Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is going to address the nation through a video for the sixth time during this Coronavirus crisis, at 4 PM today. The Prime Minister's Office took to the Twitter to announce it following the house Ministry's announcement of Unlock 2 guidelines.
Mr. Modi had last addressed the state on 12th May when he had announced a 20-lakh-crore rupee financial package to spice up the economy recovering from coronavirus-induced lockdown. In his Mann Ki Baat address last Sunday, the Prime Minister had urged the people to be more vigilant within the Unlock phase and take more precautions.
On 27 March, a few days after India was subjected to a country-wide lockdown to halt the spread of the coronavirus, Narendra Modi found out the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund.
"It is my appeal to my fellow Indians, kindly contribute to the PM-Cares Fund," he tweeted, telling the people that their donations would strengthen India's fight against COVID-19 and "similar distressing situations" in future.
"This will go an extended way in creating a healthier India," he had written.
Donations poured in - from industrialists, celebrities, companies, and therefore the commoner. According to the reports said, donations had reached 65bn rupees ($858m; £689m). The fund is now believed to exceeded 100bn rupees.
But PM Cares has been controversial from the beginning. Many questioned the necessity for a replacement fund when an identical one - PM National Relief Fund or PMNRF - has existed within the country since 1948.
Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the opposition Congress Party, suggested that the cash raised should be transferred to PMNRF.
On the day PM Cares was found out, a huge humanitarian crisis began to unfold in India - many migrant workers, a number of India's poorest people, began fleeing the cities after Mr. Modi imposed a sudden country-wide lockdown. For weeks, they walked many miles, hungry and thirsty, to succeed in their villages. Over 100 died.
It was thought that the govt would spend a minimum of a number of the cash helping those forced to travel, but that didn't happen, prompting one opposition MP to rebrand the fund the 'PM doesn't Really Care'.
In the weeks since the fund was found out, questions have also been asked about how it's constituted and managed, what proportion money has been collected, from whom, and the way it's being put to use?
There are not any answers to any of such queries on the PM Cares website, and therefore the prime minister's office (PMO), which is managing the fund, has refused to supply any information. Now, opposition politicians, independent activists, and journalists are asking whether the govt has anything to hide?