A 31-member joint parliamentary committee has been constituted to examine the contentious Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, with BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal appointed as its chairperson.
BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal will chair the committee. Of the 21 Lok Sabha members, eight other members are from the BJP: Bhartruhari Mahtab, Tejasvi Surya, Kamlesh Jangde, Mukeshkumar Chandrakaant Dalal, Nishikant Dubey, Vishnu Dayal Ram, Ananta Nayak and Arvind Dharmapuri.
Congress has four members in the Lok Sabha: Anto Antony, Viriato Fernandes, Muhammed Hamdullah Sayeed and Kali Charan Munda.
The remaining Lok Sabha members are Zia Ur Rehman of the Samajwadi Party, Kalyan Banerjee of the TMC, A Raja of the DMK, Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu of the TDP, Naresh Ganpat Mhaske of Shiv Sena, Kaushalendra Kumar of JD(U), Supriya Sule of NCP (SP) and E T Mohammed Basheer of the IUML.
The 10 Rajya Sabha members include five from the BJP: C Sadanandan Master, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Ujjwal Deorao Nikam, Alka Gurjar and Sat Paul Sharma.
The other Rajya Sabha members are Praful Patel of the NCP, Sanjay Kumar Jha of JD(U), Christopher Manickam of Congress, Menaka Guruswamy of the TMC and P Wilson of the DMK.
Parliament had referred the Bill to a joint committee on August 12 following strong Opposition protests. Opposition parties have alleged that the proposed amendments could adversely affect NGOs and minority institutions, while the government has rejected the charge and maintained that the legislation is aimed at making foreign contributions more transparent and accountable.
Introduced in the Lok Sabha on March 25, the Bill proposes tighter oversight of foreign contributions and seeks to create a designated authority to take charge of foreign contributions and assets when an organisation’s FCRA registration is cancelled, surrendered or ceases to exist.
The committee has been asked to submit its report to the Lok Sabha by the last day of the first week of the Winter Session.
The proposed legislation has also drawn concern in the Northeast. Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma had urged the Centre to refer the Bill to a parliamentary committee for detailed examination, while Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma had also raised concerns over its provisions.
Opposition parties have particularly objected to provisions they say could affect legitimate foreign funding received by Christian NGOs and minority-run educational and social welfare institutions. The government has maintained that the Bill is not religion-specific and is intended to strengthen regulation of foreign contributions. (With PTI inputs)