The Union Home Ministry promulgated new Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) rules earlier this week, which seek to restrict the activities of NGOs that receive foreign funding. The rules say that the foreign contributions can be used for the construction or maintenance of religious places, printing and digitisation of sacred scriptures, building facilities for pilgrims, running community kitchens and promoting indigenous and tribal faith practices. However, they ban proselytisation activity using foreign money.

Even before the amendments were formally gazetted, they created ripples not only across India but even in the US. The proposed amendments to the FCRA became an electoral issue during the recent assembly elections in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The ripples reached Capitol Hill in Washington, DC too. James Risch, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, threatened that the US “will not hesitate to call out countries that violate the internationally recognised human rights of Christians”.

Religious conversions were debated during colonial rule. After Independence, a few states like Orissa (1967), Madhya Pradesh (1968), and Arunachal........

© Indian Express