Game over?

software developer makes clever use of a domain name to question the alleged lack of transparency around the PM CARES Fund

THE Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) was created on March 28 this year, in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. Estimates suggest that the PM-CARES Fund has collected around R9,677 crore. Why we need a new fund when the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund already exists, is a question that continues to remain unanswered.

Trinamool Congress' MP from Krishnanagar, Mahua Moitra, knocked the doors of the Supreme Court and sought answers about the fund. In the Parliament, she lambasted the ruling government for its lack of transparency. After all, the Prime Minister's Office has refused to divulge any information about the contentious fund by denying multiple Right to Information requests.

While not all may have Moitra's stature and reach, criticism for the lack of transparency has come in many forms. A 28-year-old software developer, for instance, has bought the domain name pmcares.fund at R700 for a year. In a satirical take on the secretiveness around the fund, the website reads: "PM CARES fund details could not be displayed because the Government won't allow you to see it," followed by this message: "ERR_HIDDEN_BY_GOVERNMENT".

That's not all. They have also created a fun game similar to the chrome dino game that appears on Google chrome when one tries to visit a website while disconnected from the Internet. Except in this case, it's not a dinosaur that is running and jumping over obstacles, it's PM Narendra Modi. The obstacles include Coronavirus, the media, courts and a shaky economy.

"I am not an expert on the subject. It was more of a fun weekend project for me. However, it is my opinion that a government should always be held accountable. It is the job of the media and the judiciary to ensure this, but I can see that they're not doing enough," said the engineer, who did not wish to be identified for the story. In a deliciously dark twist, you can continue to play the game even after being hit by an obstacle, whether it is the rising cases of COVID-19 or an economy in recession coupled with severe job loss.

"Ideally, I shouldn't feel the need to be anonymous for making such a silly thing. But, in the current climate, one can't be sure of the reaction. I hope people can see it for what it is and maybe have a laugh about it," said the software developer, who has in the past created a twitter bot called @SadhGBot, training it to create a mishmash of Sadhguru's past tweets and answers in a daily's sexpert column. The bot also made The Beatles sing a cover of viral Pakistani sensation Taher Shah's ridiculous song, Eye To Eye.

"My last project, mys.tools, was also based on a domain name hack. It is a weird and disgusting website that claims to be a daily log of 'my stools'. I generated it using AI and it's not really a daily journal of my own stools," they explained.

This person goes by u/maxmess on Reddit and posted the link to pmcares.fund on r/India, the official subreddit for India. The engineer admitted to being overwhelmed by the positive response to their idea. The post has blown up on Reddit, and was upvoted nearly 10,000 times and pmcares.fund received more than 13 lakh hits within a week. "For me, posting about my side projects on the Internet is usually like shouting into the void. I am happy that so many people played the game and that most people have been able to see the humour in it."

To play the game: https://pmcares.fund/

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