The coronavirus hit India in 2019 after which a pandemic was declared. In the heartbreaking situation of the nation, more than a lakh children lost one or both their parents. 

The information of orphaned children was disclosed by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The first and second wave of Covid-19 pandemic across the country led to numbers of loss of life. The commission, which has been running a dedicated website called Bal Swaraj. The site collecting data showed a lakh of lives orphaned and children who lost either of their parents. NCPCR submitted an affidavit in the top court through advocate Swarupama Chaturvedi that 101,032 children were abandoned, became orphans or lost one of their parents due to Covid-19 or other reasons between April 2020 and August 2021.

The affidavit specified that the cause of death included non-Covid-19 reasons as well. The affidavit came in a suo motu petition being heard by the apex court which is monitoring steps to ensure providing food, shelter and education to children abandoned or orphaned. This is the third affidavit filed by NCPCR in the matter. The present affidavit of NCPCR showed a realistic picture in West Bengal with 308 orphans and 6270 children who lost either of the parents, besides two children found abandoned from April 2020 till August 23. Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackrey led state Maharashtra is the only state in the country recording a five digit figure of children affected during the reporting period.

Supreme Court gets nine new judges, Including 3 Women,

India set to participate in Naval Exercise Malabar 21

Karnataka CM Bommai meets legal team in Delhi to discuss water disputes