MEA pledges to donate Rs 1 crore to PM's COVID-19 fund

The Ministry of External Affairs on Monday pledged to donate Rs 1 crore to the relief fund announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help fight the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

On Saturday, Modi announced setting up of the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES) to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.

Political leaders, corporates, defence personnel, employees of PSUs such as Railways and Bollywood personalities were among a cross-section of organisations and people announcing their contribution to the fund.

"We stand together in this fight. #TeamMEA pledges to contribute around ? 1 Crore to #PMCaresFund launched by PM @narendramodi to support Government's efforts to fight #COVID19 pandemic," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted on Monday.

The Army, Navy and the Indian Air Force as well as employees of the Defence Ministry have decided to donate one day's salary totalling around Rs 500 crore.

The Union government has set up a public charitable trust under the name 'PM CARES Fund' in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Modi is the chairman of the trust and its members include the defence minister, the home minister and the finance minister.

India has recorded a total of 1,071 positive cases of coronavirus and 29 deaths so far.

Globally, the virus has infected more than 700,000 people and claimed more than 32,000 lives.