PM
CARES FUND – POLITY
News: PM CARES Fund receives Rs 535 crore
as foreign donations in three years
What's
in the news?
●
The Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance
and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) received Rs 535.44 crore as foreign donations during the last three
years, show the official records.
●
The Receipt and Payment Accounts (Audited)
of the PM CARES Fund, which was set up in 2020 in wake of Covid-19 pandemic,
shows that the value of foreign contributions received in the fund stood at Rs
0.40 crore during financial year 2019-20, Rs 494.92 crore in 2020-21, and Rs
40.12 crore in 2021-22.
PM
CARES Fund:
●
The PM CARES Fund was registered as a public charitable trust under the
Registration Act, 1908, in New Delhi on March 27, 2020 - three days after
the country went into lockdown in the wake of Covid-19.
Objective:
●
It was set up “keeping in mind the need
for having a dedicated fund with the primary objective of dealing with any kind
of emergency or distress situation, like posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, and to
provide relief to the affected”.
Composition:
●
The Prime
Minister is the ex-officio Chairman of the PM CARES Fund.
●
The Defence Minister, Home Minister and
Finance Minister are ex-officio trustees
of the Fund.
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The PM has nominated three trustees namely Justice K T Thomas (retd), Kariya Munda and
Ratan N Tata to the Board.
Features:
●
Donations to PM CARES Fund would qualify
for 80G benefits for 100% exemption
under the Income Tax Act, 1961.
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Donations to the PM CARES Fund will also
qualify to be counted as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expenditure under the Companies Act, 2013.
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PM CARES Fund has also got exemption under the FCRA and a
separate account for receiving foreign donations has been opened.
○
This enables PM CARES Fund to accept
donations and contributions from individuals and organisations based in foreign
countries.
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This is consistent with respect to the
Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF). PMNRF has also received foreign contributions as a public trust
since 2011.