March 12, 2021

389 people died while manually cleaning sewers, septic tanks between 2015 and 2019

Social Justice: As many as 389 people died in the country while manually cleaning sewers and septic tanks between 2015 and 2019, said the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale said FIRs have been registered against 266 people for engaging people in hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks that resulted in fatalities.

Of the 210 manual scavengers who died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks in the last three years, compensation has been paid to their families in 165 cases, said Athawale.

He further informed the house that 66,692 manual scavengers have been identified so far by municipalities and gram panchayats across 17 states of the country. In 2019, a national survey was conducted in 194 districts of 18 states which identified 48,345 manual scavengers till January 31st 2020.

According to a report by the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis, 2019 saw the highest number of cases between 2014 and 2019, with 110 deaths. The report showed that there had been 68 deaths in 2018, 93 in 2017, 48 in 2016, and 57 in 2015. These cases were reported from 18 states and union territories (UT), while 13 states and UTs submitted “nil reports”.

Read this interview in which Bezwada Wilson—a crusader against manual scavenging—talks about the need to build a Dalit-led grassroots movement to liberate the community from this practice.


May 20, 2021

Home Ministry extends validity period of FCRA registration certificates

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.


May 20, 2021

Corporate spending on oxygen support and medical equipment now counts as CSR

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.