One third of Rs. 10, 990 cr. in PM CARES fund spent: audit

Contact Counsellor

Last Updated08/02/2022

Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund.
In the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched this initiative.
It is a national fund geared to coping with any type of emergency or crisis situation.
It is a public charitable trust.

To provide any sort of relief or help linked to a public health disaster or any other type of emergency, such as the construction or upgrade of healthcare or pharmaceutical facilities, other necessary infrastructure, sponsoring relevant research, or any other type of support.
To give financial support, grants, and other measures to the afflicted population as defined by the Board of Trustees.
To engage in any other activity that is not incompatible with the aforesaid objectives.

The ex-officio Chairman of the PM CARES Fund is Prime Minister.
Minister of Defence, Minister of Home Affairs, and Minister of Finance are ex-officio Trustees of the Fund.
The Prime Minister has the authority to appoint three trustees to the Board of Trustees from the fields of research, health, science, social work, law, government administration, and philanthropy.

The Fund was established on March 27, 2020 and collected ₹3,076 crore in initial five days of inception— including an initial corpus, foreign and domestic contributions.
During the year, funds were disbursed for COVID vaccine purchase and testing, ventilators, hospitals, testing labs, oxygen generation plants and migrant welfare.
Despite an earlier announcement that ₹100 crore would be spent on supporting vaccine development, no such disbursal seems to have been done.
On the expenditure side, the largest disbursal of ₹1,393 crore went to purchase 6.6 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

When PMNRF already exists, several opposition leaders and other important persons have questioned the need for a new fund.
Because the trust deed for the PM-CARES fund has not been made public, some have questioned its secrecy. It's unclear whether all of the trust's members have voting rights.
The trustees of PM-CARES, according to critics, have a fiduciary duty to the trust and its beneficiaries.
The acronym also communicates a political message, leading to accusations that the fund's nature is incompatible with that of a public charity trust.
The government's decision to accept foreign funds for PM CARES was also criticised, as it has previously refused foreign money to cope with internal crises.
Some critics also doubt whether proper procedures were followed in establishing the trust, securing tax exemptions under the Internal Revenue Code, and accepting foreign contributions under the Foreign Contribution Control Act, among other things.
Critics also point to the fund's lack of transparency, pointing out that the names of contributors and beneficiaries are not publicised, and audits are conducted by personnel nominated by the board of trustees.

To bring the fund within the scope of the Right to Information Act and make suo-moto disclosures of:
The PM CARES fund's trust deed and any papers relating to the fund's establishment as a public charity trust.
From time to time, make the names of the donors and the sums donated public.
Describe the rules for using the money and the institutional arrangements for adhering to the rules.
Provide details on the amounts used and the purposes for which they are used on a regular basis.
In order to increase transparency and accountability, the fund's operations must be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and its reports made public.
Furthermore, because donations from PSUs and MPLAD funds may be made to the fund, parliamentary monitoring is required. MPLAD funding come from Consolidated Fund of India and are subject to spending guidelines.
The fund should be used to purchase Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for medical and paramedical personnel, sanitation workers, and other front-line workers, provide health infrastructure such as ventilators, and establish testing facilities and isolation wards as an immediate response to COVID-19.
The PM CARES fund will be dedicated to the COVID-19 pandemic and related catastrophes, while the PMNRF will continue to be used for other types of natural disasters.