Govt cancels policy think tank CPR’s foreign funding license 

India has canceled prominent think-tank Centre for Policy Research’s (CPR) foreign funding license over alleged violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). 

The cancellation comes a year after the decision to suspend FCRA registration of the organization in February 2023 following an income tax survey in September 2022. 

CPR said in a statement that it is in complete compliance with the law, and has been cooperating fully and exhaustively at every step of the process.

“We remain steadfast in our belief that this matter will be resolved in line with constitutional values and guarantees,” CPR president and chief executive Yamini Aiyar said. 

An FCRA registration allows a non-government organization to raise funds from abroad to carry out its declared tasks. 

India’s home ministry said the organization violated provisions of the foreign funding law.

Last year, the government told the Delhi High Court that it had suspended the CPR’s foreign funding permission because it was receiving contributions for “undesirable purposes” likely to affect the country’s economic interest.

The ministry alleged that CPR transferred foreign contributions to other entities and deposited the contributions in non-designated accounts in violation of FCRA.

In her statement, Aiyar said one of the reasons given for the cancellation of its FCRA status was “the publication on our website of policy reports emanating from our research being equated with current affairs programming.” 

“The basis of this decision is incomprehensible and disproportionate, and some of the reasons given challenge the very basis of the functioning of a research institution,” she said. 

“The actions have had a debilitating impact on the institution’s ability to function by choking all sources of funding. This has undermined the institution’s ability to pursue its well established objective of producing high quality, globally recognized research on policy matters, which it has been recognized for over its 50 years’ existence,” Aiyar said. 

CPR was established in 1973 and has been one of India’s leading public policy think-tanks since.

“CPR is a 50-year-old institution that has a proud legacy of deep contributions to India’s policymaking ecosystem, and over the past five decades has been home to many distinguished faculty, researchers, and members of the board,” Aiyar said. 

The donors of CPR included the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, World Bank, Ford Foundation, and Brown University among others, the Press Trust of India reported.

CPR counts former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former chief justice of India late Y. V. Chandrachud, and veteran journalist late B.G. Verghese among its former governing body members.