FCRA licence of Centre for Education and Communication cancelled

NEW DELHI: The Union home ministry has cancelled the Foreign Contribution Registration Act (FCRA) licence of Centre for Education and Communication (CEC), for its alleged involvement in violation of the FCRA rules, among others, ET has learnt. The FCRA cancellation came following a scrutiny by the Centre on June 30, this year, said officials familiar with the developments.

The MHA had on June 29 given further extension of three months to NGOs whose FCRA registration was pending till September 30, 2024. Email queries sent to the CEC on July 8 remained unanswered. However, representatives from the NGOs told ET that the licence has been cancelled on arbitrary grounds and that they will take up the matter with authorities.

Other NGOs whose licences were cancelled in the past have expressed difficulties in carrying out day-to-day activities due to financial constraints.


CEC India was founded in 1982 and works towards research, campaign and support on policies that enhance dignified and sustainable livelihood options of workers, in particular informal workers, and small producers. The FCRA registration to the NGO was first granted in September 1986. It received foreign grants from Germany, Edinburg, European Commission, Belgium, London, among others. The NGO, during the pandemic period, ran the Workers' Dhaba campaign, which fed thousands of workers throughout the lockdown period in numerous working class neighborhoods of Delhi-NCR and parts of Uttar Pradesh. It was also involved in a project on green bricks in India's brick kilns that was funded by the European Union and was implemented in destination states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tripura and the source states of Bihar, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

According to sources, several prominent NGOs have lost their FCRA licences in the latest round of scrutiny while 195 new FCRA registration licences have been issued to NGOs till date. These include Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's Meer Foundation and Vedanta-backed Cairn Foundation, among others.