These days, a lot of discussions sprouting on PM-CARES Fund in media, with whole lot of confusions and misunderstandings with a lack of understanding of the prime aim of the fund. We all are aware of the introduction of PM-CARES Fund during the initial days of pandemic COVID 19, but still people are clueless about its operations. So, what is this PM-CARES Fund all about??

PM-CARES: Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situation Fund

As the name suggests it is a fund for citizens in need of relief during emergency situations and it’s a public charitable trust. Though it is introduced amidst the pandemic, it has no relation with COVID 19 Emergency Fund (SAARC) and is managed by PM as the chairman and three cabinet ministers i.e. minister of Defense, minister of Home Affairs and minister of Finance as trustees. This fund accepts voluntary contributions or donations from individuals, organizations, institutions and even from NRIs and foreign donors and it’s been exempted from Foreign Contribution (Regulations) Act, 2010 which regulates any reception and usage of foreign aid or service by individuals or any associations.

 what are the critics arguments?

• We do have a PMNRF: Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (1948) for the relief of refugees from Pakistan after partition of India in 1947. Later on it got amended to include support for people affected by man-made and natural disasters. We also have NDRF: National Disaster Relief Fund providing support, relief and rehabilitation to people affected by threatening situations like disasters i.e. we already have provisions for supporting people in crisis, then why there is a need for a separate fund?
• There is no proper justification from the authorities on the need for creating a new fund in first place. There is lack of transparency and accountability about its operations, management, donations and about auditing process. Ambit of control is still unclear. Even RTI (Right to Information) Act which allows citizens to access information on any public authority doesn’t apply here as PM-CARES is not a public authority.

A writ petition has been filed in Supreme Court, demanding the transfer of PM-CARES Fund to NDRF and also auditing of the fund to be done by CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General). But Supreme Court rejected the demand of auditing by CAG as it’s a public charitable trust not a public authority and it doesn’t have any budgetary support. However, recently Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) tweeted that PM-CARES trust to allocate funds for construction of two COVID 19 hospitals in Bihar for ensuring better medical facilities amidst the pandemic.

Even after clarifications on the matter, still few questions linger, its need in the first place as discussed earlier. Why there is a need for a separate fund if already such schemes are prevalent? If it’s not a public authority then why is it headed by the prime minister of the country? For these answers we need to wait for further interpretations from the respective authorities.