It’s already known that India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced the setting up of PM’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM-CARES) fund last Saturday and asked everyone to donate to that account in order to take part in country’s battle against Covid-19 pandemic.
But when an RTI activist queried about the fund, it has come out that some unrevealed trustees are acting as the caretakers of the fund. And the big question is, when there is PM’s National Relief Fund already, which gives 100% income tax rebate for the donors, what is the need to setup PM-CARES?
Talking about the same, Congress MP Sashi Tharoor tweeted, “Why not simply rename PMNRF as PM-CARES, given the PM’s penchant for catchy acronyms, instead of creating a separate Public Charitable Trust whose rules & expenditure are totally opaque?”, asking Modi to give an explanation to the people of the country.
Another RTI query revealed that PMNRF has almost Rs 3900 crores unspent balance, which is raised by Congress again, asking Modi as to why he has set up this new fund. Also Congress questions why no opposition leaders or other prominent persons from civil society are made trustees of the fund.
Congress & Mr Shashi Tharoor seems to have no work except making comments on the government decision. It would be better if he thinks about nations Security & progress.