Current Affairs
Swarajya Staff
Sep 21, 2022, 07:43 PM | Updated 07:43 PM IST
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Eminent industrialist Ratan Tata, former Supreme Court judge KT Thomas, and former Union Minister Kariya Munda have been nominated as trustees of the PM CARES (Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund, the prime minister's office said in a statement.
Justice Thomas served as a judge of Supreme Court from 1996 to 2002. He was later awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Indian government in 2007 for services in the field of social affairs.
Karia Munda is a senior BJP leader from Jharkhand. Respected enormously for his work among the tribal community, Munda served as a minister in the first cabinet of PM Atal Behari Vajpayee.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the PM-CARES Board of Trustees, consisting of the Union Home Minister and the Union Finance Minister, along with the newly nominated members Tata, Thomas and Munda.
The Trust also nominated three names for the constitution of an Advisory Board to PM CARES.
Rajiv Mehrishi, the former Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Sudha Murthy, former Chairperson, Infosys Foundation, and Anand Shah, co-founder of Teach for India and former CEO of Indicorps and Piramal Foundation, will form the advisory board to the trust
PM Modi said the participation of the new trustees and advisors will provide ‘wider perspectives to the functioning of the PM CARES Fund’ as their’ vast experience of public life would impart further vigour in making the fund more responsive to various public needs.’
During the meeting, PM Modi lauded citizens for contributing wholeheartedly to the fund. A presentation on the various measures undertaken with the help of the PM CARES Fund, including the PM CARES for Children scheme, was also showcased, according to an official statement.
The PM CARES Fund was created during the Covid-19 pandemic. The primary objective of the fund is to deal with any kind of emergency or distress situation, like posed by the pandemic, and to provide relief to the affected individuals.
The fund consists entirely of voluntary contributions from individuals/organizations and does not get any budgetary support.