Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, have approved the ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh each from Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for the close relative of people who have lost their lives because of fire in a hospital in Maharashtra.
About PMNRF
The First Prime Minister of India, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, had established the PMNRF in the year 1948.
The fund was established with the purpose of helping people who were displaced during the partition of India and Pakistan.
It has not been constituted by the Parliament.
The fund has got the recognition as a trust under the Income Tax Act.
The contributions to the fund gets 100% deduction from taxable income as per the section 80(G) of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
How the fund is utilized?
The PMNRF is utilized to provide the immediate relief to families of those killed in natural calamities such as floods, cyclones and earthquakes.
The fund is also utilized to compensate the victims of the major accidents and riots.
This fund has also been attached with all Centre and State-run hospitals and private hospitals as well.
Thus, the resources from the PMNRF are also used to partially meet the expenses for major medical treatment like heart surgeries, kidney transplantation, cancer treatment and acid attack.
Who contributes to the fund?
The contributions in the funds comes entirely from the public contributions.
It does not get any budgetary support.
The disbursements of the funds are made after getting approval from the Prime Minister.
Corpus of the fund is further invested in various forms with the scheduled commercial banks and other agencies.
The minimum contribution to the fund is fixed at Rupee 100.
Who heads the fund?
Prime Minister is the Chairman of PMNRF. The PM is also assisted by Officers on honorary basis.
Concern
Report highlights that the liquidity of fund is only 15% in the PMNRF. Thus, it becomes difficult to utilise the fund in emergency cases.
