A total of 645 children across the country lost both parents to Covid-19 from April 1 to May 28 this year during second wave of covid, the Women and Child Development Ministry said on Thursday. In response to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani gave data on the children orphaned during the second wave of COVID-19.  As per govt data, a total of 645 children lost their parents to Covid from April 2021 to May 28. The highest number of such children was reported from Uttar Pradesh at 158 followed by Andhra Pradesh at 119, Maharashtra at 83 and Madhya Pradesh at 73.

The minister further said that the prime minister has announced a scheme to support the children who have lost both parents or surviving parent or legal guardian or adoptive parents due to the pandemic. According to a WCD ministry official, the orphaned children were being rehabilitated with their extended families or in childcare institutions.

The govt is set to provide 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 18 years of age, for the next five years to take care of his or her personal needs 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 minister said.

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