Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 8

As many as 20 children were orphaned in Punjab during the ongoing Covid wave in April-May this year, Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Zubin Irani replied to a question filed by MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi during the ongoing LS session.

In HP, the wave saw as many as 13 children losing both their parents during the same period. Haryana and Chandigarh did not record even a single case where a child was rendered orphan. Seeking details, the MP in her question quoted “reports” that put the number of children who lost at least one parent to the deadly infection at 9,346 and those who lost both parents at more than 1,700.

It has been pointed out that under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the ministry is implementing the Child Protection Services (CPS) in partnership with the state governments. A maintenance grant of Rs 2,000 per child per month is given for non-institutional care of children along with the provision maintenance grant of Rs 2,160 per child per month for children living in childcare institutions.

The reply also mentioned that those who lost both parents, the PM Cares scheme for children provided support for education and health and a corpus of Rs 10 lakh for each child when he/she turned 18. This corpus would be used to give a monthly financial support/ stipend from 18 years of age for the next five years. On turning 23, the child would get the lump sum corpus amount for personal and professional use. A portal to help these children was introduced on July 15 and is accessible on an online portal pmcaresforchildren.in.