Analysis: As FCRA restricts NGOs, Supreme Court had agreed that right to associate is not carte blanche for foreign funds
The Supreme Court had disapproved of the tendency to seek funds abroad, saying it gave the impression that the nation was incapable of looking after its own needs | Photo Credit: The Hindu The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2026, notified by the Union Home Ministry on June 22, have introduced tougher limits on NGOs to receive foreign donations. These amendments, and the ones before them, source their legality from the Centre’s argument in the Supreme Court that the freedom to form associations or engage in the “business” of charity does not include a right to receive unbridled foreign funds or to use the money outside “permissible activities”. Among other changes, Rule 9(1B) mandates that certificates of registration of NGOs must specify the “purpose or purposes and the States or Union territories”. The Rules limit NGOs to specific and stated spheres of activity, which exclude proselytisation and geographical bounds. Also Read: FCRA Bill — expanding state control over civil society Strengthened by judgments The government’s sweeping powers to regulate foreign donations have been blessed by …
