Home Ministry Hacked To Renew NGO Licenses? No, Finds Probe

New Delhi: Home Ministry computer systems weren't hacked to incorrectly renew foreign funding licenses of 16 non-governmental organisations or NGOs, government sources told NDTV today. An internal probe had been ordered earlier this month after the Ministry found licenses for the NGOs under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act or FCRA, which allowed them to receive contributions from abroad, had been renewed unintentionally before being cancelled again. The government had suspected hacking as one of the possible explanations.

The probe has not concluded yet but sources in the ministry said it was most likely that the wrong renewals were a result of a "systemic error".

Home Minister Rajnath Singh held a meeting today where the foreigners division, which looks after NGOs having FCRA license, was reviewed.

According to the government there are 13,000 NGOs in the country which currently are permitted to accept or apply for funds from abroad.

Almost 20,000 NGOs licenses have either been cancelled over the past one-and-a-half years, impairing their ability to work in areas ranging from health to the environment. The government has said many of these NGOs had not even applied for renewal.

In the past the government had said that the groups had violated the FCRA by not disclosing donation details or by using foreign funds to engage in "anti-national" activities.

In July, a group of U.N. experts said they were stunned by the way the government was applying the law to stymie its critics, adding that the FCRA was "overly broad" and activities deemed political or against the economic interest of the state were vague.

Last week, several NGOs whose licenses were cancelled even after online renewal - which included environmental advocacy group Greenpeace and social activist Teesta Setalvad's Sabrang Trust - had organised a protest against the centre, for what they call was government's efforts to "stifle the voice of dissent".

In defence, government sources said today that they were in the process of streamlining the foreign funding procedures of NGOs for increased transparency.

(With inputs from Reuters)