This comes only days after the Ministry of Women and Child Development announced that the second wave of the virus had left 577 children orphaned across India

India has promised support measures for children who have lost both parents to the pandemic, including free schooling and health insurance. The government stated in a statement on Saturday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration will use the PM Cares fund to generate a corpus of 1 million rupees ($13,805) for each kid when they turn 18. The youngsters will be registered in the government’s health insurance scheme, with premiums paid through the PM Cares fund until they reach the age of eighteen. The money will also be used to cover school expenses like fees, uniforms, and books. When they reach the age of 18, they will get a monthly stipend, and when they reach the age of 23, they will receive the entire corpus in one lump sum.

The decision was made after the world’s worst outbreak devastated families and left children orphaned. India’s 1.3 billion people are under the age of 14, and the country had an estimated 350,000 orphans in institutional care at the time of the outbreak. In a second announcement on Saturday, the government announced additional measures to assist families who have lost a breadwinner due to Covid. Providing a family pension and insurance for dependents is one of the steps. Under the ‘PM Cares for Children’ programme, all such children who have lost both parents or a surviving parent, legal guardian, or foster parents will be supported. Following a meeting headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the statement was made. PM Cares would contribute to a fixed deposit in the children’s names through a specially developed programme, resulting in a corpus of Rs 10 lakh when they become 18 years old. This fund will be utilised to provide a monthly financial support and stipend to children starting at the age of 18 for the next five years in order to meet their personal needs during their time in higher education.

“As an alternative, such children would be awarded with a scholarship equivalent to the tuition fee and course fee for undergraduate or vocational courses as per government regulations under federal or state government schemes. PM Cares would provide a comparable scholarship to youngsters who are not eligible under the existing scholarship systems, according to the government. All children will be enrolled as beneficiaries under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme (PM-JAY), which will provide them with a health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh and PM Cares would pay the premiums till they reach the age of 18.

On Sunday, India reported the lowest daily increase in new coronavirus infections in almost a month, with 165,553 cases reported in the previous 24 hours, while mortality increased by 3,460. According to health ministry estimates, the overall number of illnesses has reached 27.9 million, with 325,972 deaths. “It is estimated that 6.53 crore families will be eligible. According to the official, the number of claims on account of death under the programme is estimated to be around 50,000 families each year, with an increase in claims due to the expected death of roughly 10,000 workers owing to Covid.

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