THE BIGGEST BLACK HOLE- PM CARES FUND

“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth” - Abraham Lincoln

The Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) was created on 28 March 2020, for having a national fund with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation, like posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to provide relief to the affected. Prime Minister was made the ex-officio Chairman of the PM CARES Fund and Minister of Defense, Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Finance, were declared ex-officio Trustees of the Fund. The Chairperson of the Board of Trustees (Prime Minister) will have the power to nominate three trustees to the Board of Trustees who shall be eminent persons in the field of research, health, science, social work, law, public administration and philanthropy.

 

Details of the fund: -

• Donations to PM CARES Fund would qualify for 80G benefits for 100% exemption under the Income Tax Act, 1961. Donations to PM CARES Fund will also qualify to be counted as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expenditure under the Companies Act, 2013
• PM CARES Fund has also got exemption under the FCRA and a separate account for receiving foreign donations has been opened. This enables PM CARES Fund to accept donations and contributions from individuals and organizations based in foreign countries. This is consistent with respect to Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF). PMNRF has also received foreign contributions as a public trust since 2011.
• During 2019-20 (from 27^th to 31^st March, 2020), an amount of Rs. 3076.62 Crore has been collected under PM CARES Fund

PM Cares fund and Right to Information: -

As soon as the government set up this PM Cares fund, crores of rupees were deposited in this fund within a few days. There are no answers to any of the details of the donations on the PM cares website and the prime minister's office (PMO), which is managing the fund. The government has refused to provide any information with regard to the PM cares fund. Petitions have been filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act and in the courts, seeking more transparency. But so far, the government has avoided any public scrutiny by insisting that PM Cares is not a "public authority", which means it's not controlled or substantially financed by the government and so does not come under the RTI Act. It also means that it cannot be scrutinized by government auditors.

 According to the India Spend.com website, about Rs. 9,677.9 crore was deposited in the PM CARES fund within 52 days of its establishment. On 13 May 2020, the Prime Minister's Office announced that Rs 3,100 crore was allocated from PM CARES for COVID-19 works, which is the first expenditure to be incurred from the fund. This is only 32% of the Rs 9,677.9 crore collected till May 20, 2020.

On 21 April 2020, Greater Noida resident and environmental activist Vikrant Togad sought to know information from the Prime Minister's Office in 12 points under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Vikrant asked that how many crores rupees were deposited in this fund till date? The PMO replied to Vikrant Togad within 6 days that he has asked many questions related to many subjects in the same RTI application, and he should pay for each subject separately. Hence, information can’t be revealed in this condition. It is evident from the response of the government that it doesn’t want to disclose any information about the fund. The only question that strikes here is that why the government is being so discreet about it. Why can’t those people have access to its details who have contributed to this fund? Why can’t those people have access to it who are affected by the pandemic or for whom this fund is actually made?

On the day PM CARES FUND was set up, a massive catastrophe began to unfold in our country. Millions of migrant workers, most of which belonged to the poorest strata, began to flee to their native states after Modi government implemented a sudden county wide lockdown. For weeks they walked hundreds of miles, hungry and thirsty. Some of them walked bare feet to reach their villages. More than 100 people died on their way. I want to ask the government, why weren’t these people helped to travel back safely? If this fund wasn’t meant to reach out to these people then for whom it was meant for? This fund should be renamed as, “PM DOESN’T CARE FUND”.

Ever thought what was the need of creating yet another fund when we already had a PRIME MINISTER ‘S NATIONAL RELIEF FUND since 1948? The PMNRF would have been the logical place to encourage citizens to donate during the times of pandemic. Yet, on March 28 evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to announce the creation of a brand-new fund: - PM CARES FUND. This obviously makes it suspicious as to what was the need to create another fund when we already had one in existence. Public scrutiny isn’t one of the things that Modi likes, values or cares about. The nation has witnessed this on many occasions.

We want the government to be more transparent in its working and show the details of the fund on its site because lack of transparency only leads to distrust and a deep sense of insecurity.