Foreign Funds Licence For Mother Teresa’s Charity Restored

North 24 Parganas (India) correspondent: The FCRA licence for Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity was restored Saturday, according to an entry in the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act website, two weeks after the Home Ministry cited “adverse inputs” to refuse a renewal request by the Kolkata-based organisation.
The loss of the license – needed to receive and use charitable contributions from abroad – left the group, which operates orphanages and shelters for the poor, sick, and destitute in India, unable to access foreign funds stored in over 250 accounts.
No statement has been made by the government so far, but news agency ANI said the licence was restored after “necessary documents (were submitted) to concerned department”.
Trinamool MP Derek O’Brien, who was one of several opposition leaders to slam the government over its cancelling of the FCRA licence, this morning tweeted “the power of love is stronger than the power of 56 inch” – an indirect swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The FCRA registration for Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity is back. The ‘adverse inputs’ harassed so many and then disappeared in two weeks. The POWER OF LOVE is stronger than the power of 56 inch,” he wrote.
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram tweeted: “FCRA nod for Missionaries of Charity restored – The Hindu. Guess public opinion and international reaction yielded this.”
The Missionaries of Charity’s FCRA licence was revoked on Christmas Day in a move that was widely condemned by many, including Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The Home Ministry said it had not received a request to review its decision.
The organisation received financial help, however, from the Odisha government. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s office said ₹ 78.76 lakh would be given to 13 of the charity’s institutions in the state.
Refusing FCRA clearance has been listed by critics of the government as its way of suppressing organisations whose work or officials are not considered supportive enough of the government.
Also last week it emerged that more than 12,000 NGOs and charitable organisations in India, including the Missionaries of Charity, had lost their FCRA licences after it expired.
The list of organisations now without FCRA licences includes Oxfam India, which has said that ongoing humanitarian work in 16 states across India will be severely affected.
News is being sent by BTC News (Bangladesh) North 24 Parganas (India) correspondent, Tathyik Bhattacharya. #

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