India falls five places to 88th rank in global freedom: Watchdog report

Social Justice: Washington-based think tank, Freedom House, demoted India’s freedom status from ‘free’ to ‘partly free’. The country’s score decreased from 71 to 67 in the Global Freedom Watchdog report; where a score of 100 refers to the most free country. India’s rank also fell from 83 to 88 out of 211 countries.

The report pointed out that rights and civil liberties “have been eroding since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014”, referring to the attacks on Muslims, use of the country’s sedition law, and the government’s response to COVID-19 which “included a ham-fisted lockdown that resulted in the dangerous and unplanned displacement of millions of internal migrant workers.”

India’s score of 67 puts it on a par with Ecuador and the Dominican Republic. Freedom House noted that the change in India’s status from ‘free’ to ‘partly free’ was significant because, “less than 20 percent of the world’s people now live in a free country—the smallest proportion since 1995″.

Finland, Norway, and Sweden are the most free countries in the world with a score of 100, while the least free with a score of one, are Tibet and Syria.

The Freedom House report again listed ‘Indian Kashmir’ separately, and retained its status as ‘not free’ (the first time it had done so), with its score falling from 28 to 27. Between 2013 and 2019, ‘Indian Kashmir’ was labelled as ‘partly free’. “Disputed territories are sometimes assessed separately if they meet certain criteria, including boundaries that are sufficiently stable to allow year-on-year comparisons,” the report said.

India’s Internet Freedom Score has stayed at 51. However, the report highlighted that internet freedom in India had declined significantly for the third year in a row. It cited internet shutdowns, blocked content, misinformation spread by political leaders, online harassment, amendments to the Foreign Direct Investment Policy, coordinated spyware campaigns, and digital monitoring.

India slips two places in the 2020 Democracy Index. Read this to know more.

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.