India will not accept financial assistance from the governments of the other nations to the “PM-Cares Fund” to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, but it will remain open to receiving donations from the overseas citizens of the country, foreign individuals and non-government entities to the trust.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government made it clear that while it would accept donations from foreign individuals and non-government entities as well as international organizations to the PM Cares Fund, it would not accept any assistance by the government of any foreign country – thus sticking to New Delhi’s more-than-15-year-old policy.
The PM Cares Fund was recently set up as a public charitable trust to receive donations to deal with any kind of emergency or distress situation, like the one posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to provide relief to the affected.
A source in New Delhi said that the decision to accept donations from individuals and non-government organizations in India and abroad had been taken in view of the “unprecedented nature” of the crisis that the pandemic had put the country into. It, however, did not amount to a departure from the existing policy, the source clarified on Thursday.
Modi’s government had in 2018 decided against accepting foreign donations to support relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction work in flood-ravaged Kerala. It had triggered protests from certain sections, particularly in Kerala. The government, however, had stuck to its decision, which had in fact been in sync with the policy formulated by the erstwhile Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime in the aftermath of the Tsunami in 2004.
The source clarified on Thursday that the policy of accepting donations from the Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and international entities would remain valid for the PM Cares Fund.
But, like the PM’s National Relief Fund, the PM Cares Fund too would not accept financial assistance from the foreign governments in accordance with the existing policy, added the source.
Only President Donald Trump’s administration in Washington D.C. has so far pledged to provide $ 2.9 million to India, as part of its $ 174 million financial assistance to 64 countries to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The US has not yet got in touch with India to finalize how the fund would be channeled. New Delhi, however, made it clear that it would not be received as a contribution to the PM Cares Fund.