Lok Sabha Question No. 759 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-23
Subject: Bal Swaraj Portal
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Raja Amareshwara Naik, Sukanta Majumdar, Jayanta Kumar Roy, Bhola Singh, Vinod Kumar Sonkar, Rajveer (Raju Bhaiya) Singh, Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.759

TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.07.2021

## BAL SWARAJ PORTAL

## 759.    SHRI RAJA AMARESHWARA NAIK:

SHRI VINOD KUMAR SONKAR: SHRI RAJVEER SINGH (RAJU BHAIYA): SHRI BHOLA SINGH: DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR: DR. JAYANTA KUMAR ROY: SHRIMATI SANGEETA KUMARI DEO

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether thousands of children have been orphaned or lost one parent during the second wave of COVID-19 in the country and if so, the details thereof, State-wise including Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal;
- (b) whether Government has created Bal Swaraj Portal  to  track  cases  of  children who have lost  one  or  both  parent  due  to  COVID-19,  if  so,  the  details  of  data collected so far;
- (c) whether  illegal  adoption  of  these  orphaned  children  have  been  reported  from different parts of the country and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether Government has any plan to provide support and financial assistance to such children, if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the other steps being taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a) to (b):  As per information provided by States/UTs including Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, data of orphan children who have lost their parents to Covid since April 2021 to 28.05.2021,  is Annexed. The  data  collected  on  Bal  Swaraj  Portal  regarding  orphan children is not specific to those children who have lost their parents to Covid.

(c).   The Ministry had alerted States/UTs to ensure that all the children in need of care and protection are reported to the respective Child Welfare Committee and rehabilitated in accordance with the provisions of the JJ Act, 2015. The States/UTs were requested to  sensitise  public  to  safeguard  vulnerable  children  by  way  of  public  notice  in  local language.  A  note  for  public  information  was  also  uploaded  on  Ministry's  website  i.e. www.wcd.nic.in.

(d)  &  (e):  The  children  in  distress  situations  merit  care  and  protection  under  the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and Rules made thereunder. The Ministry is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely Child Protection Services (CPS)  in  partnership  with  the  State  Governments/UT Administrations  for  delivering  the  institutional  and  non-institutional  care  as  stipulated under the JJ Act. As per the scheme guidelines, maintenance grant of Rs.2000/- per child per month is available for non- institutional care of children in need of care and protection,  along  with  the  provision  of  maintenance  grant  of  Rs.2160/-  per  child per month for Children living in Child care Institutions.

Hon'ble PM has announced PM CARES for children scheme to support children who have lost both parents or surviving parent or legal guardian or adoptive parents due to COVID-19 pandemic. The scheme provides support for education and health and will create a corpus of Rs 10 lakh for each child when he or she reaches 18 years of age. This corpus will be used to give a monthly financial support/ stipend form 18 years of age, for the next 5 years to take care of his or her personal requirements during the period of higher education and on reaching the age of 23 years, he or she will get the corpus amount as one lump-sum for personal and professional use.

The Ministry asked States and UTs to take immediate action for care and protection of children adversely impacted by COVID 19, in accordance with the provisions of the JJ Act 2015 and Rules thereunder, while leveraging the facilities funded under the Child protection  Services  scheme.  The  Ministry also  issued  advisories  and  guidelines  for encouraging  COVID  appropriate  behavior,  monitoring  of  Child  Care  Institutions  and coping strategies  during  COVID  times for mental health  support  to  children  and  care givers.  A  responsibility  matrix  defining  role  of  primary  duty  holders  at  all  levels  from State to Panchayati Raj Institutions was also shared with States/UTs.

***

Annexure to part (a) & (b) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No.759 for 23.07.2021 raised by Shri Raja Amareshwara Naik Shri Vinod Kumar Sonkar Shri Rajveer Singh (Raju Bhaiya) Shri Bhola Singh Dr Sukanta Majumdar Dr Jayanta Kumar Roy  regarding 'Bal Swaraj Portal'.

As per information provided by States/UTs data of orphan children who have lost their parents to Covid since April 2021 to 28.05.2021 is as follows:

| Sl. No.   | Name of State                  |   No. of orphaned children |
|-----------|--------------------------------|----------------------------|
| 1         | A&N Island                     |                          0 |
| 2         | Andhra Pradesh                 |                        119 |
| 3         | Arunachal Pradesh              |                          0 |
| 4         | Assam                          |                          3 |
| 5         | Bihar                          |                          0 |
| 6         | Chandigarh                     |                          0 |
| 7         | Chhattisgarh                   |                         16 |
| 8         | Dadra Nagar Haveli & Daman Diu |                          2 |
| 9         | Delhi                          |                          1 |
| 10        | Goa                            |                          0 |
| 11        | Gujarat                        |                         45 |
| 12        | Haryana                        |                          0 |
| 13        | Himachal Pradesh               |                         13 |
| 14        | J&K                            |                          8 |
| 15        | Jharkhand                      |                         11 |
| 16        | Karnataka                      |                         09 |
| 17        | Kerala                         |                         09 |
| 18        | Ladakh                         |                          0 |
| 19        | Lakshadweep                    |                          0 |
| 20        | Madhya Pradesh                 |                         73 |
| 21        | Maharashtra                    |                         83 |
| 22        | Manipur                        |                          1 |
| 23        | Meghalaya                      |                          1 |
| 24        | Mizoram                        |                          0 |
| 25        | Nagaland                       |                          0 |
| 26        | Odisha                         |                         10 |
| 27        | Puducherry                     |                          2 |
| 28        | Punjab                         |                         20 |
| 29        | Rajasthan                      |                         19 |
| 30        | Sikkim                         |                          0 |
| 31        | Tamil Nadu                     |                          8 |
| 32        | Telangana                      |                         23 |
| 33        | Tripura                        |                          0 |
| 34        | Uttar Pradesh                  |                        158 |
| 35        | Uttarakhand                    |                          8 |
| 36        | West Bengal                    |                          3 |
|           | Total                          |                        645 |