₹8,452 crore in PM CARES fund: Why not use it for rural schools, asks Abhijeet Dipke
New Delhi: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke has questioned why the ₹8,452 crore corpus of the PM CARES Fund is not being used to improve basic infrastructure in rural government schools, citing the latest audited figures showing a sharp rise in the fund’s corpus.
In a video, Dipke said he had visited several schools in villages in recent days and found their condition “very bad”. He claimed that students in some schools were struggling to access basic facilities such as drinking water.
“A report came out that there is almost ₹8,500 crore in the PM CARES Fund, which is not being used anywhere. It’s not being used at all,” Dipke said.
He questioned why the fund could not be utilised to address shortages in government schools.
“They are struggling to get drinking water in schools. So why are we not using this money for those children’s schools? Why is this money not being used to build new schools?” he added.
Dipke said officials had told him that the lack of basic facilities in some schools was linked to insufficient funds.
“So on one hand, it is being said that there are no funds for schools, and on the other hand, ₹8,500 crore is lying in the PM CARES Fund,” he said.
PM CARES corpus rises 17.8%
According to the fund’s audited statements released on Monday, the corpus of the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund increased 17.8% from ₹7,173.03 crore in 2023-24 to ₹8,452.07 crore in 2024-25.
The increase came despite a decline in donations during the financial year. Domestic contributions fell by nearly 30%, from ₹681.81 crore to ₹479.05 crore, while foreign donations declined from ₹1.14 crore to ₹0.93 crore.
The audited figures indicate that interest earned on fixed deposits and refunds from implementing agencies were the key contributors to the increase in the corpus.
The fund earned ₹469.38 crore in interest and received ₹324.66 crore in refunds during 2024-25. As of March 31, 2025, it had ₹605.41 crore in savings accounts and ₹7,846.65 crore in fixed deposits.
Dipke argued that the size of the corpus could potentially support the construction of more model schools.
“If one school costs ₹8 crore, then with ₹8,500 crore, more than 1,000 new high-tech model schools could have been built. But none of this is happening,” he said.
He further called for the funds to be used to address infrastructure shortages in schools.
“So shouldn’t this money be used for schools? So there should not be a shortage of funds,” he said.
PM CARES expenditure drops sharply
The audited statements also show a significant decline in expenditure under the PM CARES for Children Scheme during 2024-25.
The fund spent ₹87.85 lakh on the scheme during the year, compared with ₹15.38 crore in 2023-24 — a decline of about 94%.
The expenditure during 2024-25 amounted to around 0.01% of the fund’s ₹8,452.07 crore corpus.
What is the PM CARES Fund?
The PM CARES Fund was established on March 27, 2020, to respond to emergency situations, including the Covid-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is its chairperson, while the defence, home and finance ministers serve as trustees.