The COVID-19 pandemic may have its disastrous impact on people’s lives, but hundreds of children in Odisha are losing their parents for other reasons.
As per Bal Swaraj, an online tracking portal of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), 6,115 children have lost their parents in Odisha since April 1, 2020.
Of them, 753 children have lost both parents.
The pandemic took lives of both parents of 163 children since April 1 last year while 1,610 children lost one of their parents during this period.
In view of a large number of children losing their parents in the pandemic, the Naveen Patnaik government had launched a special scheme, ‘Ashirvad’. Under this scheme, monthly ₹2,500 will be given to children who have lost both parents.
If a child loses one of the earning parents, then he or she is entitled to get ₹1,500 a month. The scheme will be implemented retrospectively from April 1, 2020.
According to State government sources, payment of monthly stipend as announced earlier was yet to begin as modalities of the scheme are being fine-tuned in consultation with different departments.
These children are being accommodated in childcare institutions with the consent of their relatives.
The district child protection unit, Childline, a voluntary organisation, panchayat-level and block-level committees in coordination with frontline civil society organisations have been assigned to help identify these children requiring special attention. Parent-less children would be included in the ‘Green Passage’ scheme in which the government takes care of their higher education.
