Foreign Donations Regulation Bill – 2016

We are constrained to say that in legislating the Foreign Donations Regulation Bill – 2016 the government has used its legislative power to enact laws to prevent public scrutiny of its performance as well as of other constitutional bodies. This will severely curtail the basic right of the citizens, who have elected their representatives to the parliament, to ventilate their views and opinions on these bodies.

There are several queries with regard to the said law. While stating what 'derogatory' comments will constitute a criminal offense, the term has not been defined leaving a wide scope of arbitrariness in applying the law. And we wonder why it is only the foreign funded NGOs that have been singled out. Does it mean that the local NGOs can pass so called 'derogatory' comments?

And what are the constitutional bodies that one is talking about? These are primarily the parliament, the EC, the ACC and the AG. Are we to believe that the MPs are above board or they are not capable of committing error in performing their job? Is the EC not capable of malfunctioning or for that matter the accountant general's office, which deals with the financial discipline of the government departments? So they can't be questioned for any mistake? Will raising the issue of lack of quorum in the parliament, or the misdemeanor of a people's representative, be deemed as derogatory which a foreign funded NGO cannot make but a local NGO can? Why is the government not willing to accept fact based criticisms and comments from all quarters?

We do not feel the need for such legislation. The parliament is fully empowered to deal with any derogatory remarks directed towards it by anyone.