PM-CARES Fund received over Rs 203 crore from Army, Air Force and Navy after salary deductions

On March 29, a press release from the Ministry of Defence, issued by the Press Information Bureau, stated that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had approved a proposal for contribution of one day’s salary by the employees of Ministry of Defence to the PM-CARES Fund to fight Covid-19.

The same day, Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar had tweeted: “Min of Defence, Armed Forces, Attached offices, Defence PSUs/Organizations come forward to donate One day salary to PM CARES Fund on voluntary basis. From salary of April/May 2020 ~Rs 500 crores to PM CARES Fund.”

It has now emerged that the three armed forces — Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Indian Navy — together contributed Rs 203.67 crore to the PM-CARES Fund, as per a report carried by The Indian Express.

The Additional Directorate General of Public Information of the Indian Army had tweeted on May 15: “#IndianArmy personnel have voluntarily contributed Rs 157.71 Crores as one day salary for Apr 2020 towards #Nation’s fight against #COVID-19 pandemic to #PMCARES fund.”

Meanwhile, in response to RTIs filed by The Indian Express, the IAF stated that a total of Rs 29.18 crore was contributed to the fund from April to October by its personnel.

The Indian Navy, in its response, stated that between April and October, a total of Rs 12.41 crore was contributed to PM-CARES Fund “in respect of officers and sailors” and Rs 4.36 crore “in respect of civilian personnel” of the Navy.

Earlier, RTI responses filed by the newspaper had revealed that the fund received Rs 204.75 crore from seven public banks and other financial institutions including Reserve Bank of India, apart from Rs 21.81 crore by several central educational institutions, all from staff salaries. Moreover, 101 PSUs contributed Rs 154.70 crore from salaries while 98 contributed a total of Rs 2,422.87 crore from CSR funds.