New Delhi: The Union government has constituted a 31-member Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to examine the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill. BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal, who represents Bettiah in Bihar, will chair the panel.
The government had planned to take up key bills, including those related to delimitation and amendments to the foreign contribution law, during the recent Monsoon Session. However, repeated disruptions by opposition parties meant the bills could not be brought up for discussion.
Following this, the proposed FCRA amendment was referred to a JPC for detailed scrutiny. The committee has members from both Houses of Parliament and has been constituted by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
Of the 31 members, 21 are from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha. The panel includes 14 MPs from the BJP and five from the Congress, along with representation from JD(U), Trinamool Congress and the DMK (two each), and one member each from the Samajwadi Party, IUML, Shiv Sena, NCP (SP), NCP and the TDP.
The committee has been asked to submit its report to the Lok Sabha by the last day of the first week of Parliament’s Winter Session. The bill seeks to tighten rules governing how individuals, NGOs and trusts receive and use foreign donations, including provisions on handing over foreign-funded assets if an organisation’s licence is cancelled, expires or is surrendered, and requiring prior Central government approval to initiate investigations for alleged violations.
