The Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) license of the Delhi-based public think-tank Centre for Policy Research (CPR) has been suspended by the Central government, as per a report by Economic Times.
The FCRA licence of CPR was under scrutiny after income tax raids conducted in September last year on CPR and Oxfam India.
Notably, the FCRA licence of Oxfam India was revoked in January last year as the trust did not apply for renewal of the licence, as said by the Ministry of Home Affairs back then.
As per the ET report, CPR’s licence has been revoked due to non-compliance with FCRA rules. CPR had filed for the renewal of the licence.
Citing officials, ET reported that the modalities are being worked out for CPR to utilise the funds received in the FCRA account. The CPR filing states that during the period of October 2022 to December 2022, funds amounting to Rs 10.1 crore were received from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the University of Pennsylvania, the World Resources Institute and Duke University.
Reportedly, the findings of I-T raids on CPR were one of the reasons leading to the suspension of the FCRA license. The Ministry is reported to have sought clarification and documentation pertaining to FCRA funds received by CPR. In a mailed response to ET, a senior functionary at CPR has stated that the FCRA application is under renewal.
It is notable that in September last year, Income tax raids were conducted at the Centre for Policy Research. CPR is headed by Yamini Aiyar who is the daughter of controversial Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar.