Hyderabad Public School Society gets FCRA licence

The union government has granted five-year Foreign Contribution Registration Act (FCRA) licence to prestigious Hyderabad Public School Society (HPSS) in Telangana. The licence was issued on April 5, 2023 till 2028 to help facilitate the society to obtain foreign grants. As many as 21 NGOs have been issued FCRA licences that were granted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) this year so far including Sikkim Manipal University, International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology iFOREST headed by former director general of CSIR R A Mashelkar among others.

According to officials, the FCRA registration has been granted after examining application of NGOs filed last and early this year, stating the objective for foreign funding and their sources. The Hyderabad Public School Society was formed under the Societies Registration Act to take over the management of the School after abolition of the Jagirdari System in 1950. It has illustrious alumnis including Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Ajay Pal Singh Banga who was recently appointed to head World Bank, film actor Nagarjuna and cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle among others.

An email query sent to HPSS on grant of FCRA license remained unanswered till the filing of the report. Among other NGOs which were issued FCRA license were Indo-Sri Lanka International Buddhist Association while children's rights activist Kailash Satyarthi foundation license was renewed after the overhaul during the deadline ending March 31, 2023. The number of organisations registered under FCRA dropped down to 16, 327 on April 8, 2023 from 16,352 on March 26,2023, as per MHA.