Over 13 million work as bonded labourers in India’

Over 13 million people in India work as bonded labourers, which include children and women. Also, about 15 million children work as child labourers who are employed in rural areas as cultivators or in household industries, while some work in urban areas as servants and even at construction sites, according to a report available with Prayas, a child focused and development NGO.

Delhi alone accounts for one million of these child labourers who work as bonded labourers in small factories and construction sites. Apart from this, the condition of child labour in states like Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh is deplorable, and UP has seen a 13% growth in child labour in the last one decade.

Tara Devi was born in a family of bonded labourers. Her parents had been working in brick kilns for generations and she worked as a bonded labourer in the same brick kilns for years, till she came to know from an NGO that she was a bonded labourer. For her, it was her normal life.

 "I did not know that I was a bonded labourer. I saw my parents doing such odd jobs and therefore I also joined them when I was 10 years old. We hardly get paid and what we get as remuneration is food and some clothes and shelter to live inside the brick kilns. I was married off at a very young age, but even then, I had to continue working there as I was not allowed to leave. But the NGO came and made me realise that I was being used as a slave and rescued me from there," Tara Devi said.  She was freed in January 2010 after which she was given a compensation of Rs 20,000 by the state government to build a home. Now she works with a sewing machine and sends her children to schools so that they don't undergo the "slavery" she had to undergo.

Birender, another survivor, escaped certain death when the owner of the brick kiln where he worked threatened to throw him in fire to burn him alive because his brother had run away.

However, he overcame the trauma not only to become free in 2011, but is now involved in an awareness campaign against human trafficking and bonded labour. At a round table consultation on the "Central Sector Scheme for Rehabilitation of Bonded Labourers 2016" organised by Prayas and Human Liberty Network at the India International Centre in Delhi earlier this week, former Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya expressed his anguish at the situation and said, "It is a shame that bonder labour is still prevalent in this country even after 70 years of Independence".

He said that efforts are being made by the Centre to implement the Central Sector Scheme for Rehabilitation of Bonded Labourers 2016 and the National Child Labour Project (NCLP), adding that ultimately such schemes are to be implemented by the states as the matter is a concurrent subject.

Amod K. Kanth, General Secretary of Prayas, said, "There is a dire need to reach out to the 84 million out of school children and link them to rehabilitation schemes like the bonded labour scheme and NCLP as they would, otherwise, fall prey to bonded labour."

Praising the revamped bonded labour scheme, Kanth added that more states need to set up mechanisms for implementation and creation of the Rehabilitation Fund under the scheme.

Source: http://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/10724-over-13-million-work-bonded-labourers-india

Why is the FCRA being modified? Does it have anything to do with the recent PIL in the Delhi High Court?

FCRA stands for Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. It was originally introduced in 1976 and was subsequently revised in 2010. Concomitant with FCRA is FCRR.Passed in 2011, FCRR provides the rules by which FCRA is enforced.

Recently, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has proposed certain amendments to the FCRR (2011).

The current proposal is to amend a few Rules in FCRR only. The FCRA Act is intact.

 Few facts:

The revised annual budget of ISRO is around Rs 6,000 Crore. The total foreign funds received by all FCRA-NGOs per annum is close to Rs 12,000 Crore.
Approximately 22,000 FCRA-NGOs file annual returns (called FC-6) regularly. The amount mentioned above is received by these NGOs.
The recent massive cancellation of registrationsof about 10,000 FCRA-NGOs is independent of the 22,000 FCRA-NGOs mentioned above. These 10,000 FCRA-NGOs did not file annual returns for ALL these years: 2009, 2010, and 2011. Their licenses were cancelled after due process of law was followed.

Salient features of the proposed amendments

1. Electronic procedures (Clause 9):The hardcopy of the Registration is being changed to an electronic one with digitally signed application. A circular for Digital Signed Certificate was already issued on 3 June, 2015. The need for a bank Demand Draft has also been done away with and has been changed to an Electronic Payment Gateway.

2. Reduction in number of Forms: Registration, renewal and Prior Permission forms have been combined to one single form, called FC-3. Consequently, the form for the annual return will no longer be called FC-6. Instead it will be known as FC-4.

3. Transparency Measures:

i. Earlier, only the summary data on receipts and utilisation of foreign contribution by the NGO were asked to be put in public domain. The same was being done by GoI as well. The proposed changes require the NGO to:

Display the audited statement of accounts including Income and Expenditure statement, Receipt and Payment account as well as balance sheet of the previous financial year before January 31st of each year, on its website.
Display details of money received within seven days of its receipt on its website or on a site prescribed by GoI.
ii. Form FC-4 (the new annual return) will now include the Twitter, Facebook handles as well as the mobile number of the FCRA-NGO. Section 5 of FC-4 will include names and other details of the chief functionaries of the FCRA-NGO.

4. Financial Tracking Efficiency: Banks which receive the foreign funds for an NGO have to report the same to GoI within 48 hours of such receipt.

5. Foreign Nationals: FC-3 form has a new table which asks the NGO to provide information on any foreign national (including PIO/OCI card holders) in its Governing body/Executive Committee.

6. National Interest: The proposed FC-3 form contains an Undertaking to be provided by the NGO that their work is not detrimental to national interest, not likely to affect prejudicially public interest and the economic, scientific, security and strategic interests of the country. This is a new addition.

7. List of Purposes: The annual return has an important section in which the amounts received and the purpose for which it is received needs to be mentioned by the FCRA-NGO. Earlier, 56 options were allowed. The proposed FC-4 form contains this list under 3 categories: A) Service Delivery, B) Civil Rights Advocacy and C) Research. Items removed are: Provision of aids such as tricycles, calipers to the handicapped, providing free legal aid/Running legal aid centre, Environmental Programs and Activities other than those mentioned above. While Environmental Programs is out, Climate Change and Issues regarding Natural Resources are new items which have been added. Another important inclusion is Payment of Honorarium to non-employees/staff as part of specific projects. Most of the sub-items within Civil Rights Advocacy and Research were already present within the Purposes list in the earlier version:that is, in FCRR(2011).

Reason for amendment:

1. The electronic procedures were long overdue, and quicker communication from banksis a welcome step. They show the intention of this Government to be quick on their feet.

2. Assuming that the FC-4 returns will be made publicly available on the MHA website (as is the procedure now with the FC-6 returns), the public will finally get to know the actual owners of FCRA-NGOs. India, until now has had a strange situation in that, the ownership details of privately held, for-profit companies are available for public knowledge while that of not-for-profit FCRA-NGOs are not. The proposed transparency measures, to a good extent, intend to redress this:

ii. FC-3 form of FCRA-NGOs must be made publicly available on the MHA website.

3. Within the list of purposes, the one mentioned as "Activities other than those mentioned above" had the largest usage in the past. A huge number of FCRA-NGOs used to mention this item as the purpose for every remittance received from abroad. In FY 2012-2013, analyses indicate that the total foreign funds received by FCRA-NGOs towards "Activities other than those mentioned above" was a whopping Rs 2024 Crore. How can 20 per cent of all foreign funds received by FCRA-NGOs be mentioned to be outside the scope of listed Purposes?

This was a ridiculous and suspicious situation and hence its removal is welcome. FCRA-NGOs who were probably hiding some of their nefarious activities under this loophole will need to choose any of the other defined items listed under the revised Purposes List.

c. A-40, "Digging of bore wells"

A large number of bore wells have been dug in villages by several FCRA-NGOs.  analyses of public domain FCRA returns data indicate that Rs 15.40 Crore of foreign money has come in FY 2012-2013 specifically for the digging of bore wells.

Most of these FCRA-NGOs belong to a certain religious persuasion. Such bore (water) wells are in fact advertised as "Jesus water wells" by the foreign donors of these FCRA-NGOs on the websites of the former.

Individual donors in foreign countries are being asked to specifically donate for this cause.

Should the ineptitude of State Governments and/or local administrative bodies be allowed to be exploited by agenda-driven, foreign funded NGOs, bent on causing a demographic change? Should FCRR facilitate such projects?

d. A-19 to A-23, "Construction/repair/maintenance of places of worship" up to "Maintenance for priests/preachers/other religious functionaries"

Church Planting within the 10/40 window is major project which is one of the cornerstones of the Lausanne Movement. Church Planting Movement (CPM) as well as the training of batches of National Pastors have been recognized to be two key methods of achieving a critical demographic change in India by foreign leaders and followers of Evangelical Christianity.

Until now, the predominant route to reach that goal has been to finance FCRA-NGOs. The mushrooming of FCRA-NGOs all over India is a testament to this fact. Given these stated goals of foreign donors (as mentioned in their Annual Tax forms filed in their countries) and the one-to-one relationship between them and their Indian FCRA-NGO franchise, is it prudent on the part of Government of India to ignore such a reality? Are these purposes in FCRR desirable? Are they not detrimental to national interest? Would they not prejudicially affect public interest? National and public interests are explicitly mentioned in FCRA (Clause 9, Page 8 of FCRA) as the basic criteria to be satisfied by a NGO for FCRA registration.

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Source: http://legal.hireca.com/post/why-is-the-fcra-being-modified-does-it-have-anything-to-do-with-the-recent-pil-in-the-delhi-high-court/509

Project Coordinator

Organisation:  NIRDPR

Apply By:  15 Sep . 2017

Location:  Hyderabad(Telangana)

Keeping in view, the Applications are invited for the Two (02) positions of Project Coordinators, on Project mode engagement by NIRD&PR in the collaborative project of UNICEF and NIRD&PR titled "Swachhata Prashikshaks" (Trainers team on Sanitation) for Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana for a period of three months. The details of the eligibility, job description and other requirements are as follows:

Position:  Project Coordinator (2 Nos.)

Consolidated remuneration per month Rs. 50,000/-

Essential Qualifications

Post Graduate degree preferably in any Social Science /Rural Development/Management with strong academic background

Experience

5 Years Development Experience With Any National Or State Agencies Or Government Out Of Which At Least One Year In WASH Sector.
Minimum One Year Of Experience In Managing Large Scale Development / Corporate Projects Preferably WASH Projects
Proven Experience In Designing And Facilitation Of Participatory Trainings And Preparation Of Training Modules
Excellent Written And Verbal Communications Skills In Telugu Or Kannada
Proficiency In English And Spoken Skills In Hindi
Proficient In MS Office (MS Word, Excel And Power Point);
Ability And Willingness To Travel Across Three State At Least For 5 Days In A Month (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka And Telangana)

Desirable Qualifications

Good networking and partnership building skills

Experience of facilitation of Community Led Total Sanitation approaches

Experience of creating sustainable Open Defecation Free GPs

Experience in managing teams

Good documentation skills

Maximum age Not more than 55 years

Last date for receipt of the application 15.09.2017

The applications are to be addressed to Assistant Registrar (E), National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRD & PR), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad – 500 030 and also encourage sending soft copy to crinirdpr@gmail.com .

How to apply

For more information please check the Link: http://www.nird.org.in/nird_docs/vacancies/job300817.pdf

Google commits $1 million to flood relief operations in India, Nepal, Bangladesh

Google has committed $1 million to NGOs Goonj and Save the Children to help flood affected people in India, Nepal and Bangladesh

New Delhi: Lending a helping hand in the flood relief operations in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, Google has committed $1 million to NGOs Goonj and Save the Children.

While Save the Children is responding to the floods in all three countries, with the aim to reach a total of 1,60,000 people, Goonj aims to help 75,000 families in nine affected states in India, according to Google.

Save the Children's efforts include providing food and livelihood support, temporary shelter materials for those most in need, hygiene items, and water source restoration, while also focusing on setting up child-friendly spaces where children can gain access to educational materials.

Goonj's relief efforts include providing families with food, mats, blankets and hygiene items. In the long term, it aims to help rebuild and revive community structures such as roads, bridges and schools.

Apart from offering funds to the NGOs, Google's crisis response team has also activated SOS alerts in the three countries. "These alerts include the latest news about the floods, an approximate map of the affected area, and local updates from Twitter and other resources. Our thoughts are with the people of the region," Rajan Anandan, vice president-Google for Southeast Asia and India, said.

Source: http://www.livemint.com/Politics/od9UMAZWFr0WgI7ONQKGzJ/Google-commits-1-million-to-flood-relief-operations-in-Indi.html

Last date of filing of Income Tax Returns extended upto 31st October 2017

Dear Colleagues,

 

Greetings from FMSF!

 

The GST was enacted w.e.f. 1^st July, 2017 and the Government has been extending the due dates for the respective returns in the recent days.

In view of this, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) through its notice dated 31^st August, 2017 has decided to extend the due date for filing of Income Tax Returns and Tax Audit Reports. Now, the due date for such submission has been extended to 31^st October, 2017. In other words, the NGOs where audit is compulsorily required under Income Tax Act may file their Income tax returns till 31^st October, 2017.

 

The said notice has been attached herewith for your kind reference.

 

With regards

 

Dr. Sanjay Patra 
Executive Director

NITI Aayog Handbook of State Statistics

NITI Aayog has developed a Handbook of State Statistics that consolidates key statistics across sectors for every Indian State/UT. While the State data on crucial indicators is currently fragmented across different sources, this handbook provides a one-stop database of important State statistics.

Starting with Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), the handbook provides sectorial compositions of State economies from 1980-81 to the latest possible year. Five different GSDP series are available between 1980-81 and now, and this database covers all of them. It covers statistics on State government finances from 1981 to 2017across indicators such as gross fiscal deficits, revenue deficits, social sector expenditure, capital expenditure etc. Labour statistics from the national sample surveys (NSS), statistics on labour force participation rates (LFPR), worker-population ratio (WPR) by industry and unemployment rates are also presented.

Data on education covers primary, secondary and tertiary levels including enrolment ratios, schools, enrolment, teachers and performance indicators, among others. Some of the health indicators covered by the handbook include infant mortality rate (IMR), birth rates, life expectancy, sex ratio at birth, immunisation and institutional deliveries among others. For certain indicators such as IMR, TFR, birth rates, data from 1971 onwards to 2015 is available. For other indicators the data series starts in 2005.

The infrastructure section provides basic information regarding infrastructure development in States. Data on road length, installed capacity, electricity generation & household electrification amongst other indicators is presented. For most cases, our data series spans the years 2005 to 2015. The final section of the publication provides state-wise estimates of poverty numbers. Data has been presented according to the Lakdawala Methodology (data from 1973-74 to 2004-05) and the Tendulkar Methodology (data from 1993-94 to 2011-12). Please note that this data is not of annual frequency. Rather, it is quinquennial, as estimates for poverty are derived from NSS Household Consumption Surveys.

The Handbook of State Statistics can be accessed here: http://niti.gov.in/state-statistics

Complete Hand Book: http://niti.gov.in/writereaddata/files/StateStats-Ebook.pdf

 

Bloomberg Philanthropies under home ministry scanner

In response to an email query from The Indian Express, a spokesperson for Bloomberg Philanthropies said, "We have not been formally notified about an investigation on Bloomberg Philanthropies; therefore, we do not have a comment."  
Bloomberg Philanthropies, a US-based NGO founded by billionaire Michael Bloomberg that provides funds to various NGOs in India working on anti-tobacco projects, is the latest one to come under the scanner of the Union Home Ministry and the Intelligence Bureau, sources have said.

"We have noticed some irregularities in the use of foreign funds and the same is being taken up with the authorities," a senior home ministry official said. Sources said that if the alleged irregularities persist, the NGO may be brought under a category where they will have to inform the home ministry every time they want to bring foreign funds into India.

In response to an email query from The Indian Express, a spokesperson for Bloomberg Philanthropies said, "We have not been formally notified about an investigation on Bloomberg Philanthropies; therefore, we do not have a comment."  Senior health ministry officials too said they did not have any idea about the NGO being under the scanner of the home ministry.

After the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014, the home ministry has cancelled foreign contribution registration (FCRA) licences of more than 20,000 NGOs over alleged violations.  The probe against Bloomberg started last year following allegations that the NGO is running a campaign to target the tobacco industry in India.
In a report, the Intelligence Bureau has said such lobbying against the tobacco industry impacts the lives of 35 million people employed in this sector.

Home Ministry officials, however, said that the probe against Bloomberg was one of the grounds to reject renewal of licence of a Bangalore-based NGO that was reportedly receiving huge grants from them.

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/bloomberg-philanthropies-under-home-ministry-scanner-4821584/