Dalai Lama donates to PM-CARES Fund, extends support to govt efforts to combat coronavirus

Dalai Lama has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing his support to measures being taken by India, within country and among SAARC nations, to contain spre of dely coronavirus.

Tibetan spiritual leer also me a donation from his trust to PM CARES Fund, created to enable people to contribute to government’s containment and relief measures against COVID-19 outbreak. His staff members too donated a day's salary to corpus, according to Dalai Lama’s office.

Dalai Lama said fund will provide “urgently needed assistance” to people facing hardships due to an ongoing nationwide lockdown imposed to combat virus.

In a letter to Modi on Tuesday, Dalai Lama said, “I appreciate ermous challenges that this crisis poses to world community and need for strict measures to be taken to meet m.”

“I would like to thank you for initiative that you have taken in partnership with or SAARC countries to set up an emergency fund and to exchange information, kwledge and expertise to tackle spre of COVID-19. Such collaboration will also create a model for dealing with similar problems in future,” he wrote to prime minister.

At an India-initiated video conference of SAARC leers on March 15, Modi suggested that health professionals of member nations could come toger to jointly fight against coronavirus pandemic. He also proposed setting up an emergency fund.

India has also proposed setting up of a common electronic platform for all SAARC nations to share expertise and best practices to jointly combat spre of coronavirus.

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a regional grouping comprising Afghanistan, Banglesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Union Home Ministry said death toll due to COVID-19 has risen to 32 and number of total positive cases to 1,251 as on Monday 9.30 PM, up from 1,024 positive cases and 27 deaths as on Sunday evening. While re are more than 1,100 active cases, nearly 100 have been cured.

Dalai Lama wrote, “As a token of my sympathy and support, I am making a donation from Dalai Lama Trust to PM CARES Fund set up to provide relief during crises such as this. I would also like to mention that members of my Office Staff would also like to contribute one day’s salary to Fund.”

“As I have stated elsewhere, I understand that as a result of necessary lockdown across world, many people are facing tremendous hardship due to a loss of livelihood. For those with stable income in particular, it is becoming very hard to make ends meet. I hope, refore, that charitable trusts such as PM CARES Fund will be able to provide se people with urgently needed assistance,” he said.