• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• BL Club
• Smartbuy

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Nov. 4 In a bid to tackle the problem of governments and industry working at cross-purposes in rolling out development programmes across various parts of the country, a Government panel has called for mutual consultation between corporate entities planning to take up projects in an area and the local government concerned.

“When a community benefit project is taken up by a corporate entity, there should be some mutual consultation between the company and the local government so that there is no unnecessary overlap with other similar development programmes in the area,” the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) said in its ninth report.

To make the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976, more stringent, the ARC suggested that organisations, including societies, trusts, charitable institutions and wakfs, getting over Rs 10 lakh a year as foreign contribution, must be scrutinised.

Releasing the 231-page report at a press conference, the ARC Chairman, Mr Veerappa Moily, said organisations receiving an annual foreign contribution equivalent to less than Rs 10 lakh should be exempted from registration and other requirements.

“The law may provide that they may be liable to be investigated, if there is a reasonable suspicion of suppression or misrepresentation of facts, and penal provisions of the law will be used against them in case violation is established,” he said.

The commission, in its report, said it was “aware that a large number of voluntary organisations are receiving donations from foreign sources and it is quite possible that at times the funds could be used for purposes which could adversely affect national interest”.

The ARC report, which covers categories of institutions including societies and truest, self-help groups, cooperatives and professional self-regulatory bodies, also recommended a system of accreditation or certification of voluntary organisations that seek funding from government agencies.

The report suggested amending the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Bill 2006 to facilitate speedy disposal of registration and permission petitions received from organisations.

It has advocated “proper scrutiny” of returns field by these bodies, decentralisation of some of the functions under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act and delegation to the State governments or district administrations concerned.

More Stories on : Society & Development | Social Welfare

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line