FCRA: Does it still serve its purpose?

JAIPUR: The Foreign Contribution Regulation Act has been amended, in the latest budget session of Parliament, to allow political parties access to foreign funds. This move has come under fire from the Communist Party of India-Marxist. “This will have grave repercussions for the democratic system and impact on the political party system itself. It will lead to direct intervention by MNCs in the political system and subvert the integrity of parliamentary democracy,” the CPI-M said in a statement.
The Act itself, however, was last month criticized by the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of assembly and association, Maina Kiai, who submitted his 17-page analysis to the Government of India on April 20.
Kiai argues that the act does not conform to international standards – it restricts the ability of civil society organizations to receive foreign funds. Such access, he argues is fundamental, under international law, for unrestricted freedom of association.
Kiai argues that there is no coherent defence of restricting this right of association. He says the FCRA restricts access to foreign funds for activities of a “political nature”. But activities that are “political” are vaguely defined – even students, workers and farmers, for instance, could be denied funds.
Kiai notes that “there may be an unacceptable risk that the law could be used to silence any association involved in advocating political, economic, social, environmental or cultural priorities that differ from those espoused by the government of the day.”