PM CARES for Children scheme to support kids orphaned by COVID-19, Smriti Irani tells Parliament

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In a written reply in Rajya Sabha on March 16, Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Zubin Irani informed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a scheme that supports children who lost both their parents due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The PM CARES for Children scheme will also support children who have lost their surviving parent or legal guardian or adoptive parents due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centre said in a release.

The scheme is accessible through an online portal @pmcaresforchildren.in.

The applications for such children will have to be uploaded on the portal by the respective state/ union territory governments.

As of March 14, 8,973 applications have been uploaded on the portal out of which, 4302 applications have been approved by the respective district magistrates after due process. Maximum approved applications were received from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.

As per data shared by the Government, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar, Sikkim, and Tripura have so far not reported any beneficiary for the PM CARES for Children scheme (the list excludes children whose DOB are yet to be uploaded).

The Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing a centrally sponsored scheme namely Child Protection Services (CPS) Scheme – Mission Vatsalya under which support will be provided to the state and UTs for delivering services to the children in need of care and in difficult circumstances.

The Child Care Institutions (CCIs) established under the CPS scheme support inter-alia age-appropriate education, access to vocational training, recreation, health care, counseling, etc.