*The_Prime_Minister’s National Relief_Fund * Small note..

*The_Prime_Minister’s National Relief_Fund *

Small note...

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This was a fund set up in 1948, January, with the purpose of providing the prime minister with some monies to be used for the relief and rehabilitation of refugees from Pakistan. Jawaharlal Nehru, then the prime minister of India, announced that the objective of this fund was to help people who were distressed in any way. Monetary help from this fund, he explained, could help them rebuild their lives. He was also clear that this fund was for any type of emergency or distress even though for the moment, i.e. 1948, it would be used for the rehabilitation of the victims of partition..

This is what Nehru announced: 

“I invite donations to (the Prime Minister’s National Relief) Fund. To begin with, this fund will be managed by a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the President of the Indian National Congress, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Finance Minister, a representative of the Tata trustees and a representative of industry and commerce to be chosen by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce.”

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Nehru did not make it clear who else would be managing the fund and what exactly would be the ambit of this fund. A savings bank account for the fund was opened in the Central Bank of India located at Janpath, New Delhi  and, people were advised to donate money at any of its branches or sub-branches in the country. A facility was given for the donor to also ear mark the donation for any specific purpose such as medical relief, education and care of orphans. 

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Donations immediately began to flow in. However, after the first flush of enthusiasm, the donations stopped. In 1953-54, Nehru made a number of public announcements requesting people to donate generously to the PMNRF. He said that while disasters in the country had not stopped, donations to the fund had, this hampered his ability to extend episodic relief to people. 

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Over the years the Prime Minister also started earmarked funds for specific disasters. So there were a number of flood relief funds started to deal with the heavy floods in the early-1950s, a drought relief fund was there to collect money for the prime minister to help Bihar that was hit by a drought. In September 1958, Nehru once again issued an appeal for more donations to the PMNRF.  In 1962, money was collected for the defense of the country when China attacked India.

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By the mid-1970s, the faith of people in the PMNRF had begun to get somewhat diluted. By this time the government too had begun to resort to some coercive strategies— like asking all of its employees to donate a day’s salary to the fund, or simply taking away all the savings in the numerous accounts that school children had been asked to open. Of course this was not open coercion. Due consent was taken. But,….

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In 1974, September, a formal query came from the Accountant General of Maharashtra to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on the PMNRF. The query was a consequence of the actions of Mrinalini Gore, MLA in Maharashtra and  Shri Madhu Limaye, Mumbai based socialist Member of Parliament who at this time represented the Banka seat in Bihar. Limaye was quite forthright in his questioning. He said, the funds of the PMNRF had never been placed before the Parliament. Following the practise of the PMNRF the analogous funds at the disposal of the Chief Ministers of states too were not placed before the Vidhan Sabha.  The AG Maharashtra asked the CAG of guidance on how to deal with such public funds. As it happened, in those days of intense political turmoil, the CAG did not give any reply to the AG, the AG did not give any reply to Mrs. Gore. Madhu Limaye’s query simply got lost. In the coming years the PMNRF and the various CMs funds continued to be beyond public scrutiny. No one knew how the PM spent this money. But, about the CMs there was widespread suspicion that they used this money to help out only those who could help them build some political capital.

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The next bit step towards questioning the PMNRF came when the Right to Information Act was put in place. In 2006, Shailesh Gandhi, an RTI activist from Mumbai, sent a query to the Prime Minister’s Office requesting details about the working of the PMNRF. The PMO refused to give any information. Finally Gandhi appealed to  the Chief Information Commissioner. Wajahat Habibullah, the CIO, ruled that while the PMNRF was at the disposal of the PM to spend at his discretion, its details had to be made public. The PMO then informed that the fund was supervised by a Joint Secretary in the PMO. He was assisted by a Director. And the money was usually kept in the original Central Bank of India branch at Janpath, New Delhi.

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Gandhi used this information to get details of the monies spent by the Chief Minister’s fund in Maharashtra. Gandhi specifically asked Vilas Rao Deshmukh, the Congress chief minister, to provide details of all those institutions that had been given more than ₹ 50,000 as donation from the CM’s fund. The Maharashtra government tried its best to not give any information. It was only in 2007 that after much deliberation and debate that the Information Commission ordered the government to provide Gandhi with the required information.

-India history