Constitution of the PM CARES Trust

The PM CARES full form is the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund. It is a public charitable trust established on the 27th of March 2020. It was during the COVID pandemic situation in India. The predominant purpose of this fund was to aid in combat, containment, and relief efforts to beat the virus outbreak. The Government of India has announced that the current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is the chairman of the PM CARES fund. The trustees of this fund include Rajnath Singh (Minister of Defence), Amit Shah (Minister of Home Affairs), and Nirmala Sitharaman (Minister of Finance). The sections will elaborate on the objectives, features, and concerns of PM CARES.

Objectives of PM CARES

As we have seen the PM CARES full form, we will now look at the objectives of this charitable trust fund. 

• The trust helps and assists anyone facing distress or any emergency.
• This fund consists of an up-gradation or establishment of health care infrastructures, funding of research relevant to a calamity or any kind of public support. 
• To supply money, provide financial support or take the necessary procedures to help the affected population that the Board of Trustees has deemed. 
• To undertake/ manage any other activities that are not inconsistent with all the objects stated above. 

Constitution of this trust 

As we saw earlier, the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) is the chairman of PM CARES. 

• It is said that the chairman of the Board of Trustees (PM) will have the power to recommend three trustees for the PM CARES fund. 
• These trustees must be esteemed people from health, science, law, public administration, philanthropy, and research. 
• The trust will need every person appointed as a Trustee to act pro bono. 

Features of PM CARES 

• This fund entirely consists of contributions made voluntarily. Various individuals or organisations can make contributions. 
• The fund can acquire micro-donations as low as rupees 10. 
• This fund will be applied or used in situations mentioned in the objectives. 
• The people and organisations that have donated to the PM CARES trust are eligible for the 80 G benefits. This means they will get a 100% tax exemption underneath the Income Tax Act of 1961.
• The people and organisations that have donated to the PM CARES trust fall under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditure underneath the Companies Act of 2013.
• This fund also embodies another account to receive donations from foreign countries. This makes it possible for the fund to accept donations from various countries worldwide. 
• These features are also applied in the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMRF), as it has also received donations from foreign countries.
• It is estimated that the fund collected 7013.99 crore rupees in the PM CARES trust fund.

Children’s scheme by PM CARES 

The fund established the children’s scheme on May 29th, 2021. The main goal of this scheme was to support children who have lost their parents due to coronavirus. 

• A total of 1,47,492 children have benefitted from this. Out of which 

1. 10,094 are orphans 
2. 1,36,910 have at least lost one parent 
3. 488 abandoned children 

• About 76,508 are boys, 70,980 are girls, and 4 are transgender children. 
• The objective is to support the care and protection of these children in a sustained manner. To ensure they are provided with enough health insurance and help them with an education and sufficient financial support until they attain the age of 23.
• This scheme gives about ten lakhs to each of the children from the PM CARES fund.   

Concerns about PM CARES

• Numerous opposition leaders and notable people have questioned the actual need for PM CARES when PMRF already exists. 
• Other people had concerns with the opacity that surrounds the PM CARES fund. This is because the trust deed has still not been made public. 
• Many critics have stated that the PM CARES trustees have a fiduciary responsibility towards the trust and its beneficiaries. Hence, this sends the message that the character of this fund is not compatible with a public charitable fund. 
• As the fund accepts foreign donations, it has been criticised by people. In the past, the Government of India refused to take assistance from foreign countries to deal with domestic affairs or crises.
• A few people questioned if this fund followed all the procedures for registering it as a trust.
• The absence of transparency for this fund, like contributors and beneficiaries, is not shown. Moreover, the audits for this fund were held by people nominated by the board of trustees. This raised many questions among people.

Conclusion

The PM CARES stands for Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund, established on March 27th, 2020, during the covid-19 outbreak. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the chairman of PM CARES fund. The trustees of this fund include Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, and Nirmala Sitharaman. These trustees must be esteemed people from health, science, law, public administration, philanthropy, and research. This fund entirely consists of contributions made voluntarily. This fund also embodies another account to receive donations from foreign countries. Numerous opposition leaders and notable people have questioned the actual need for PM CARES when PMRF already exists.