FCRA amendment bill has similar provisions like UPA-era law: Panel chief Jaiswal

BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal, who heads the Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, on Tuesday (October 13, 2026) said major provisions of the proposed legislation have the same clauses that were incorporated in the law enacted by the UPA government in 2010.

He said this after a meeting of the committee which interacted with Hindu, Christian and other groups and listened to their views on the proposed legislation, which is facing stiff opposition from certain sections and opposition parties.

Mr. Jaiswal said the Act of 2010 had given the power to the home secretary and the principal secretary of the state to confiscate properties of an NGO receiving foreign funding under the FCRA if there are irregularities while the new bill proposed to give the same power to a designated authority,

"The law brought by the UPA government had decided that if irregularities were found under the FCRA, all the assets would be handed over to the home secretary or principal secretary concerned of the state. However, today, there is a designated authority in place of that arrangement," he told reporters.

He said those who gave their views to the committee on Tuesday (October 13) included representatives of Syro Malabar Church, Ramakrishna Math and ISKCON among others.

"Everyone presented their views. We listened carefully to what everyone had to say. When we sit in our committee meeting, we will discuss these matters. We have heard everyone out, and subsequently, we will deliberate on all these points during the committee meeting. We will take the decisions together," Mr. Jaiswal said.

The bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on March 25 and referred to the JPC on August 12 following consistent demand of the opposition parties, which also alleged that certain provisions of the legislations were highly objectionable.

Opposition parties allege that the FCRA Bill targets minorities as certain provisions will choke legitimate funding for Christian NGOs and minority-run social welfare and educational institutions.

The government has rejected the charges and challenged the opposition parties to identify even one provision that discriminates against minorities.

The government has also maintained that the proposed legislation is not religion-specific and is aimed at regulating foreign contributions.

While introducing the bill in Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai had said the legislation aims at enhancing transparency and ensure proper utilisation of funds received from abroad.

Countering the opposition's charges that the bill is "dangerous", Rai had asserted that it is "indeed dangerous" for those who engage in "forced religious conversion" using foreign contributions, as well as to individuals who "abuse foreign funding" for personal gain.