Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to utilise the substantial Rs 8,452 crore PM CARES Fund to drastically improve rural school infrastructure and build over 1,000 new high-tech schools across India, addressing critical gaps in children's education.
Key Points
- Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke advocates using the PM CARES Fund to enhance rural school infrastructure and construct over 1,000 new high-tech schools.
- The PM CARES Fund's balance stood at Rs 8,452 crore as of March 31, 2025, with only Rs 87.85 lakh spent in the 2024-25 fiscal year.
- Dipke highlighted the poor conditions of rural schools, citing a lack of basic facilities like good roads, benches, and drinking water, despite claims of fund shortages.
- He estimates that Rs 8,500 crore could fund more than 1,000 new model schools, each costing approximately Rs 8 crore.
- The fund's major portion, Rs 7,846 crore, is in fixed deposits, and Rs 605 crore in savings, with a significant reduction in spending on the PM CARES for Children Scheme.
Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Wednesday said the PM CARES Fund can be used to improve infrastructure in rural schools and build more than 1,000 new high-tech schools.
The national convenor of the CJP, which has launched the 'School Thik Karo' campaign to highlight gaps in rural school infrastructure, claimed that children of this country are crying for good roads to their schools, and benches and drinking water in their schools.
PM CARES Fund Balance and Expenditure
The total balance in the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund stood at Rs 8,452 crore as on March 31, 2025, up from Rs 7,173 crore a year ago, according to its latest audit report.
Total payments made during the year 2024-25 stood at Rs 87.85 lakh, as against Rs 15.6 crore in the previous fiscal.
In a video statement on X, Dipke said, "On one hand, Rs 8,500 crore is lying unused and on the other hand we see that the children of this country are crying for a good road to school, for good benches in school and for drinking water in school. So, why are we not using this money for the schools of these children?"
Addressing Infrastructure Gaps
"Why is this money not being used to build new schools? If we assume that the cost of building a school is approximately Rs 8 crore, a good school with all the facilities, a model school... So, if one school costs Rs 8 crore, then in Rs 8,500 crore, more than 1,000 new high-tech model schools could be built," he said. "But this is not happening," he added.
On his recent visits to schools in rural parts of Maharashtra, Dipke said their condition is "very bad".
"When I asked the authorities why there were no basic facilities here in Delhi, I was told that there was a shortage of funds," he said.
Call to Action for Children's Education
He further said, "So on one hand, it is being said that there are no funds and on the other hand Rs 8,500 crore is lying in the PM CARES Fund. So, should this money not be used for the schools?"
Dipke appealed to people to call on PM Modi to use this money for children's education.
"So, request the PM to please use the PM CARES Fund for the people, for the education (and) for the schools of the poor kids. And the PM should show that he actually cares," he said.
In another post on X, the CJP founder shared two pictures -- one of a dirty toilet and the other of a run-down school building.
"PM CARES Fund can be put to good use," he said.
Of the PM CARES Fund's total balance of Rs 8,452 crore, Rs 7,846 crore is parked in fixed deposits and Rs 605 crore in savings bank accounts, the audit report said.
The fund spent Rs 87.8 lakh on the PM CARES for Children Scheme, which aims to support children who have lost both parents or legal guardian or adoptive parents to the COVID-19 pandemic, sharply down from Rs 15.37 crore in the previous year, it said.
