Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla on Thursday constituted a 31-member joint committee of Parliament (JPC) to review the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026 , more than three weeks after the proposal to send the controversial legislation to a parliamentary panel was accepted in the Lower House.
The panel has 14 BJP MPs, including Jaiswal and a total of 19 National Democratic Alliance lawmakers. A Lok Sabha bulletin added that Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker Sanjay Jaiswal, a four-term MP from Bihar, is the chairperson of the panel. The Telugu Desam Party, Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party have one member each, and the Janata Dal (United) has two members. Three nominated members who had joined the BJP – C Sadanandan Master, former external affairs secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, and criminal lawyer Ujjwal Deorao Nikam – are part of the panel. The Congress has five berths. The Samajwadi Party, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) and Indian Union Muslim League have one member each. The Trinamool Congress – both of them loyal to Mamata Banerjee – and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) have two members each in the panel. No member of the rebel TMC group found a place. Jaiswal thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Birla. The amendments establish a designated authority for “a comprehensive framework for vesting, supervision, management and disposal of foreign contribution and assets, including provisional and permanent vesting. The Congress lawmakers include Anto Antony, Captain Viriato Fernandes, Md Hamdullah Sayeed, Kali Charan Munda and Christopher Manickam. Zia Ur Rehman of the SP, TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee and Menaka Guruswamy, JD(U)’s Kaushalendra Kumar and Sanjay Jha, and DMK’s A Raja and P Wilson are also part of the panel. They have called for stronger safeguards for civil society groups and institutions receiving foreign funds.
“Heartfelt thanks for this important responsibility,” he said. A provision stated that the government can appoint a “designated authority” to take over, manage, or sell assets created from foreign funds by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) whose licence under FCRA was cancelled, suspended, or simply not renewed.
Earlier reporting noted: Congress, Samajwadi Party and Trinamool Congress leaders had demanded that the Bill be withdrawn, alleging that the proposed changes could increase government control over NGOs, minority institutions and organisations receiving foreign contributions. Earlier reporting noted: Opposition parties have also raised concerns that the amendments could be selectively used against organisations that disagree with the government’s position.
