If PM Cares (Indian Express)

• Mains Paper 2:Governance 
• Prelims level: PM CARES fund
• Mains level: Know about the PM CARES fund, the composition of its committee, objectives and why the government constituted a new fund despite having Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF), key analysis and way forward

Context:

• On March 28, PM Modi announced the creation of a separate fund to deal with COVID-19 — the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES). 
• Observers were quick to question the need for a separate fund, when India already had an established Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF). 
• The PMNRF is more representative of the concerns of Indians: It’s committee includes, among others, the Prime Minister, the President of India and the president of the Indian National Congress. 
• Decision-makers for PM CARES include the Prime Minister, the finance minister, the Minister of Home Affairs and the Minister of Defence, all from one political party. 

Forceful donations:

• The PMNRF had an unused corpus of Rs 3,800.44 crore as of 2019. Despite this, Modi established the PM CARES fund and solicited donations for it. 
• Reportedly, the Indian Railway donated Rs 151 crore. The army, navy and air force, defence PSUs and employees of the defence ministry have collectively donated Rs 500 crore. 
• While a significant portion of these contributions has been voluntary, it appears that many government employees weren’t given much of a choice.
• Circulars were being issued in various government departments, “urging” employees to contribute one day’s salary each month or give their objection in writing. 
• The implication seemed ominous- anyone objecting to this “voluntary contribution...................................

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No transparency:

• When donations are made from taxpayer funds by government bodies, the public has the right to know where the money is going. 
• This is where the most problematic issue with PM CARES arises — its lack of transparency. 
• The Modi government has stated that the CAG will not audit the fund. Rather, it will be audited by independent auditors appointed by the trust. 
• The PMO has also refused to make the documents related to the PM CARES fund public. 
• If the government has nothing to hide, why not allow the CAG to audit it? 

Funds not used for migrants:

• On March 24, Modi appeared on television and announced a 21-day lockdown with four hours’ notice. Millions of migrant labourers were stranded in cities with no savings to survive. 
• The people waited for PM Modi to use the PM CARES funds to help these migrants. No such announcement came. 
• An estimated 12.2 crore have lost their jobs since the lockdown was announced. No funds from PM CARES were allocated to create jobs for them.

 Procuring ventilators:

• A recent analysis by IndiaSpend estimated that at least Rs 9,677.90 crore has been collected in the PM CARES fund so far. 
• Of this, Rs 4,308 crore has been donated by government agencies and staff. 
• Yet, the only announcement to be made till date about the usage of the funds is the allocation of Rs 3,100 crore for COVID-19 work, made on May 13 — Rs 2,000 crore of which is mired in controversy. 
• The reason: The central government is procuring 5,000 ventilators from a Rajkot-based firm which has supplied ventilators to Ahmedabad’s largest COVID-19 hospital. 
• These machines have proved inadequate, and have forced Ahmedabad Civil Hospital to put out an SOS for “actual ventilators”. 
• The PM CARES fund has announced that it would be spending Rs 2,000 crore for the purchase of 50,000 “Made in India” ventilators. 
• It is to be hoped that they do not prove to be substandard. 

Litany of problems:

• PM CARES comes with a litany of problems. 
• The decision-makers at its helm belong to one political party. Besides, there is total lack of transparency about the use of the funds. 
• The allegations of cronyismand favouritism with regard to spending are particularly of concern. 
• The most worrying part, however, is the fund has clearly not benefited the people who needed help. 
• The fund may be called PM CARES, but does the...................

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1)With reference to the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), consider the following statements:
1. It aims to encourage acquirers to deploy Points of Sale (PoS) infrastructure in both physical and digital modes in tier-3 to tier-6 centres and north eastern states.
2. It will be governed through an Advisory Council and managed and administered by RBI.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer................

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Mains Questions:
Q.1) Do you think the PM CARES fund have fulfilled its objectives? To what extent the fund differs from existing PM National Relief fund? Comment.