The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Thursday clarified that the apprehensions raised by certain quarters and some political parties about the Covid-19-specific relief fund – PM-CARES Fund – was totally wrong and foreign contributions were allowed to facilitate the contributions from individuals, NRIs, persons of Indian origin and organisations based abroad.
The Fund is formed as a Trust for specific purpose to deal the Corona crisis and separate from the usual PM’s Relief Fund, which is general purpose in nature, PMO officials said adding that Government is not accepting aide from foreign Governments.
“There has been a lot of misinformation on the news of PM CARES fund accepting foreign donations. What has been announced is that PM CARES fund will simply accept donations and contributions from individuals and organisations who are based in foreign countries. This is consistent with India’s policy with respect to PMNRF. PMNRF has also received foreign contributions as a public trust since 2011,” they said.
The officials said that it was wrong to compare the objection of certain Opposition States’ demand to receive aides from foreign Governments during 2018 natural calamities. As a policy for the past decade, Government is not accepting any foreign Government aides. There was a protest after it was said the Kerala Government was banned from accepting UAE’s aide during the worst floods in 2018. Later, it was found that there was no offer from UAE. The PM-CARES Fund has been created as a special trust to deal the Corona crisis and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the Chairman of the trust with Home, Finance and Defence Ministers as members. In line with the existing policy, the Government is committed to meeting the requirements for relief and rehabilitation through domestic efforts. Contributions to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund and the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund from NRIs, PIOs and international entities such as foundations would, however, be welcome, they added. While declaring the formation of the Fund, Modi said that many persons are interested in offering contributions to Government in its fight with Covid19 crisis.