March 2, 2021

50,000 environmental crime cases await court hearings: CSE report

Environment: As many as 50,000 cases relating to environment were pending trial in courts in 2019, according to the 2021 State of India’s Environment report. This report is an annual publication brought out by Down To Earth in association with Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi-based nonprofit.

In addition to these 50,000 cases, 34,671 environment-related crimes were registered in the same year, with more than 7,000 cases pending police investigation. A similar number of cases (34,503) were reported in 2018, according to the previous edition of the report.

States such as Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra accounted for 77 percent of India’s wildlife crimes in 2019 while Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, and all eight northeastern states reported an increase in instances of wildlife crimes between 2018 and 2019.

The report also highlights the low disposal rate of environment and pollution related cases. On average, the courts disposed of 86 cases every day in 2019 with only 0.13 cases being under the Environment (Protection) Act (EPA).

At this rate, the courts would take more than 20 years to clear the backlog of cases under EPA and more than 13 years for cases under the Wildlife Protection Act, observed the report.

“The maximum numbers of cases that the courts are managing to dispose of currently come under the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act and the Noise Pollution Act. We need to clear the backlog under the other laws as well. Environmental crimes—as the United Nations has pointed out—have the potential to threaten security and sustainable development of nations, and must be dealt with a heavy hand,” Richard Mahapatra, Managing Editor, Down To Earth, said in a statement.

Read this article on why the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Draft 2020 needs to be restructured.


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.