Democratic backsliding: On the state wielding the FCRA as a weapon

Curbs on financing of civil society bodies denote eroding civil liberties

Less than a year after suspending (to stop something from being active, either temporarily or permanently) the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) licence of the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), the Government of India has cancelled its FCRA licence. The justification for this move — CPR’s publications have been equated with current affairs programming, prohibited (to officially refuse to allow something) for an entity using FCRA funds — is nothing if not farcical (very silly, unlikely, or unreasonable, often in a way that is humorous). As a premier think tank, the CPR has been around for more than half a century, during which it has been an exemplar of public-spirited scholarship feeding into an ecosystem (all the living things in an area and the way they affect each other and the environment) of governance and policy-making where multiple stakeholders (a person such as an employee, customer, or citizen who is involved with an organization, society, etc. and therefore has responsibilities towards it and an interest in its success) and their often divergent interests need consensus-building through informed debates — the hallmark of a democracy. A decision to effectively shut down such an institution by crippling (causing serious injuries or harm) its finances is bound to send the message that India is no longer open to the free flow of knowledge and ideas. The move also fits into a broader, and sadly, by now all-too-familiar, pattern of the state wielding (to have or use power, authority, or influence, or to hold and use a weapon) the FCRA as a weapon to silence entities (something that exists apart from other things, having its own independent existence) whose work is not to its liking — typically those working on environmental issues, civil liberties and human rights. The use of the FCRA to target civil society for political or ideological (based on or relating to a particular set of ideas or beliefs) reasons is perhaps written into its DNA. The legislation is the child of the Emergency, enacted by a regime paranoid about foreign governments interfering (an interfering person gets involved in other people’s lives in an unwanted and annoying way) in India’s internal affairs by channelling funds through NGOs. Since then, it has been amended by successive governments, with the provisions becoming more stringent (having a very severe effect, or being extremely limiting).

When the latest round of amendments was passed in 2020, the International Commission of Jurists denounced (to criticize something or someone strongly and publicly) it as “incompatible (not able to exist or work with another person or thing because of basic differences) with international law” and warned that it would “impose … extraordinary obstacles on the capacity of … civil society actors to carry out their important work”. It appears as though the government has been working hard to prove the ICJ right. Even before dust could settle on the FCRA cancellation of CPR, World Vision India, which works with children, has had its FCRA cancelled. On the one hand, India seeks recognition as a ‘Vishwaguru’. Its calling card as the G-20 host was ‘Mother of Democracy’. The government is hypersensitive (too easily upset by criticism) to rankings on international indices, yet unwilling to acknowledge (to accept, admit, or recognize something, or the truth or existence of something) the link between perception (a belief or opinion, often held by many people and based on how things seem) and reality. When the U.S.-based non-profit, Freedom House, in its Democracy Index, downgraded India to an “electoral autocracy”, a reason it cited was erosion of civil liberties. Shutting off the finances of civil society organisations on flimsy grounds is a textbook example of civil liberties erosion, guaranteed (used to say that something is sure to happen or be true) to amplify the narrative of democratic backsliding (to return to old, often bad, habits, or to a worse condition). It would then be pointless to complain about bias or invoke “conspiracies” (the activity of secretly planning with other people to do something bad or illegal) to tarnish India’s image when these actions get reflected in India’s downgrading (to reduce someone or something to a lower rank or position; to make less important or less valued) in global indices of freedom and democracy.

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