Post- Pulwama Attack, Over 12-Fold Rise in Donations by Patriotic Citizens for Martyrs

The martyrdom of 40 CRPF personnel in the Pulwama terror attack on February 14 led to a deluge of donations from citizens to Bharat ke Veer fund, a corpus set up the home ministry in mid-2017 to financially aid kin of Central para-military personnel martyred in the line of duty. The corpus has received donations worth Rs 242.15 crore till June 18 this year, a massive jump over Rs 19.43 crore contributed in 2018 and Rs 6.40 crore in 2017.

Funds were also donated directly to the next-of-kin of martyred personnel, with Rs 14.20 crore contributed until June 18 this year as compared to Rs 6.58 crore in whole of 2018 and Rs 11 crore in 2017.

Citizens can make voluntary contributions through Bharat ke Veer portal either directly to the next-of-kin of martyred personnel whose details are put up for public viewing, or by sending payments to the corpus fund. The donations can be made by way of unified payment interface (UPI), online transfer or other modes.

As per data quoted by minister of state for home Nityanand Rai in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha last week, funds contributed directly to the next-of-kin of martyrs over the two years since launch of the initiative have totalled Rs 31.78 crore.

However, it were the funds donated by common people from across the nation, keen to financially help families of the 40 CRPF personnel who were killed when a Jaish fidayeen rammed his explosives-laden car into their convoy vehicle in Pulwama, that really swelled up the Bharat ke Veer corpus. The donations that poured in after February 14 have ensured that the total corpus sits at a neat Rs 267.98 crore since it was set up.

Rai also informed the Elders last week that Rs 16.27 crore worth of funds have been distributed so far to the next of kin of 267 CAPF personnel whose details were uploaded on the portal. Of this, disbursements to CRPF martyrs stood at Rs 11.11 crore, BSF at Rs 3.30 crore, Assam Rifles at Rs 1.69 crore and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) at Rs 17.76 lakh.

The outpouring of popular support for CRPF personnel killed in Pulwama attack had translated into heightened enthusiasm among citizens to help their families financially, and Bharat ke Veer offered itself as the perfect vehicle. The surge in hits on the portal by citizens keen to send in donations had even led the website to temporarily slow down in the days following Pulwama attack.

While the State Bank of India (SBI) enabled a UPI-led payment gateway for ‘Bharat Ke Veer’ to help people make contributions easily post-Pulwama, PayTM too had created a separate window for donations in the name of ‘CRPF Wives Welfare Association’.

Source: ET

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