which would receive broad powers if an organisation’s Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act certificate was cancelled, surrendered or allowed to lapse. Under the provisions described in the supplied material, foreign contributions and assets created from them could vest in a government-appointed designated authority without a prior hearing or judicial determination. If a new certificate was not obtained within a prescribed period, the assets could be sold or transferred to a government department, with proceeds going to the Consolidated Fund of India.

The Bill would also remove an existing right to reclaim assets after re-registration and permanently prevent the founding institution from reacquiring them. Opposition members have described these provisions as excessive governmental intervention and said the legislation lacks adequate safeguards. The committee includes 14 BJP members and five from the Congress.

The remaining members represent the Janata Dal (United), Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Samajwadi Party, Indian Union Muslim League, Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party, Nationalist Congress Party–Sharadchandra Pawar and Telugu Desam Party. The JPC has been asked to submit its report to the Lok Sabha by the last day of the first week of the Winter Session. The supplied material does not state whether the panel may recommend amendments or endorse the Bill in its current form.