Dom's Take: Is PM-CARES allergic to RTI?

The PM-CARES fund was launched by the Narendra Damodardas Modi government after the COVID-19 outbreak in March.

Since its inception, the PM-CARES fund has been mired in controversy with RTI activists, NGOs and others demanding transparency in the money received and spent.

The prime minister's office recently objected to a petition in the Delhi high court seeking to declare the PM-CARES Fund a 'public authority' under the Right to Information Act.

On August 18, the Supreme Court refused to direct the transfer of the PM-CARES Fund to the National Disaster Response Fund, saying both are entirely different funds with separate objects and purposes.

The NGO, the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, had sought a direction from the apex court that all the money collected under the PM CARES Fund for the COVID-19 pandemic should be transferred to the NDRF.

Dominic Xavier mulls over the intriguing puzzle why the PM-CARES fund is opposed to the transparency guaranteed by the RTI.

• Dom's Take

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com