Guwahati News Desk: The philanthropic organization called ‘Missionaries of Charity’ started by Mother Teresa has been barred from accessing foreign donations by the Indian government on Saturday.
The news about the organization being barred was released by the Home Ministry said in a statement on Monday.
According to the Home Ministry, the organization’s application to renew its license to continue getting foreign funds under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act was refused on Saturday (25 December 2021) for not meeting the eligibility conditions.
The ministry stated, “No request / revision application has been received from Missionaries of Charity (MoC) for review of this refusal of renewal.”
Meanwhile, the Christian charity confirmed in a statement that the renewal of its FCRA application hasn’t been approved and that it has asked its centres not to operate foreign contribution accounts until the matter is resolved.
The Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, tweeted to say that she was “shocked” to learn about the central government blocking the group’s access to its bank accounts on the day of Christmas.
However, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in its statement the “MHA did not freeze any accounts of MoC. State Bank of India has informed that MoC itself sent a request to SBI to freeze its accounts.”
Moreover, it is not the first time that a charitable organization or rights groups has lost its license to get money for its activities from overseas donors. Since it came to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has cracked down on hundreds of NGOs.
Furthermore, it was in the last year when Amnesty International shut down its India operations after accusing the government of “constant harassment,” including freezing its bank accounts.
