Government-Citizen Pandemic Relief Efforts: Case of India's PM CARES Fund

Government-citizen collaboration is recognized as an important response dynamic in pandemic relief contexts, particularly in developing countries where government efforts alone are insufficient. This paper examines the PM CARES Fund, a government-citizen contribution towards coronavirus relief efforts in India, as a case study on the problems of transparency & accountability which prevent public value preservation in pandemic contexts. The findings suggest that the PM CARES Fund is but one more example of gross transparency & accountability deficits by the Modi-BJP Government, and serves as a cautionary tale for developing country government-citizen pandemic relief programmes.