Bharat Ke Veer, a trust aimed at helping the families of paramilitary forces has received record donations after 40 CRPF personals were killed in a terrorist attack in the Pulwama district of South Kashmir. In the first four days after the attack, a sum of 26.45 crore rupees was donated to the Bharat ke Veer platform. “The amount collected is a record of sorts. We have never received such generous donations before,” said an official from the Home Ministry with reference to the funds collected for the families of those martyred in Pulwama. The trust was formed by the Home ministry under which the central armed police forces operate.

A person can donate a maximum amount of 15 lakh rupees to the kin of paramilitary personnel, any amount more than that is added to CAPF’s corpus fund. “It is heartwarming to see that so many people have come forward to contribute. The limit of Rs 15 lakh for each family was reached on the first day itself,” said the Home ministry official. “A lump sum amount will now be disbursed for the 40 personnel from the fund and the rest will be saved for contingencies and our bravehearts. Hopefully such a situation will not arise,” he added.

The online portal of ‘Bharat ke Veer’ was launched to facilitate donations to families of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) who sacrificed their life in the line of duty. The families of paramilitary forces (Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force, Sashastra Seema Bal, Assam Rifles, National Disaster Response Force and National Security Guards) which come under the Ministry of Home Affairs would be helped from the money donated to the trust.The donations to the ‘Bharat ke Veer’ trust has been exempted from Income Tax.

The website (bharatkeveer.gov.in) and mobile application gives citizens a platform to contribute to the families of martyrs. There are seven trustees of the ‘Bharat ke Veer trust which is headed by the Union Home Secretary. Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar and veteran badminton player and Coach Pullela Gopichand are part of the trust as trustees.

Home Minister, Rajnath Singh said the aim is to disburse an amount of least 1 crore rupees to the family or the next of kin of the martyred soldier. The money donated to trust is used to help all the branches of the paramilitary forces and to personals deployed in all the regions.

There are many NGOs which work for the welfare of the Armed forces (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Indian Coast Guards) like Sainik Welfare Organization, Lakshya Foundation, War Wounded Foundation, Army Wives Welfare Association, and Maruti Veer Jawan Trust. But the welfare activity infrastructure is not very robust for paramilitary troops. The network for the welfare of armed forces has existed since the independence but for paramilitary forces, it was not so robust. Therefore the government formed the ‘Bharat ke Veer’ trust.

The paramilitary forces do not participate in direct war conditions. But they are vital for internal security of India their lives are at considerable risk as seen in Pulwama. So, it is very important to look after their welfare. The much needed response from government came very late, but it will certainly help families of paramilitary from now on. ‘Bharat ke Veer’ is a right direction in that regard.