Under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situation (PM-CARES) Fund was created on March 28th, 2020 in order to address any emergency or distress scenario, including COVID-19 pandemic.
This public charitable trust was established as a result of several demands from the public to assist the administration in the wake of COVID-19 emergency.
Constitution: The Prime Minister of India is the ex-officio Chairman of the PM-CARES Fund. The Government of India, Minister of Defence, Minister of Home Affairs and the Minister of Finance are ex-officio Trustees of the PM-CARES Fund.
Prime Minister shall have the power to nominate 3 trustees to the Board of Trustees who shall be eminent persons in the field of research, science, health, social work, public administration, law and philanthropy. Any person appointed a Trustee shall act in a pro bono capacity.
Objectives: To undertake and support relief or assistance of any kind relating to a public health emergency or any other kind of emergency, calamity, or distress, either man-made or natural, including the creation or upkeep of healthcare or pharmaceutical facilities, other necessary infrastructure, funding relevant research or any other type of support.
To render financial assistance, provide grants of payments of money or take such other steps as may be deemed necessary by the Board of Trustees to the affected population.
To undertake any other activity, which is not inconsistent with the above Objects.
As a result of the Fund’s ability to accept micro-donations, many people will be able to make donations in even the smallest amounts. The fund does not get any budgetary support and consists entirely of voluntary contributions from the individuals or organizations.
The donation to PM CARES Fund would qualify for 80G benefits for 100% exemption under the Income Tax Act, 1961. Plus, it will also qualify to be counted as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expenditure under the Companies Act, 2013.
The PM-CARES Fund, created in 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, collected ₹10,990 crore in its first year till March 2021, and utilised ₹3,976 crore, or 36.17% of the money for various relief and capacity building measures.
It received the ₹7,679 crore in donations by March 2021, apart from an interest of ₹235 crore earned on the principal amount.
Recently, ONGC contributed ₹100 crore to the PM CARES Fund to assist in the fight against COVID-19 and H3N2.
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