Daily Times

Sir: In India, Comptroller and Auditor General, in his report on State Disaster Management Response Fund from 2010-11 to 2014-15 pointed that 25 percent (Rs 342.43 crore) of the expenditure meant for disaster mitigation purposes was diverted towards ineligible works. But, private funds lie outside his domain of duty. To plug the loophole, several online crowd funding sites (Milaap, Ketto, GoFundMe, and others) have emerged in India.

Starting from 2010, Milaap has so far raised about Rs 400 crore. The GoFundMe project raised over $4,550 more than half of the goal amount of $8,000. Ketto raised over Rs 300 crore. They not only rigorously verify credentials of campaigners, but also raise and spend funds in a transparent manner. Curious readers may go through the study, “Crowd funding at India: a study of Indian online crowd funding platforms”

In Pakistan, it is a common sight that people contribute cash to charity boxes kept in shops or mosques. No-one knows where the collected cash goes. There must be some mechanism to check that the donation is being made to an authentic religious or philanthropic organisation. There is no relief for someone suffering from a rare disease or too poor to foot the medical bill (like me suffering from gallstones). Not everyone is rich enough to pay up hefty fees for private consultation or operative surgery. Could we also start some transparent crowd funding system for individual and collective causes? Transparency would improve our FATF rating also.

AMJED JAAVED

Rawalpindi

Published in Daily Times, September 4^th 2018.