Modi government refuses Mother Teresa charity foreign funds clearance

• Shubham
• 27 December, 2021

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By: Shubham Ghosh

THE Indian ministry of home affairs on Monday (27) said the Missionaries of Charity’s (MoC) application for the renewal of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) registration was refused on Saturday (25) as it failed to meet the eligibility conditions after some adverse inputs were received.

In a statement, the ministry said it did not freeze any account of the Catholic religious congregation which was set up by Mother Teresa in 1950 but India’s biggest public bank – the State Bank of India – informed that the organisation itself had sent a request to the bank to freeze its accounts.

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The ministry’s statement came hours after Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal where the organisation is headquartered, claimed that the Narendra Modi government had frozen all bank accounts of the organisation.

“Shocked to hear that on Christmas, Union Ministry FROZE ALL BANK ACCOUNTS of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in India! Their 22,000 patients & employees have been left without food & medicines. While the law is paramount, humanitarian efforts must not be compromised,” she tweeted.

Shocked to hear that on Christmas, Union Ministry FROZE ALL BANK ACCOUNTS of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in India!

Their 22,000 patients & employees have been left without food & medicines.

While the law is paramount, humanitarian efforts must not be compromised.

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) December 27, 2021

The Modi government said the application for the renewal of FCRA registration of Missionaries of Charity was refused for not meeting the eligibility conditions under the FCRA 2010 and the Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules (FCRR) 2011.

“No request or revision application has been received from Missionaries of Charity for review of this refusal of renewal,” the statement said.

The MoC’s registration under the FCRA was valid up to October 31, 2021.

The ministry said the validity was subsequently extended up to December 31, 2021, along with other FCRA associations whose renewal application were pending renewal.

“However, while considering the MoC’s renewal application, some adverse inputs were noticed. In consideration of these inputs on record, the renewal application of MoC was not approved,” the statement said.

“The State Bank of India has informed that MoC itself sent a request to SBI to freeze its accounts,” the statement said.