The Union Home Ministry has reinstated the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act registration (FCRA registration) of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. This means that the organization will now be able to receive funds from abroad and will also be able to take advantage of the money lying in the banks. The Missionaries of Charity is a Catholic religious congregation founded in 1950 by Nobel laureate Mother Teresa to help the poor and destitute.
The Ministry of Home Affairs on December 25 rejected the application of “Missionaries of Charity” set up in Kolkata by Mother Teresa for renewal of FCRA registration for not fulfilling the eligibility conditions. The Ministry of Home Affairs, in a statement, also said that it has not stopped the transaction from any account of the Missionaries of Charity, rather the State Bank of India has informed that the institution itself has requested the bank to freeze the accounts.
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Prior to this statement of the Home Ministry, many leaders including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had claimed that the central government has banned transactions from all bank accounts of the institution founded by Mother Teresa. The registration of Missionaries of Charity under FCRA was valid till 31 October 2021. The Union Home Ministry said that the validity was extended till 31 December 2021.
Sister M Prema, Superior-General of the Missionaries of Charity, issued a statement saying that the organization’s FCRA renewal application had been rejected. But there is no order from the ministry to freeze any of our bank accounts. They said that we have asked all our centers not to operate any foreign contribution account until the matter is resolved, to ensure that there is no default. Significantly, on January 1, around 6,000 organizations lost their FCRA licenses as they were not renewed.
