New Delhi: The Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund, known as the PM CARES Fund, has received Rs 535.44 crore as foreign donations during the last three years, The Indian Express quoted official records as stating.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, the newspaper reported. It has received Rs 24.85 crore as interest income from its foreign contribution account in this period.PM CARES got the highest foreign contributions in 2020-21, when the pandemic-induced lockdown created severe economic hardship, and has been going down since then. Even though 2021-22 saw the tragic second wave of COVID-19 in India, donations to PM CARES declined.“Like the fall in foreign contribution, voluntary contributions too declined to Rs 1,896.76 crore during 2021-22 from Rs 7,183.77 crore during 2020-21,” The Indian Express reported.Recent reports had revealed that government-run listed firms have contributed at least Rs 2,913.6 crore between 2019-20 and 2021-22 to the Fund.The PM-CARES has been in the thick of controversy since it was set up in March 2020, because of its avoidance of public scrutiny and receipt of funds from foreign entities, including Chinese companies. The fund is not controlled by the Government of India, according to a reported submission by the Union government to the Delhi high court in January 2023. This reiterated a position mentioned in a 2020 judgment by the Supreme Court, which noted that the trust does not receive any government money.
