India weighs severe amendments to foreign funding laws.

On July 30, India's Parliament began debating a new round of amendments to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), according to International Christian Concern (ICC). The proposal significantly expands the central government's power: rather than merely restricting the use of foreign funds, it would allow the seizure or freezing of assets belonging to NGOs, community hospitals, and Christian ministries that receive international financial support for mission and social-outreach activities.

This is an escalation from the guidelines already in force since late June, which banned the use of foreign donations for proselytizing and church planting (read the previous story in this series). While that measure restricted how the money could be used, this proposal targets the assets themselves — hospitals, land, equipment — of organizations that receive funding from outside the country.

A target wider than churches

It's worth noting that, as currently being debated, the proposal doesn't affect only explicitly religious organizations: community hospitals and social-outreach NGOs sustained with international support also fall within its scope. That means the impact of any eventual passage would extend well beyond evangelistic activity — hitting hard the social-outreach network that, in practice, is often maintained by the very same Christian organizations targeted by the law.

Background: FCRA: the law that decides who may receive foreign donations