The first meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, will be held on Friday. MHA officials will brief the panel, chaired by BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal, which comprises 31 members.
The first meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, will be held on Friday, with representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs scheduled to brief the panel on the Bill.
JPC Composition and Leadership
According to a Lok Sabha bulletin issued on September 16, Lok Sabha Speaker has nominated Javed Ali Khan and James Pangsang Kongkal Sangma, Members of Rajya Sabha, as Special Invitees to the Joint Committee.
BJP Lok Sabha MP from Bettiah, Bihar, Sanjay Jaiswal was appointed Chairperson of the JPC on September 3.
The 31-member Joint Committee comprises 21 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha. The Lok Sabha members include Jaiswal, Bhartruhari Mahtab, Tejasvi Surya, Kamlesh Jangde, Mukeshkumar Chandrakaant Dalal, Nishikant Dubey, Vishnu Dayal Ram, Ananta Nayak, Arvind Dharmapuri, Anto Antony, Captain Viriato Fernandes, Muhammed Hamdullah Sayeed, Kali Charan Munda, Zia Rehman, Kalyan Banerjee, A Raja, Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu, Naresh Ganpat Mhaske, Kaushalendra Kumar, Supriya Sule and E T Mohammed Basheer. The Rajya Sabha members include C Sadanandan Master, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Ujjwal Deorao Nikam and Alka Gurjar, along with Javed Ali Khan and James Pangsang Kongkal Sangma as Special Invitees.
Background and Mandate
The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026 was referred to the JPC during the recently concluded Monsoon Session for detailed examination. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai had moved the motion in the Lok Sabha.
The JPC has been tasked with examining the provisions of the Bill and is required to submit its report to Parliament by the last day of the first week of the Winter Session 2026. The quorum for the committee’s sittings has been fixed at one-third of its total membership. The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on March 25. The revised FCRA Rules, 2026 were notified on June 22.
Debate Over the Bill
Opposition parties, including the Congress, Samajwadi Party and Trinamool Congress, opposed the proposed amendments and alleged that they could be used to target NGOs, minority institutions and organisations receiving foreign contributions.
The government has maintained that the proposed amendments seek to strengthen oversight and ensure transparency in the use of foreign contributions, while preventing their misuse or diversion in ways that could affect national interest.
The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act governs the acceptance and utilisation of foreign contributions by individuals, associations and organisations in India. (ANI)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)