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NEW DELHI: The government has revoked the registration of Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), an NGO funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, under the Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Act over alleged misuse of foreign funds for anti-tobacco lobbying, in violation of FCRA norms.

The home ministry's revocation of renewal of PHFI's FCRA licence has rendered it ineligible to receive any funding from abroad. A source said the main FCRA violation charge against the NGO, which has also worked in partnership with the ministry of health and family welfare, is that it had used foreign funds totalling Rs 43 crore to lobby with parliamentarians, media and government on tobacco control issues, which is not one of the five permitted activities under FCRA.

The five permitted activities for which NGOs can receive foreign contributions include social, cultural, religious, educational and economic. PHFI was registered under FCRA under the head "social and educational".

According to a home ministry official, PHFI received around Rs 43 crore for tobacco lobbying, which it misrepresented as 'research grants' in its FCRA returns. The officer added that an NGO was not permitted to lobby for tobacco control, which could only be done by an entity as a public relations company that must pay due taxes.

"Anti-tobacco lobbying is a valid and perfectly legal activity but not through zero-tax NGOs," the officer told TOI.

See more here:
MHA says PHFI violated law by lobbying MPs, media on tobacco control - Times of India