Maharashtra CM’s Relief Fund gets Centre’s nod to receive foreign donations for social programmes
Mumbai: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has granted Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 2010, registration to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) of Maharashtra, thereby allowing it to receive foreign donations for “social” initiatives.
This marks the first instance of a state government’s relief fund receiving FCRA approval, a move that will enable the fund to supplement financial aid for victims of natural disasters, major accidents, communal violence, terrorist attacks, and for individuals requiring medical or educational assistance, as reported by The Hindu.
State relief funds generally rely on domestic contributions. The Centre’s latest decision departs from its earlier stance in 2018, when it declined foreign aid for flood relief efforts in Kerala.
The CMRF, registered as a Trust under the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950, is overseen by the Maharashtra government under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister. A tender floated in February indicated that the average number of transactions handled by the CMRF are between one lakh and 1.5 lakh per year.
The Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES), established in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, was exempted from FCRA provisions and permitted to maintain a separate account for foreign donations.
The Home Ministry regulates foreign donations through the FCRA to ensure that such funds do not adversely affect country’s internal security, added the report. All associations, NGOs, or groups intending to receive foreign funds for social, educational, religious, economic, or cultural activities must be registered under the Act.
So far this year, FCRA registration has been granted to 244 organisations, including the Ramakrishna Mission in Kolkata, the Ramakrishna Mission Hospital in Itanagar, and several Buddhist associations. As of May 30, India has 16,141 FCRA-registered NGOs.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
