Lok Sabha Question No. 2055 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-30
Subject: Financial Assistance for Children Orphaned Due to Covid
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Dean Kuriakose, Abdul Khaleque

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2055

TO BE ANSWERED ON 30.07.2021

## FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR CHILDREN ORPHANED DUE TO COVID

## 2055.  ADV. DEAN KURIAKOSE: SHRI ABDUL KHALEQUE:

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

- (a) whether the Government has any proposal to help children who have lost both their  parents  to  COVID-19  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  action taken thereon;
- (b) whether the same financial support has been extended to children who have lost one parent or a sole bread-winner of the family;
- (c) if  so, the details thereof including the amount of funds allocated for the same, State/UT-wise including Assam;
- (d) the  number  of  children  who  have  registered  for  access  to  the  said  financial support, State/UT-wise, including Assam, district-wise;
- (e) details of the directions issued to the State Governments for the protection and welfare  of  children  orphaned  by  COVID-19,  State/UT-wise  including  Assam; and
- (f) whether the children of Non Resident Indians who died abroad will be eligible for these schemes and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  to  (f):  The  children  in  distress  situations  merit  care  and  protection  under  the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. The Act and Rules made thereunder mandate a safety net of service delivery structures along with institutional and non-institutional care for these children. 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,  subject  to  the provisions  of  the  guideline.  There  is  also  a  provision  of maintenance  grant  of Rs.2160/- per child per month for Children living in Child care Institutions under the scheme. All Indian Citizens can avail benefit under the scheme, subject to the scheme guidelines.

As per information provided by States/UTs including Assam, data of orphan children who  have  lost  their  parents due  to Covid  since  April 2021  to  28.05.2021, is at Annexure-I. The details  of  the  fund  released  to  the  States/UTs  including  Assam under Child Protection Services (CPS) Scheme during the financial year i.e. 2020-21

is at Annexure-II. The  Ministry  has 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  has  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  guidelines  providing  a  responsibility  matrix defining the role of primary duty holders has also been shared with the States/UTs. 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 scheme is accessible  through  an  online  portal  i.e. pmcaresforchildren.in. Any  Citizen  can inform  the  administration  regarding  a  child  eligible  for  support  under  this  scheme through the portal. States/UTs have been directed vide Ministry's letter dt. 22.07.21 to identify  children  eligible  for  support  under  the  PM  CARES  for  children  scheme  and register  them  on  the  portal.  The  State  wise  number  of  children  registered  on  the portal  as on 29.07.2021 is given at Annexure III.

****

Annexure  to  part  (a)  to  (f)  of  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.2055  for 30.07.2021  raised  by Adv  Dean  Kuriakose  and  Shri  Abdul  Khaleque regarding 'Financial Assistance for Children Orphaned due to Covid'.

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 |

## Annexure-II

Annexure  to  part  (a)  to  (f)  of  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.2055  for 30.07.2021  raised  by Adv  Dean  Kuriakose  and  Shri  Abdul  Khaleque regarding 'Financial Assistance for Children Orphaned due to Covid'.

Details of the fund released and utilised by the States/UTs including Assam under CPS Scheme during the financial year i.e. 2020-21.

(Rs.in Lakhs)

| S. No.   | State/UT                 | Amount Released   |
|----------|--------------------------|-------------------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh           | 1827.84           |
| 2        | Arunachal Pradesh        | 293.55            |
| 3        | Assam                    | 3159.17           |
| 4        | Bihar                    | 2203.71           |
| 5        | Chattisgarh              | 2281.81           |
| 6        | Goa                      | 129.9             |
| 7        | Gujarat                  | 2590.93           |
| 8        | Haryana                  | 2391.14           |
| 9        | Himachal Pradesh         | 1457.39           |
| 10       | Jammu & Kashmir          | 1490.55           |
| 11       | Jharkhand                | 1425.26           |
| 12       | Karnataka                | 2897.87           |
| 13       | Kerala                   | 1135.84           |
| 14       | Madhya Pradesh           | 3531.26           |
| 15       | Maharashtra              | 3433.13           |
| 16       | Manipur                  | 3468.9            |
| 17       | Meghalaya                | 2014.36           |
| 18       | Mizoram                  | 2243.71           |
| 19       | Nagaland                 | 2125.64           |
| 20       | Orissa                   | 3302.54           |
| 21       | Punjab                   | 558.41            |
| 22       | Rajasthan                | 3221.96           |
| 23       | Sikkim                   | 612.81            |
| 24       | Tamil Nadu               | 9636.91           |
| 25       | Telangana                | 431.61            |
| 26       | Tripura                  | 1075.65           |
| 27       | Uttar Pradesh            | 5235.63           |
| 28       | Uttarakhand              | 712.37            |
| 29       | West Bengal              | 4375.63           |
| 30       | Andaman & Nicobar Island | 282.97            |
| 31       | Chandigarh               | 169.21            |
| 32       | Dadra & Nagar Haveli     | 55.96             |
|          | Daman & Diu              |                   |
| 33       | Delhi                    | 656.76            |
| 34       | Lakshadweep              | 0                 |
| 35       | Ladakh                   | 153.18            |
| Total    |                          | 70977.53          |

## Annexure-III

Annexure  to  part  (a)  to  (f)  of  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.2055  for 30.07.2021  raised  by Adv  Dean  Kuriakose  and  Shri  Abdul  Khaleque regarding 'Financial Assistance for Children Orphaned due to Covid'.

## State/UT-wise data of children registered on pmcaresforchildren.in Portal as on 29.07.2021

| Sr. No.   | State/UT                             |   Number of Children |
|-----------|--------------------------------------|----------------------|
| 1.        | Andaman and Nicobar Islands          |                    0 |
| 2.        | Andhra Pradesh                       |                   85 |
| 3.        | Arunachal Pradesh                    |                    0 |
| 4.        | Assam                                |                    0 |
| 5.        | Bihar                                |                    4 |
| 6.        | Chandigarh                           |                    0 |
| 7.        | Chhattisgarh                         |                    3 |
| 8.        | Dadra & Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu |                    0 |
| 9.        | Delhi                                |                    2 |
| 10.       | Goa                                  |                    0 |
| 11.       | Gujarat                              |                   34 |
| 12.       | Haryana                              |                    9 |
| 13.       | Himachal Pradesh                     |                    0 |
| 14.       | Jammu and Kashmir                    |                    4 |
| 15.       | Jharkhand                            |                    1 |
| 16.       | Karnataka                            |                    4 |
| 17.       | Kerala                               |                    0 |
| 18.       | Ladakh                               |                    0 |
| 19.       | Lakshadweep                          |                    0 |
| 20.       | Madhya Pradesh                       |                    2 |
| 21.       | Maharashtra                          |                   10 |
| 22.       | Manipur                              |                    6 |
| 23.       | Meghalaya                            |                    0 |
| 24        | Mizoram                              |                    0 |
| 25.       | Nagaland                             |                    0 |
| 26        | Odisha                               |                    2 |
| 27.       | Puducherry                           |                    0 |
| 28.       | Punjab                               |                    1 |
| 29.       | Rajasthan                            |                    0 |
| 30.       | Sikkim                               |                    0 |
| 31.       | Tamil Nadu                           |                  112 |
| 32.       | Telangana                            |                    3 |
| 33.       | Tripura                              |                    0 |
| 34.       | Uttar Pradesh                        |                    8 |
| 35.       | Uttrakhand                           |                    0 |
| 36.       | West Bengal                          |                    2 |
|           | Total                                |                  292 |