PM Modi's donations to public causes from his savings, auction of gifts exceed Rs 103 crore: Sources
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's donations to a number of public causes, ranging from girl child education to the cleaning of Ganga, from his savings and the proceeds of auctions of the gifts he received exceed Rs 103 crore, sources said on Thursday.
The latest among his donations was the initial corpus of Rs 2.25 lakh to the PM CARES Fund, which was set up in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak to support relief of any kind relating to a public health emergency or any other kind of emergency, calamity or distress.
The Fund, set up in March, received Rs 3,076.62 crore in just five days of its formation, as per an account statement made public on Wednesday.
Highlighting Modi's donations to public causes, sources noted that he gave Rs 21 lakh in 2019 from his personal savings to the corpus fund set up for the welfare of sanitation workers of Kumbh Mela.
After receiving the Seoul Peace Prize in South Korea in 2019, the prime minister had announced that the entire prize money of Rs 1.30 crore would be given to the Namami Gange project, aimed at cleaning Ganga river, they added.
PM Modi has contributed to many public causes. These donations have now exceeded Rs 103 crores, the sources said.
During a recent auction of mementoes received by Modi as prime minister, Rs 3.40 crore was collected and donated to the cause of Namami Gange.
The sources said Modi had donated Rs 21 lakh from his personal savings towards the education of Gujarat government staff's daughter after he quit as the state chief minister in 2014 to take over as the country's prime minister.
He had also raised Rs 89.96 crore by auctioning all gifts he received as chief minister and donated this to the Kanya Kelavani Fund, a scheme for education of the girl child.
The prime minister had also initiated the auctioning of gifts he received till then in 2015, and Rs 8.35 crore were raised, with the amount channelled to the Namami Gange Mission, sources said.
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Women BJP MLAs protest against opposition in UP assembly premises
Lucknow (PTI): Women BJP MLAs held a protest in the Vidhan Bhawan complex before the one-day special session of Uttar Pradesh assembly, slamming the opposition for defeating the passage of a bill, which would have led to implementation of the Women's Reservation Law, in the Lok Sabha.
This followed another demonstration by Samajwadi Party MLAs, who alleged that the BJP was misleading public in the name of women's reservation.
The women BJP legislators assembled in front of Chaudhary Charan Singh's statue in the assembly premises, holding banners inscribed with the slogan "Insult to Matrushakti (women's power), India will not tolerate it". The protesting members entered the main hall of Vidhan Bhawan carrying the banners.
Participating in the protest, the state Minister for Women Welfare and Child Development, Baby Rani Maurya, told reporters that all opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, had opposed the women's reservation, a stance for which they would have to pay a heavy political price.
"On this issue, all of us women stand united. We will ensure that we secure our reservation," she said.
BJP MLA Ketki Singh remarked that their protest represents the collective outrage of millions of women across the state.
Singh asserted that the opposition has betrayed women by creating hurdles in the path of women's reservation. The current demonstration is merely the beginning, and very soon, women from every street, intersection and household will join the protest movement, she said.
Minister Vijaylakshmi Gautam said, "We strongly condemn the despicable act committed by the Samajwadi Party and the Congress in an attempt to hold back 'half the population' (women). Their action was directed against the very bill that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had introduced to empower and strengthen Nari Shakti (women's power), and which he strived to pass expeditiously."
Uttar Pradesh assembly is holding a one-day special session on Thursday. During the session, the government is set to move a censure motion against the opposition parties over their failure to pass the Constitution Amendment Bill, which would have led to implementation of the Women's Reservation Act, in the Lok Sabha.
