FCRA Licence of Think-tank Centre for Policy Research Suspended

The Ministry of Home Affairs has suspended the FCRA licence of prominent public think-tank Centre for Policy Research (CPR) over violation of laws, officials said on Thursday.

The CPR was under scrutiny after Income Tax surveys on it and Oxfam India in September last year.  The Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licence of CPR has been suspended over violation of laws, the officials said.

Oxfam’s FCRA licence was suspended in January last year, after which the NGO had filed a revision petition with the home ministry.  With the suspension of its licence, given under the FCRA, CPR will not be able to receive any funds from abroad.

The donors of CPR included the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the University of Pennsylvania, the World Resources Institute and the Duke University, the officials said. CPR, a non-profit organisation, which also receives grants from the Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR), is a recognised institution of the Department of Science and Technology.

The think-tank has been asked to give clarification and documents regarding FCRA funds received by it, officials said. The FCRA licence of CPR was last renewed in 2016 and was due for renewal in 2021.  According to CPR’s website, it has been one of India’s leading public policy think-tanks since 1973.

CPR is a non-profit, non-partisan, independent institution dedicated to conducting research that contributes to high quality scholarship, better policies, and a more robust public discourse about the issues that impact life in India, it claimed.

It brings together India’s best thinkers and policy practitioners who are at the forefront of both research and engagement in the policy space, drawing from various disciplines and professional backgrounds, the website said.

CPR conducts advanced and in-depth research on a wide range of policy-relevant issues, with a focus on India’s 21st-century challenges, it said.

Through its research and policymaking engagements, CPR works closely with policymakers in its aim to place India firmly on the path of building a twenty-first century policy ecosystem, the non-profit’s website said.

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