Ratan Tata And Sudha Murthy Join PM CARES Fund As Trustees And Advisors

At the PM CARES Fund meeting, which was presided over by newly appointed trustees Ratan Tata, former deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha Kariya Munda, and former Supreme Court Justice K.T. Thomas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the people for their kind donations. PMO confirmed the news.

Agencies

Modi chaired a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the PM CARES Fund on Tuesday, during which a presentation was made on the various initiatives undertaken with the help of the PM CARES Fund, including the PM CARES for Children scheme, which supports 4,345 children, a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.

The meeting was attended by PM CARES Fund trustees Union home minister Amit Shah and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Newly nominated trustees of the PM CARES Fund ¨C Justice Thomas, former Supreme Court judge; former deputy Lok Sabha speaker Munda and Tata, Chairman Emeritus, Tata Sons ¨C also attended the meeting.

tatatrusts

The trustees appreciated the role played by the fund at a crucial time for the country. The statement said that Prime Minister Modi appreciated the country's people for contributing wholeheartedly to the PM CARES Fund.

Unsplash/Representational Image

It was discussed that PM CARES has a larger vision of effectively responding to emergency and distress situations, not only through relief assistance but also by taking mitigation measures and capacity building, it said.

The prime minister welcomed the trustees for becoming an integral part of the PM CARES Fund.

shutterstock

The trust also decided to nominate some eminent people for the constitution of an advisory board to PM CARES Fund, including Rajiv Mehrishi, former Comptroller and Auditor General of India; Sudha Murthy, former chairperson, Infosys Foundation; Anand Shah, co-founder of Teach for India and former CEO of Indicorps and Piramal Foundation.

BCCL

According to the statement, Prime Minister Modi said the participation of new trustees and advisors would provide a broader perspective on the functioning of the PM CARES Fund.

He said their vast experience in public life would impart further vigor in making the fund more responsive to various general needs.

The PM CARES Fund, set up to deal with emergencies such as the COVID pandemic, saw its corpus grow nearly three-fold to Rs 10,990 crore in 2020¨C21 fiscal, while the disbursal rose to Rs 3,976 crore, according to the latest audited statement. The disbursal included Rs 1,000 crore for migrant welfare and over Rs 1,392 crore for procurement of COVID-19 vaccine doses.

The fund was set up as a public charitable trust "keeping in mind the need for a dedicated national fund with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation, like the COVID-19 pandemic, and providing relief to the affected".

The PM CARES FUND generated a lot of interest immediately after Prime Minister Modi announced its formation after the COVID-19 outbreak and appealed for donations, prompting several private firms, government bodies, and individuals, including celebrities, to donate money.

(With PTI inputs)

For more trending stories, follow us on Telegram.