Only 30% of Covid orphan claims cleared by states so far

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 31

Only three in 10 claims filed on the behalf of children orphaned by Covid-19 have been approved by state governments for central aid so far.

Data procured by The Tribune from PM Cares portal that tracks the status of claims on a real-time basis reveals that as of October 29, district magistrates across India had approved only 1,306 of the 4,366 claims filed across 530 districts.

This dismal approval rate of 29.9 per cent reflects that a large number of applications are either being rejected or are stuck at approval stage for want of authentication and proof.

Under PM Cares for Children, state governments are mandated to conduct district magistrate-level verification of each claim received before sending it to the Centre for extending benefits to eligible children.

The lowest rate of approval, as of now, is for Uttar Pradesh at 0.31 per cent and the highest is for Goa at 100 per cent. As of October 29, 314 claims had been filed on behalf of Covid orphans from UP’s 63 districts, but only one claim has been approved. Official sources said the authentication of claims was an ongoing process.

In Goa, however, all five claims received from across the state have been approved and sent to the Women and Child Development Ministry for action. In J&K, 14 claims have been received but the child welfare committee has rejected three and not recommended any yet.

Importantly, of the 4,366 claims received on the PM Cares portal so far, respective child welfare committees of 530 districts have recommended only 2,167 applications for district magistrate’s clearance. This means even the CWCs have approved only 49.6 per cent of the claims received so far.

Official sources said while anyone could file an online claim for government support to a child orphaned by Covid, the applications required verifications. “A large number of applications failing to make it past the DM stage could also mean that not as many children have been orphaned by Covid as was anticipated. It could equally mean laxity on the part of district administrations and states to authenticate claims and fasten the process,” an official source said.

Once approved by DMs, a claim would entitle an orphaned child to a range of Union Government benefits, including Rs 2,000 monthly stipend, which the Centre proposes to increase to Rs 4,000 soon; healthcare cover of Rs 5 lakh a year under PM Jan Aarogya Yojana; Rs 10 lakh once the child turns 23 and free education in a central government school in the child’s vicinity.