[Marxistindia] Bypassing PMNRF & Setting Up A New Fund Unnecessary

[news from the cpi(m)]

April 1, 2020

Press Statement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued  
the following statement:

Bypassing PMNRF & Setting Up A New Fund Unnecessary

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) considers the setting up of a separate  
fund to meet the COVID-19 pandemic called the “PM Cares” as unnecessary.

The Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) has been in  
existence since 1948. This fund has reportedly an unspent balance of  
Rs. 3,800 crores. The accounts of the fund are transparent; audited by  
the CAG; and auto-generated receipts are given to the donors. Given  
this, many questions are being raised on why a new fund has been  
created. This new fund has as trustees, the Prime Minister and three  
other ministers without any opposition party or civil society leaders  
as members. The contribution page is hosted in the Prime Minister’s  
official web page. The Prime Minister has openly appealed through  
social media for donations.

Substantial donations have poured in from the corporate world,  
celebrities, public sector undertakings etc. There are reports that a  
day’s salary is being deducted from government employees and  
professionals, the armed and para-military forces as contribution  
towards this fund. Further, corporates will be considered as  
fulfilling their CSR obligations by merely contributing to this fund.  
There is no mention of maintenance of accounts, their audit or on the  
answerability of the decisions taken by these four trustees. In short,  
there is no transparency and accountability.

After the Pulwama terrorist attack, a similar fund was set up called  
the “Bharat ke Veer”, to provide assistance to the victims of this  
tragedy. However, so far, no transparency or accountability on how  
this fund was utilized is visible. In this background, the “PM Cares”  
raises many disturbing questions.

Further, Health is on the concurrent list and state governments have a  
major role in this area. Already the state governments are under  
severe pressure with the shrinkage of their resources including the  
GST payment defaults. Under these circumstances, given the federal  
principles of our Constitution, the amounts collected by this new fund  
should be transferred to the PMNRF and from there to the state  
governments for meeting the challenges of the pandemic and saving  
people’s lives.

The motive for setting up this new fund remains suspect. In any case  
it should have been named “India Cares” and not “PM Cares”.



For CPI(M) Central Committee Office