The Nepal earthquake has turned into an easy opportunity for civil society bashing that India has become familiar with in recent times. As the government takes on the Ford Foundation and Greenpeace in other spheres, plenty of patriots took to twitter to insist that people should not donate to any non-governmental organisation or campaigns set up by media companies. Instead, they should put their money into the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself did it, donating one month's salary to the fund. Others took to twitter to call for public donations to the fund. Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Anurag Thakur, for example, issued an appeal from his twitter account asking people to donate to the PMNRF to "help our friends in Nepal." Others, such as VK Sharma with the twitter handle @VictoryforNamo, spell out why they want people to donate only to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.
Those hoping to respond to these calls have been faced by a confusing sign from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund site however when you try to donate money. The fund lays out three terms for acceptance of donations:
It's the third condition that has been causing some confusion. The prime minister's press release upon donating to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund only mentions that it is going towards those "affected by the earthquake." Others have more openly called for donations to help Nepali victims of the disaster. But it's unclear whether this money can indeed go to anything other than relief for just Indian citizens who have been affected by the earthquake.
More than 70 Indians were killed by the disaster on Indian soil, and hundreds more have been affected by the repercussions in Nepal. In addition to assisting with its rescue efforts, one of India's main objectives for sending its teams was to ensure that Indian citizens finds safe passage back home. It's quite possible that all of the money donated to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund will go towards these objectives.
But users have still been confused by the calls, like that of Thakur's for donation to the fund to help Nepali victims.
Those tweets went unanswered, as well as emails to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund's official account. The site doesn't explain how the money will be spent.
The Prime Minister's National Relief Fund was originally established by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to provide support to displaced families after Partition, and has since been used regularly to help the families of those killed in calamities. The PMNRF isn't a fund set up by Parliament. Instead, it's a trust, that operates out of the PM's office, with the Prime Minister as its chairman.
This means the funds are essentially at the prime minister's discretion, allowing him to spend as he would like to. This means even the terms put out on the website could be altered by Modi if he so wishes, but there is still no clarity on how the money that is donated to the fund will be used. The money usually goes towards compensation – think of the lakhs of money promised to the families of those killed in train accidents, for example – but could be diverted to other relief operations like the Nepal one.
There's no question that the money being put into it is likely to go towards a worthy cause. No donations to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund are going to go wasted. But it's unclear exactly how it will be spent. For those who want to have a closer idea of how their relief donations will be spent, there are other avenues to donate.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself did it, donating one month's salary to the fund. Others took to twitter to call for public donations to the fund. Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Anurag Thakur, for example, issued an appeal from his twitter account asking people to donate to the PMNRF to "help our friends in Nepal." Others, such as VK Sharma with the twitter handle @VictoryforNamo, spell out why they want people to donate only to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.
Requesting you NOT to donate to any NGO They swindle funds & use it for conversions Please donate only PM Relief Fund http://t.co/gdjudunQeX
— Rishi Bagree (@rishibagree) April 26, 2015Prime Minister's National Relief Fund donate here and not donate to any media or NGO in the name of victims of EQ https://t.co/pBfI8mPzwE
— V K SHARMA (@VictoryForNamo) April 29, 2015Those hoping to respond to these calls have been faced by a confusing sign from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund site however when you try to donate money. The fund lays out three terms for acceptance of donations:
1. Contributions from Government/budgetary support or from the balance sheets of PSUs are not accepted in PMNRF.
2. Conditional contributions, where the donor specifically mentions that the amount is meant for a particular purpose, are not accepted in the Fund.
3. PMNRF provides relief only to the citizens of India. Hence contributions wherein the donor mention that the amount is meant for the foreign citizens/calamities abroad, are not accepted in the Fund.
It's the third condition that has been causing some confusion. The prime minister's press release upon donating to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund only mentions that it is going towards those "affected by the earthquake." Others have more openly called for donations to help Nepali victims of the disaster. But it's unclear whether this money can indeed go to anything other than relief for just Indian citizens who have been affected by the earthquake.
More than 70 Indians were killed by the disaster on Indian soil, and hundreds more have been affected by the repercussions in Nepal. In addition to assisting with its rescue efforts, one of India's main objectives for sending its teams was to ensure that Indian citizens finds safe passage back home. It's quite possible that all of the money donated to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund will go towards these objectives.
But users have still been confused by the calls, like that of Thakur's for donation to the fund to help Nepali victims.
@ianuragthakur But can funds from PMNRF be directly used for help in Nepal disaster relief? Plz clarify. @PMOIndia
— Shantinath Chaudhary (@shantihp) April 28, 2015@PMOIndia Sir, does PM relief fund go to nepal, as https://t.co/QElPsKA5aJ says it is only used for Indian Citizens
— puneets (@puneets) April 29, 2015Those tweets went unanswered, as well as emails to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund's official account. The site doesn't explain how the money will be spent.
The Prime Minister's National Relief Fund was originally established by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to provide support to displaced families after Partition, and has since been used regularly to help the families of those killed in calamities. The PMNRF isn't a fund set up by Parliament. Instead, it's a trust, that operates out of the PM's office, with the Prime Minister as its chairman.
This means the funds are essentially at the prime minister's discretion, allowing him to spend as he would like to. This means even the terms put out on the website could be altered by Modi if he so wishes, but there is still no clarity on how the money that is donated to the fund will be used. The money usually goes towards compensation – think of the lakhs of money promised to the families of those killed in train accidents, for example – but could be diverted to other relief operations like the Nepal one.
There's no question that the money being put into it is likely to go towards a worthy cause. No donations to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund are going to go wasted. But it's unclear exactly how it will be spent. For those who want to have a closer idea of how their relief donations will be spent, there are other avenues to donate.
