Jagran josh: New Delhi: Friday, 17 July 2020.
The PM
Care Fund was established on 27 March 2020 as a public charitable trust with
the primary objective of dealing with any type of emergency like COVID-19
pandemic in India. In response to an RTI application, the Prime Minister's
Office has refused to show details regarding the use of money collected in this
fund.
"Sathi
hath badhana, Ek akela thak jyega, Milkar bojh uthana"!
This
line of Hindi film songs fits perfectly with the PM Cares Fund, created to deal
with COVID 19 like pandemics in India. The entire country supported the
government and donated huge amounts to fighting this pandemic.
What
is PM Cares Fund?
The
"Prime Minister's Civil Assistance and Emergency Relief Fund" (PM
Cares Fund) was established on 27 March 2020 with the primary objective of
dealing with any kind of emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic in India.
The PM
Cares Fund is a public charitable trust. Any person can donate in this fund and
get 100% tax exemption as per Income Tax rules. Keep in mind that there is
already a Prime Minister's Relief Fund in the country, which was established in
1948.
Composition
of the PM Cares Fund:-
1. Prime
Minister is the Ex-Officio Chairman of the PM Cares Fund.
2.
Defense Minister, Home Minister and Finance Minister are Ex-officio Trustees of
the Fund.
3. The
Prime Minister will have the power to nominate three people as Trustees of the
Board of Trustees, who will be eminent persons in the fields of research,
health, science, social work, law, public administration, and philanthropy.
Objectives
of PM Care Fund:-
1. The
main objective of this fund is that in the occurrence of any kind of natural or
human calamity in the country, people will be given the task of developing
infrastructure along with financial and technical assistance.
If
required; necessary, Research & Development work and development of
required infrastructure will also be done to facilitate the construction of
healthcare or medicine facilities in the country.
2. If
the trustees of the board deem necessary, financial assistance to the affected
population can also be provided.
PM
Cares fund and Right to Information:-
As soon
as the government set up this PM Cares fund and appeal to the people to donate
in this fund, crores of rupees deposited in this fund within a few days.
But now
the donors want to know that how many crores rupees have been deposited in this
fund? But the government is refusing to reveal the amount.
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
central government is maintaining so much secrecy about the PM Cares fund that
is the reason that it has refused to share information under the Right to
Information Act.
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.
Apart
from this, the PMO also argued that the PM Cares Fund is not a public authority
under the RTI Act, 2005, so it is not a compulsion to give information about
it.
Thus, it
is clear from the above description that the government does not want to tell the
country how much money it has received under the PM Cares fund? This is in
sharp contrast to the government's earlier ideology that we are committed to
giving a corruption-free government in the country.
.JPG)
.JPG)
