SC for extending PM-CARES scheme to all children affected during Covid-19 pandemic

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said a scheme framed by the Centre under the PM-CARES Fund for taking care of children orphaned due to Covid-19 should also consider children who lost one or both parents during the pandemic.

A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha Bose said the order passed by the court covered all children who became orphans during this period and not just those who lost parents due to Covid-19.

The bench also said the identification of children who have lost both parents or one parent after March 2020 does not merit any further delay. The court directed all District Magistrates to issue necessary directions to District Child Protection officers to take assistance police, civil society organisations, gram panchayat and ASHA network for identification of orphans.

It also directed all States and Union Territories to file status report giving particulars of number of children who became orphans or lost one of the parents after March, 2020.

The bench reiterated its direction that States would ensure that the orphans were permitted to continue in the same schools for the academic year.

Meanwhile, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) informed the court that over 75,320 children have either lost one or both parents during Covid-19 pandemic and they are in need of care and protection.

In an additional affidavit, it said the number of children who have lost either their mother or father or both parents between April 1, 2020 to July 23, 2021, is based upon the information uploaded on “Bal Swaraj” portal up to July 23.

Of those children, 247 were abandoned.

In Maharashtra, 13,589 children were affected amid the pandemic and they were in need of care and protection, followed by Odisha where 6,562 children were affected, and in Andhra Pradesh 6,210 children affected.

In Karnataka, 278 were orphaned during the pandemic, 2,317 lost one of the parents and 11 were found as abandoned.