What is happening with the PM Cares Fund https://www.cenfa.org/what-is-happening-with-the-pm-cares-fund/ The PM CARES fund,set up during the Covid-19 pandemic --In January this year, the PMO told the Delhi high court that this is not a ‘public authority; and is not answerable to the public about its functioning!
The money that the 57 government firms contributed to the PM CARES fund, is part of their CSR spending. The money that the 57 government firms contributed to the PM CARES fund, is part of their CSR spending. the government had amended norms to limit the amount of information that companies have to put out in their annual reports on CSR spending, in September 2022. That means the companies do not have to provide as many details to shareholders on where their CSR spending is going.
PM CARES Fund is also exempted under the FCRA, and the official records also show that the fund received Rs 535.44 crore as foreign donations
all in all the fund attracted a donation of Rs 12,691.82 crore in three years. While as per its Receipt and Payment Accounts, it has an unspent balance of Rs 5,415.65 crore as on March 2022. We don’t have enough data to probe why was the money not spent in the first place. The question remains, why was the fund made private, and how does it continue to flaunt its own guidelines? Government firms have contributed a significant stake in the fund, which makes the government answerable as to its spending.