After a long pause on accepting foreign donations, India on Wednesday said it has decided to accept foreign funds into the recently constituted Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Sources told India Today TV that given the unprecedented nature of the pandemic, it has been decided that funds would be accepted into the trust from private entities as well. However, there is no mention of foreign government aid anywhere by GoI.
A public charitable trust, PM CARES, was setup in view of several requests from India and abroad to support the government in its fight against Covid-19.
The new decision signals a shift in Modi government’s position from the past administrations regarding accepting donations from abroad. India has not accepted foreign funds since 2004 when parts of south India were devastated by a tsunami.
In view of the interest expressed to contribute to government’s efforts, as well as keeping in mind the unprecedented nature of the pandemic, contributions to the trust can be done by individuals and organisations, both in India and abroad,” sources said.
The matter was discussed with the Indian Heads of Missions during a video conference held on Monday where he exhorted the envoys to mobilise funds for the trust.
“It also advised Heads of Mission to suitably publicise the newly established PM-CARES Fund to mobilise donations from abroad,” a press statement issued by the PMO read.
So yes a decision has been taken to accept contributions from abroad in the PM CARES fund,” added sources.Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the PM CARES Fund last month to combat Covid-19, which has claimed more than 40,000 lives globally.
Keeping in mind the need for having a dedicated national 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, a public charitable trust under the name of Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) has been set up. Prime Minister is the Chairman of this trust and its Members include Defence Minister, Home Minister and Finance Minister,” a statement from his office had then said.
In December of 2004 parts of south India was ravaged by the Tsunami. However, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had decided not to accept foreign donations since smaller nations around India had suffered far greater devastation and needed the funds.
Since then it has been the government of India’s policy not to accept aid from abroad. The same policy continued during 2013 Uttarakhand floods when Russia had offered assistance.
In August 2018, countries like UAE and Qatar offered aid and relief to flood-hit Kerala which has a substantial population living in West Asia. Once again, India refused to accept aid from foreign organisations.
Even now, while there is clarity that funds would be accepted from private entities, there is no word if foreign government funds would also be accepted. For now, no official offer of money or fund has been made by any foreign government, confirmed a source.
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