Updated: October 15, 2020 6:43:03 am
The Prime Minister’s Fund for Assistance and Aid to Citizens in Emergencies (PM-CARES) was created in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. (Source: pmcares.gov.in)
From the government’s largest employer, Railways to the Space Department, 50 Center departments have contributed Rs 157.23 crore of staff salaries to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Aid in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) fund, according to show RTI records accessed by The Indian Express. Topping the list with Rs 146.72 crore, the Railways said in its RTI reply that the amount “has been contributed to the PM CARES Fund through employee contribution”.
Based on RTI responses received, the Space Department is next on this list with over Rs 5.18 crore. In its response, the department stated: “The contribution that employees make is on an individual basis … through their salary.” However, several key departments such as the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), those under the Home Office and large employers such as the Post Office, did not respond to RTI inquiries from The Indian Express.
The PMO, which also manages the fund, had previously refused to provide details of the contributions received. “PM CARES Fund is not a public authority under the scope of Section 2 (h) of the RTI Act. However, relevant information regarding the PM CARES Fund can be viewed on the website pmcares.gov.in, ”he said in a response from RTI.
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The fund was created on March 28 this year following the Covid outbreak and had a corpus of Rs 3,076.62 crore as of March 31, of which Rs 3,075.85 crore was listed as “voluntary contributions”, according to the site. Web.
So far, RTI inquiries submitted by The Indian Express have revealed contributions of Rs 2,105 crore from 38 PSUs of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds, and Rs 204.75 crore from seven public banks and other Financial institutions, plus 21.81 crore for various central educational institutions, all from staff salaries.
Data from central government departments is based on RTI responses received through Tuesday to inquiries sent from August to September. There are 89 departments in 59 ministries, 50 of them, in 43 ministries, responded to RTI inquiries.
The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and the Department of Pharmaceutical Products denied the information. DBT said the information “may not serve any public interest”; DARE stated that it is “third party information”; and the Department of Pharmaceuticals echoed the PMO line: “PM Cares Fund is not a public authority under the RTI Act.”
Some of the departments referred RTI’s query to the PMO, which reiterated that the fund “is not a public authority” under the law. In other responses, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change contributed 1.14 million rupees of staff salaries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MEA) stated that Rs 43.26 lakh “has been deducted during the period March to August 2020 from the salary of civil servants on the Ministry payrolls” for the fund.
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As part of its RTI response, the MEA attached a tweet dated April 4 by Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla stating that “MEA’s contribution” to PM CARES has “increased to Rs 2.2 crore”. However, the response did not specify whether the contribution came from staff salaries or other sources.
The Department of Defense, under the Ministry of Defense (Civil), said its staff contributed Rs 26.20 of salaries, while employees of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare contributed Rs 18.51 lakh.
The Ministry of Personnel, Public Complaints and Pensions, which comprises three departments and functions directly under the Prime Minister, responded that it contributed Rs 16.91 lakh to staff salaries. And the employees of the President’s Secretariat contributed Rs 12.05 lakh.
Apart from the 50 departments that jointly contributed Rs 157.23 crore, the employees of the Lok Sabha (Rs 52.54 lakh) and Rajya Sabha (Rs 36.39 lakh) secretariats contributed their salaries to the fund.
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