Union Home Minister Amit Shah has launched the FCRA 2.0 portal, which is fully digitised and equipped with advanced features. Several changes have been made to this new portal to improve citizen services. The data for this new portal will be stored on the cloud-based server Meghraj, making it less susceptible to theft. The government is also launching a mobile app in the coming months. Furthermore, an AI-powered chatbot and a dedicated dashboard for banks will also be launched.
What is special about the new FCRA 2.0 portal?
- This new portal has been developed to simplify compliance under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. Applications, renewals, annual returns, and other services received on the portal have been fully digitised, meaning people will no longer need any paperwork.
- The portal will eliminate all paperwork for registration, renewal, filing of annual returns, and other activities. It will function as an end-to-end, paperless platform.
- The government has integrated advanced technologies, including Aadhaar-based authentication, e-signatures, and optical character recognition (OCR) for documents. Therefore, fake documents cannot be uploaded to this portal.
- Furthermore, the new FCRA 2.0 portal will share databases with PAN, Aadhaar, NGO Darpan, banks, and ICAI’s UDIN system, making verification easier.
- Additionally, its dashboard has been enhanced to make the funding coming through it easier to monitor.
Other important features
Other features include full geographic tracking, making donor locations easy to track and trace. NGOs applying to this portal must upload their social media handles, active websites, and other information.
The government’s new FCRA 2.0 portal will allow NGOs to monitor foreign donations in real time. It will also make it easier to trace the location of funds. This portal utilises cloud and advanced technology.
For organisations, this portal reduces paperwork, saves time, and provides a simple and more convenient experience. It includes faster application processing and an integrated, login-based dashboard.
e-OCI Card launched
Amit Shah also launched the Electronic Overseas Citizen of India (e-OCI) Card. Under this system, applicants can complete the entire OCI process online – from submitting the application and uploading supporting documents to downloading the digitally generated card after approval.
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