News Analysis India

Tag: PM CARES

  • SC dismisses plea for return of MPLAD funds donated to PM CARES Fund

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Tuesday dismissed a plea seeking direction to the Centre to return Rs 365 crore donated by MPs from MPLADS fund to PM CARES Fund for tackling exigencies emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic.

    A bench of Chief Justice Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian said it is not inclined to entertain the petition and dismissed it.

    Advocate Dushyant Tiwari, appearing for petitioner Tushar Gupta, said that Rs 365 crore were donated by lawmakers from Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) in the PM CARES Fund, in contravention of the guidelines.

    Tiwari referred the RTI reply to buttress his claims and said that development work was hampered due to the diversion of the funds.

    The plea filed by Gupta sought appropriate direction to the central government to return the entire donated amount in the bank account in which MPLADS funds are transferred every year.

    The scheme’s objective is to enable MPs to recommend developmental work “with emphasis on the creation of durable community assets based on the locally felt needs to be taken up in their Constituencies”, the plea said.

    It said that right from inception of the Scheme, durable assets of national priorities — drinking water, primary education, public health, sanitation and roads — are being created.

    “It is pertinent to note that in the month of March 2020, various MP’s have donated MPLAD Fund for the pandemic and as per information a total number of 339 MP’s have contributed a total of Rs 365 crore from their MPLADS to the Central pool for measures towards tackling exigencies in India emerging from the effect of the pandemic,” the plea added.

    The petition said that in April 2020 the MPLADS funds were suspended for two financial years — 2020-2021 and 2021-2022.

    Gupta referred to the RTI reply and said it raised few important questions and doubts related to the donation of the MPLAD Fund for the purpose of COVID-19.

    The plea sought direction to the MPs to re-prioritise the earlier recommended works so that the incomplete work can be completed from the un-utilised amount available with the district authority.

  • PM-CARES Fund to foot over 80 per cent cost of 1st phase of Covid vaccination drive

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The PM-CARES fund, which has been set up to provide relief during the coronavirus pandemic, has contributed over Rs 2,200 crore for the first phase of vaccination drive, which is looking to inoculate frontline healthcare workers, the Expenditure Secretary said on Tuesday.

    Set up in March 2020, the exact collections made by the fund through voluntary contribution by individuals and corporates, are not known but the corpus managed by the PMO has been providing relief to pandemic-hit sectors.

    With the Budget for the current fiscal, which was presented before the onset of the pandemic, making no separate allocation for vaccination, more than 82 per cent of the cost of the same during January to March is being borne by the PM CARES Fund.

    Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget for the next fiscal beginning April 2021 has set aside Rs 35,000 crore towards COVID vaccination.

    In an interview with PTI, Expenditure Secretary T V Somanathan said the cost of vaccination of frontline and healthcare workers in the current fiscal is being borne fully by the central government and the money is coming from PM CARES fund and Health Ministry.

    “For January-March the (vaccination) cost is expected to be about Rs 2,700 crore approximately. Part of it is coming from the Health Ministry and some part of it is funded from the PM CARES fund. This is for the first round of 3 crore frontline and health workers,” he said.

    The entire cost of this round will be borne by the Central Government, he said.

    “We had provided extra funds to the Health Ministry for incidental costs to vaccination. We made an additional allocation of Rs 480 crore just for the 3 crore batch of vaccination,” he said.

    The remaining about Rs 2,220 crore will come from PM-CARES fund.

    “Yes, that is my information,” he said when asked if the remainder of the Rs 2,700 crore cost of the vaccination drive, after accounting for Rs 480 crore from the health ministry, will come from the PM CARES Fund.

    Opposition and rights activists have criticised the secrecy behind the PM-CARES Fund.

    This is because information on donations made and expenditure has not been shared citing the fund not being a “public authority” under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.

    The Prime Minister Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM-CARES) was set up in March last year where people can contribute to help the government fight against coronavirus and similar “distressing situations”.

    The trust is headed by the Prime Minister.

    The other ex-officio members of the trust are the defence minister, the home minister and the finance minister.

    India in January approved two vaccines, Oxford’s Covishield manufactured by SII in the country and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, for restricted emergency use.

    The country launched its COVID-19 vaccination drive from January 16 in what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called the world’s largest inoculation programme with priority to be given to nearly three crore healthcare and frontline workers.

    According to the COVID-19 Vaccine Operational Guidelines, the shots will be offered first to an estimated one crore healthcare workers, and around two crore frontline workers, and then to persons above 50 years of age, followed by persons younger than 50 years of age with associated comorbidities based on evolving pandemic situation.

    The Budget on Monday proposed a budget outlay of over Rs 2.

    23 lakh crore for health and well being in 2021-2022, an increase of 137 per cent from the previous year.

    Sitharaman in her Budget speech had said that India has two vaccines available, and has begun medically safeguarding not only her own citizens against COVID-19, but also those of 100 or more countries.

    “It is added comfort to know that two or more vaccines are also expected soon,” she said.

    Somanathan said the recommendations of the Finance Commission in the area of health relating to local body grants have been accepted in full.

    “Whatever the Commission has recommended in the area of local body grants for health, water and sanitation are being accepted in full and will be implemented.

    We have also made the necessary budget provisions for those grants,” he added.

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  • 100 former civil servants raise questions over transparency in PM-CARES Fund

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A group of 100 former civil servants wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday raising questions over transparency in the PM-CARES Fund.

    They said it is necessary that, for reasons of probity and adherence to standards of public accountability, the financial details of receipts and expenditures be made available in order to avoid doubts of wrongdoing.

    “We have been keenly following the ongoing debate about the Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations, or ‘PM-CARES’, — a fund created for the benefit of people affected by the COVID pandemic.

    ALSO READ: Centre seeks dismissal of review petition on PM CARES Fund

    Both the purpose for which it has been created as well as the way it has been administered have left a number of questions unanswered,” they said in the letter.

    “It is essential that the position and stature of the Prime Minister is kept intact by ensuring total transparency in all dealings the Prime Minister is associated with,” they said.

    The letter was signed by former IAS officers Anita Agnihotri, S P Ambrose, Sharad Behar, Sajjad Hassan, Harsh Mander, P Joy Oommen, Aruna Roy, former diplomats Madhu Bhaduri, K P Fabian, Deb Mukharji, Sujatha Singh and former IPS officers A S Dulat, P G J Nampoothiri and Julio Ribeiro among others.

    ALSO READ: Congress demands account of foreign donations received by PM CARES Fund

    In March last year, the Centre set up the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM-CARES) Fund with the primary objective to deal with any kind of emergency situation like the one currently posed by the COVID-19 outbreak and provide relief to those affected.

  • Centre seeks dismissal of review petition on PM CARES Fund

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Centre on Saturday sought dismissal of a review petition seeking information about funds received by the Prime Minister’s Citizens Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situation (PM CARES) Fund.

    The Union government told the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court that audit statement of receipt and payment accounts of the PM CARES Fund for 2019-20 was available on the trust’s website.

    An affidavit was filed by Pradeep Srivastava, Under Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, before a division bench of Justices Sunil Shukre and Anil Kilor in response to a petition filed by advocate Arvind Waghmare.

    Waghmare has sought a review of the High Court’s August 2020 order dismissing his plea for declaration of the funds received by PM CARES, a charitable trust set up by the Union government amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

    In August, 2020, the High Court, however, dismissed the petition saying since the Public Charitable Trust Act was applicable to the PM CARES Fund, the petitioner was free to resort to the mechanism provided under the Act for redressal of his grievance of public disclosure of funds.

    Later, in December, 2020, Waghmare filed a review petition before the High Court, claiming that the Public Charitable Trusts Act was not applicable in Delhi and sought the court to direct the government to disclose details of the funds received and expenditure done.

    The Centre, in its affidavit, stated that the review petition was completely “misconceived and is nothing but another attempt at seeking publicity”.

    It added that no new grounds have been raised in the review petition.

    “Audit statement of receipt and payment accounts of PM CARES Fund for the financial year 2019-20 is available on the website of the Trust.

    As such, the petitioner cannot be said to have any grievances about disclosure of income and expenditure of the funds,” the affidavit said.

    It further stated that the High Court has already dismissed Waghmare’s petition in the past and should now dismiss his review petition with exemplary cost.

    The High Court on Saturday heard arguments of all parties and reserved its order on the review plea.