The Fund’s advisory board will now include Rajiv Mehrishi, formerly of the C&AG, Sudha Murthy, formerly of Infosys Foundation, and Anand Shah, co-founder of Teach for India.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) announced on Wednesday that Ratan Tata, the current chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, K T Thomas, a former Supreme Court judge, and Kariya Munda, the current deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha, would serve as trustees of the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund.
Amit Shah, minister of home affairs for the union, and Nirmala Sitharaman, minister of the purse strings, round up the board.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over the Board of Trustees of the PM CARES Fund the day before, they addressed the initiative’s bigger objective for efficiently reacting to times of crisis.
According to the PMO statement, the PM “welcomed the trustees for being an essential component of the PM CARES Fund.”
At their meeting on Tuesday, the trustees resolved to select Rajiv Mehrishi, a former Comptroller and Auditor General, Sudha Murthy, a former chairman of the Infosys Foundation, and Anand Shah, the co-founder of Teach for India, to serve on the Fund’s advisory board.
For urgent needs during the 2020 Covid-19 epidemic, the PM CARES Fund was established. As far as we can tell, it is a public charitable trust. All donations are totally free from Income Tax, and the Prime Minister serves as an ex officio chair.
In regards to the nominations, HT attempted to contact the offices of both Ratan Tata and Munda, who was chosen as deputy Lok Sabha speaker in 2009.
Thomas, 85, a judge in the highest court from 1996 to 2002, said he had previously advised the PMO that it would be difficult for him to physically attend meetings in New Delhi owing to age-related concerns, but consented when the Prime Minister promised him that the conferences would be conducted online.
At first, I thought it would be tough to be physically present in Delhi at my age. The meeting, PM Modi added, would take place “virtually.” My worries about the English language were also voiced. As a native of southern India, I will struggle to understand and participate in the meetings if they are conducted in Hindi. The sessions would be held in English, he told me,” Thomas remarked.
The PMO’s own suggestion of names for an advisory committee was on the agenda. Thomas said, “We authorized three names.
The Prime Minister has said that the addition of new Trustees and Advisors would bring fresh eyes to the PM CARES Fund’s operations. The PMO added that by adding these individuals, “the fund would be more responsive to varied public demands” due to their wealth of public service experience.
In the meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi used the occasion to thank the people of India for their kind donations to the PM CARES Fund. It was said in the release that the “Trustees praised the contribution performed by the fund at a key moment for the nation,” specifically mentioning the PM CARES for Children initiative which is helping 4,345 kids.
On May 29 of last year, the program was established to help kids who had lost both biological or legal parents to the Covid-19 virus.
“A significant portion of the fund’s first 14,000 crore was disbursed to combat the Covid-19 epidemic. During the talk, the precise sum was shown… There is now roughly 8,000 crore in the fund, as Thomas put it.
