Congress MP K.C.
Venugopal wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday (October 1, 2026) over the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill (FCRA), flagging concerns that “no meaningful consultation” with stakeholders is taking place and that there is an intention to have the Bill passed hastily in the forthcoming Winter session.
In his letter to Speaker Birla, Mr. Mr. Birla.
Venugopal said if this is so, it would defeat the very purpose for which the House referred the Bill to the Committee, and reduce an important parliamentary process to a mere formality. Venugopal said members should have full opportunity for clause-by-clause deliberation, and demanded that the Bill is not taken up in the House until the Committee has completed a genuine and comprehensive examination. “I write to draw your kind attention to the manner in which the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026 is reportedly proceeding, and to seek your intervention as the custodian of this House and its Committees,” he said in his letter to Mr.
“We believe that any Bill that emerges out of a JPC should be flawless, and Parliament should be assured that it has passed through a rigorous consultation process.
Proposals such as extending the bar on foreign contribution to “any person” and transferring the funds and assets of an organisation to a Government-designated authority on cancellation or non-renewal of its registration have caused deep anxiety among these institutions, Mr. Venugopal said. A reference to a JPC carries a clear meaning — wider consultation and deeper scrutiny, and its purpose is to hear from every and stakeholder — NGOs, charitable institutions, religious bodies, voluntary organisations, legal experts and state governments and to bring before the House a well-considered and flawless Bill, he said. Without ensuring that, a JPC is a meaningless exercise, and a fraud on the Parliament,” he said.
The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 25 March 2026, and from the outset all Opposition parties opposed it in one voice, as its provisions are seen as targeting the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and minority institutions of our country – the schools, hospitals, orphanages and charitable bodies that form the backbone of our grassroots developmental and social welfare frameworks, serving people of every faith for generations, he said.
