Daily Briefing: PM CARES fund under scrutiny

🚨 Big Story

The PM CARES Fund has remained under scrutiny since its inception in 2020 during the Covid-19 crisis. Now, The Indian Express has learnt that the Prime Minister’s Office has told the Lok Sabha Secretariat that questions pertaining to the PM CARES Fund, the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) and the National Defence Fund (NDF) are not admissible under Parliament’s Rules of Procedure. The PMO’s position is that MPs cannot raise matters that are not primarily the concern of the Government of India or relate to bodies not directly accountable to it. However, admissibility may be examined under relevant rules if issues are raised during forums such as Zero Hour or Special Mention.

In December 2020, The Indian Express had reported, citing RTI records, that besides over Rs 2,400 crore received through Corporate Social Responsibility contributions, more than 100 public sector undertakings together donated nearly Rs 155 crore from employees’ salaries to PM CARES, underscoring the scale of institutional contributions to the fund.

⚡Only in Express

Performance Audit: In an exclusive report, The Indian Express has learnt that Secretaries in the central government will now receive “administrative scorecards” grading their individual performance as well as that of their departments. The scorecards assign marks for parameters ranging from file disposal and departmental outputs to scheme expenditure and capital spending, and also include 12 negative indicators. They are intended to benchmark a department’s performance against its own record as well as that of others.

In a communication to Secretaries, the Cabinet Secretary is learnt to have said that the inability to measure something with perfect accuracy should not deter efforts to measure it at all. The move follows earlier governance initiatives such as PRAGATI, the Prime Minister’s real-time review platform to fast-track projects, schemes and grievance redressal. Read

📰 From the Front Page

Bangladesh Polls: An unexpected picture is emerging in Bangladesh ahead of the elections, one where the political landscape appears visibly one-sided. In a nation of over 18 crore people, with nearly 12.7 crore registered voters, around 6.4 crore men and 6.2 crore women, the absence of the Awami League from the electoral fray has reshaped the contest into a largely unipolar one dominated by the BNP.

Adding to the stakes, Bangladesh is holding national elections and a referendum on sweeping constitutional reforms on the same day. Together, the political vacuum and the proposed structural overhaul mark a pivotal moment in the country’s democratic trajectory. Read

🎧 For more on this, tune in to today’s ‘3 Things’ podcast episode.

Breakthrough: With Yumnam Khemchand Singh taking over as the new Chief Minister of Manipur and the BJP returning to power in the state, a long-pending political settlement with the Kuki-Zo community appears to be inching closer to fruition. Sources indicate that negotiations between the Centre and Kuki-Zo groups are in an advanced stage, with a proposed deal said to be modelled on the Frontier Nagaland Territorial Authority agreement. The framework is expected to grant greater administrative, legislative and financial autonomy to the hill districts under Article 371C, while stopping short of the demand for a separate Union Territory. If finalised, the agreement could mark a significant step towards stabilising Manipur after months of ethnic tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities, signalling a shift from confrontation to negotiated accommodation.

📌 Must Read

Labour codes: The rollout of the new labour codes is beginning to ripple through corporate balance sheets. The Indian Express reports that India’s largest companies set aside over Rs 13,000 crore in the October–December 2025 quarter to absorb the anticipated impact of the reforms. Data compiled from 41 Nifty 50 firms that have declared results so far shows provisions totalling Rs 13,307 crore for the first nine months of 2025-26. 

Tragedy: A small Dalit village, mud houses, clogged drains, and no toilets forced children, including five girls (four of whom never returned), to relieve themselves in the fields. Life is harsh, and the children are largely left to wander and play on their own. Villagers suspect the girls may have accidentally ingested fertilizer or chemicals, mistaking them for black salt.

Even the cremation raises questions. The father of the 11-year-old says, “We didn’t have money for separate funerals or wood. The girls were so small, we burned them together with whatever wood we could gather.” And yet, one haunting question remains: what really happened to them? Read. 

⏳ And Finally…

Idea Exchange: Ever been asked, “Where are you from?” and struggled to answer? Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri knows that feeling well. At The Indian Express Idea Exchange, she spoke about life across multiple languages and cultures, and how the tongues we speak quietly shape our identities. In an age increasingly influenced by AI, she reminded us that creativity, the human touch in art and writing, cannot be replicated by machines; every sentence, every story carries a piece of the writer’s soul. Read. 

That’s all for today, folks! Until tomorrow, 

Anupama Yadav