PM CARES Fund was created on March 28th, 2020 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the wake of COVID-19 Pandemic situation. PM CARES FUND is the short form of Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situation Fund. In this article we shall look into the PM Cares Fund details such as Objectives, Constitution of the PM Cares Trust, other details about donations, and the already existing PMNRF. Aarogya Setu App is another initiative by the Government of India to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic situation. PM CARES fund is an important General Awareness topic for UPSC or any other competitive examination. So, lets look into this in detail.
PM CARES Fund Details
PM CARES Fund details can be found on the Official Website of the Prime minister of India
https://www.pmindia.gov.in/en.
The Primary Objective of PM CARES Fund is to deal with any kind of emergency or distress situation, like the one posed by COVID-19 Pandemic, and to provide relief to the affected.
PM CARES Fund is a setup as a public charitable trust. It is a dedicated national fund to deal with emergency situations.
PM CARES Fund Objectives
- To undertake and support relief or assistance of any kind relating to a public health emergency or any other kind of emergency, calamity or distress, either man-made or natural, including the creation or upkeep of healthcare or pharmaceutical facilities, other necessary infrastructure, funding relevant research or any other type of support.
- To render financial assistance, provide grants of payments of money or take such other steps as may be deemed necessary by the Board of Trustees to the affected population.
- To undertake any other activity, which is not inconsistent with the above Objects.
Constitution of the PM CARES Trust
Prime Minister is the ex-officio Chairman of the PM CARES Fund and Minister of Defence, Minister of Home Affairs and the Union Minister of Finance are ex-officio Trustees of the PM CARES Fund.
The Chairperson of the Board of Trustees i.e. the Prime Minister shall have the power to nominate 3 trustees to the Board of Trustees who shall be the eminent persons in the field of research, science, health, social work, public administration law, and philanthropy. Any person appointed a Trustee shall act in a pro bono capacity.
Other Details about PM CARES Fund and Donations
- The fund consists entirely of voluntary contributions from individuals/organizations and does not get any budgetary support from the Government.
- Donations to PM CARES Fund would qualify for 100% Income Tax exemption.
- 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.
PMNRF (PM National Relief Fund) Details
Prior to PM CARES Fund, India already had a similar fund called Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) to deal with emergencies. Below are the basic details of PMNRF.
- The PMNRF was first started in the year 1948 by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru with the initial objective to assist displaced persons from Pakistan.
- Later on, The funds of PMNRF are being utitlised, till date, to tackle natural calamities like earthquakes, floods, and cyclones. They are also used to help the needy with major medical treatment related to cancer, kidney transplantation, acid attack, etc.
- Prime Minister is the Head of the PMNRF. The fund is administered on by Joint Secretary to the Prime Minister as Secretary of the fund.
- Any disbursement from the PMNRF shall be made only after the approval of the Prime Minister.
- The fund in the PMNRF are entirely the voluntary contributions from the public like the Individuals, Organizations, Companies, Trusts, Institutions etc. and does not get any budgetary support.
- Contributions towards PMNRF are 100% exempted from Income Tax.