A
health worker gives a COVID-19 vaccine dose to a beneficiary wearing a
face mask of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the PM's 71st birthday,
during a vaccination drive in Beawar, Friday, Sept. 17, 2021. Photo:
PTI/File
New Delhi:
Even as the COVID-19 pandemic had its second-worst impact in India,
among the world’s countries, and as its vaccine supply has suffered
through many ups and downs, the PM CARES Fund, which Prime Minister
Narendra Modi set up to deal “with any kind of emergency or distress
situation,” failed to allocate the sum of Rs 100 crore it promised for vaccine development.
This came to light in response to a query filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
In response to the application by activist
Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd.), the Union health ministry admitted: “So
far, as information from [Health and Public Education] Division is
concerned, it is stated that no funds have been received from PM CARES
Fund for vaccine development.”
Batra received the reply nearly four months
after he filed his application, in July 2021, and after multiple
reminders filed with various authorities.
A press
release from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) dated May 13, 2020, said
that the Modi government will provide Rs 3,100 crore to help India’s
fight against COVID-19. The release added: “To support the COVID-19
vaccine designers and developers, an amount of Rs 100 crore will be
given from PM CARES Fund as a helping hand to catalyse vaccine
development, which will be utilised under the supervision of Principal
Scientific Advisor.”
Also read: Why PM-CARES Is a ‘Government Fund’ and Well Within RTI Purview
The latter is currently K. VijayRaghavan.
Batra filed an application under the RTI
Act with the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the health
ministry on July 16, 2021, seeking details of expenses through the PM
CARES Fund. Specifically, he asked for “financial year wise total amount
of PM CARES Fund received by the Government of India for vaccine
development relating to the COVID-19 pandemic”. He also sought the names
of public authorities, companies, organisations and entities involved
in the vaccine development process.
The Office of CPIO of the COVID-19 Vaccine
Administration Cell said on the same day that “no fund has been received
from PM Care Fund to this office for ‘vaccine development’.” It also
said it was transferring the application to the PMO, the Indian Council
of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Department of Biotechnology.
Subsequently, the first appellate authority
said the ICMR had “disposed of” of Batra’s query on August 9, adding
“ICMR has not received any funds for COVID-19 vaccine development
through PM-CARES Fund”. The PMO followed suit on September 10.
The Department of Biotechnology’s status said Batra’s request had been “transferred to other public authority” (sic) on August 9.
In response to the PMO’s unspecific
response, Batra filed the first appeal on September 8, 2021. Two days
latter, the CPIO of the office said: “so far as this office is
concerned, it is stated that PM CARES Fund is not a public authority
under the ambit of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act, 2005.”
On October 1, 2021, the status on the PMO
appellate authority portal was “appeal disposed of”. Batra received a
letter on the same day from the CPIO of the PMO stating: “PM CARES Fund
is not a public authority under the ambit of Section 2(h) of the RTI
Act, 2005,” so “no further information could be shared with you”.
Batra was also informed that his
application had been transferred to NITI Aayog and the Central Drug
Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO).
On September 14, the CDSCO website said it had replied to Batra’s application thus:
“CDSCO
is a regulatory agency and regulates quality, safety and efficacy of
drugs including vaccines as per New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules,
2019 under Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and has no role with respect to
funding and budget allocation for vaccine development.”
Batra said he’d sent seven reminders to the
first appellate authority plus an “urgent” email to the health
ministry’s nodal CPIO to intervene – before he received the updates that
he did.
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(With input from news agency language)
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