Government departments have contributed a total of just Rs 25,000 while overseas contribution in the 17 months since the launch has been Rs 5.20 lakh. Government departments have contributed a total of just Rs 25,000 while overseas contribution in the 17 months since the launch has been Rs 5.20 lakh.

Last weekend, the country marked two years of the surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir but Bharat Ke Veer, a fund “to enable willing donors to contribute towards the family of a braveheart who sacrificed his/her life in line of duty”, has a current corpus of just Rs 9.21 crore, 17 months after its launch by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in April 2017.

Incidentally, in the two months since the Kerala flood, contributions to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund have already reached Rs 1620.23 crore.

In response to an application filed by The Indian Express under the Right to Information Act, the Ministry of Home Affairs Monday said a total of Rs 16.75 crore (Rs 167568690) has been contributed so far by private persons/private organisations/ NGOs in Bharat Ke Veer.

Government departments have contributed a total of just Rs 25,000 while overseas contribution in the 17 months since the launch has been Rs 5.20 lakh. “No fund was received in Bharat Ke Veer from abroad during 2017-18. An amount of Rs 520000 was received in Bharat Ke Veer from abroad during 2018-19 so far,” the MHA response states.

READ | Contributions to ‘Bharat Ke Veer’ exempted from income tax

Rs 1 crore was contributed by public sector undertakings during this period. This fund, according to the Bharat ke Veer website, is to help families of the martyrs of central para-military forces like Assam Rifles, Border Security Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, National Disaster Response Force, National Security Guard and Sashastra Seema Bal.

“As on date, total amount of Rs 92123564.17 is available in Bharat ke Veer corpus after distribution amongst next of kin of bravehearts of CAPFs,” the response states.

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