375 million children in India will suffer poor health, and education losses due to COVID-19

Environment: According to the State of Environment Report, 2021, 375 million children in India are likely to suffer long-lasting impacts on health and education. The report released by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) says the impact on newborns to 14-year-olds will range from wasting, stunting, and increased child mortality, to losses in education and work productivity.

According to Sunita Narain, Director General, CSE, 115 million additional people might get pushed into extreme poverty on account of the pandemic, with most of them living in South Asia. Moreover, India accounts for more than half of the 500 million children who have been forced out of school globally due to the pandemic.

India has ranked 117 among 192 nations in terms of sustainable development and is now behind all South Asian nations except Pakistan.

The country’s air, water, and land have also become more polluted between 2009 and 2018. According to the Central Pollution Control Board, of the 88 major industrial clusters in the country, 35 have shown overall environmental degradation, 33 pointed to worsening air quality, 45 had more polluted water, and in 17, land pollution had worsened. Tarapur in Maharashtra emerged as the most polluted cluster.

67 million Indians died due to air pollution in 2019. The economic cost was over USD 36 billion, equivalent to 1.36 percent of the country’s GDP, as per the report.

Read this article on how COVID-19 has heightened existing climate vulnerabilities and caused climate action to take a backseat. 

Fundraising & Communications: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued a circular extending the validity of FCRA registration certificates to September 30th, 2021. This applies to all FCRA licences that have expired or will expire between September 29th, 2020 and May 31st, 2021. The decision to extend the deadline has been driven by the exigencies arising from the COVID-19 situation.

FCRA refers to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act 2010, which permits charitable organisations based in India to raise funds from foreign sources.

The order also clarified that nonprofits that have already opened an account and have the requisite permission to receive foreign aid, can henceforth receive it only in these newly-opened accounts.

The FCRA law was amended in September 2020 to include a clause that mandated that all nonprofits receiving foreign aid must necessarily open an account in State Bank of India’s New Delhi Main Branch. The government had initially set the deadline for this account opening as March 31st, 2021; it later extended it to June 30th, 2021 after several nonprofits argued in court that there had been delays because necessary approvals from MHA had not been received.

Several organisations have not been able to receive foreign funds during the crisis caused by the second wave, and this has impacted their COVID-19 relief efforts. Relaxing the foreign funding rules could significantly help organisations ramp up their operations to help individuals, supply critical healthcare equipment, and respond to communities in rural areas.

Read this article to know how amending the FCRA can have unforeseen implications.

Philanthropy & CSR: The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has issued a circular that allows corporate spending on health infrastructure for COVID-19 care to qualify as corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditure.

This includes setting up medical oxygen generation and storage plants, manufacturing and supply of oxygen concentrators, ventilators, cylinders, and other medical equipment to counter COVID-19.  

The announcement comes at a time when all efforts are being directed towards expediting efforts to support the country’s healthcare infrastructure.

According to the circular, companies can now undertake projects and activities in collaboration with other companies using CSR funds. Additionally, they can contribute to specified research and development projects, as well as publicly funded universities and certain organisations that conduct research in science, technology, engineering, and medicine.

The government had earlier clarified that setting up makeshift hospitals and temporary COVID-19 care facilities would also be considered a CSR activity. Rajesh Verma, the Corporate Affairs Secretary, has requested businesses to consider converting vacant office buildings into COVID-19 facilities to cater to the rapidly increasing caseload.

Read this article to understand why media attention on COVID-19 deaths due to lack of oxygen in big cities has skewed donor priorities.