Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 28 December 2016
:: National ::
PM says terrorism and drug mafia has been badly affected by demonetisation
- With the 50-day deadline for exchange of old Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes under demonetisation drawing near, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday said his “fight” against black money and corruption would continue unabated.
- Acknowledging that people had undergone “immense” trouble due to the invalidation of the Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “indebted” to the people for their support.
- Mr Modi said his government had initiated schemes for the poor, including rural electrification and the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana where cooking gas cylinders have been distributed to rural women.
- “Through the note ban, in one stroke, we destroyed the world of terrorism, drug mafia, human trafficking and underworld,” Mr Modi said.
FCRA licences of more than 20000 NGO's cancelled in last two years
- Since the NDA government came to power in May 2014, the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licenses of at least 20,000 NGOs were cancelled by the Home Ministry.
- Of these 20,000 NGOs, the FCRA licenses of over 9,500 NGOs were cancelled in 2015. Licenses of another 11,000 NGOs expired as they failed to apply for renewal in time.
- “Expiry” technically meant cancellation and the NGOs could no longer receive foreign funds but they have been given time till February 2017 to send in fresh applications.
- Despite the crackdown, in the past one year, the Home Ministry received applications for fresh FCRA licenses from 3,000 NGOs.
- Among the 13,000 valid NGOs, around 3,000 have submitted applications for renewal.
- In addition to this, 300 NGOs are currently under prior permission category but are not registered under the FCRA, which means they need the Ministry’s nod whenever they want to receive foreign funds.
- Since the FCRA license is given for five years, this year all the NGOs had to apply for a renewal and the last date was March 31. The last time, such exercise was done in 2011 after the FCRA Act was amended in 2010.