We, the members of the Medico Friend Circle (MFC), express our deep concern over the sudden and apparently arbitrary revocation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) licence of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India.

It is indeed surprising that an FCRA ­licence which was granted in August 2016, after an undoubtedly thorough scrutiny by the MHA, was revoked with retrospective effect within a few months on 10 April 2017, by the same ministry. Such a procedure suggests that it is a ­severe punitive measure, and raises questions about the appropriateness of the procedures adopted by the MHA for scrutinising applications for FCRA.