Life without parents: COVID-19 pushes 1400 children in TN into plight! A look at a grieving story

Life across the globe has been hanging in balance after the pandemic stormed the nations and confined them in a way that mankind has never witnessed in a century. The invisible menace has deeply anguished and distressed millions of people and put both the power and poor to face the same scale of destruction by triggering health and economic crises. 

The countries are together in the fight against the pandemic and amid the race for vaccinations, the agony and cremations have become incessant with hundreds of thousands of people losing their loved ones to the pandemic. While their losses were tearful, the state of the children who have lost either one parent or both of them has been at fret. India has become one of the most affected countries of the pandemic in the second wave and with a surging death toll, thousands of children were pushed for life without a single or both parents. 

According to reports, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights in India (NCPR) has recently informed the Supreme Court that between April 1, 2020, and June 5, 2021, more than 30,000 children across the country lost both their parents or one of the parents due to COVID-19. The details were collected based on the data with the states. 

With a shocking revelation, the apex court has ordered the state governments to upload all information regarding the children orphaned or lost one parent due to COVID-19 or other diseases after March 2020 on the NCPR portal. The Chief of NCPR has said that they will link these children to the welfare schemes of the Central government and provide them with the right protection and care. 

In Tamil Nadu, the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed 1,400 children into plight as they have lost either one or both parents due to the viral infection. The reports say that the district child protection offices in Tamil Nadu have identified about 1,400 children in the state who have lost either one or both parents to the COVID-19 pandemic since the first wave hit the state. 

The data released by the district child protection offices are as of June 9 and of 1,400 children, 50 children have lost both their parents to the pandemic, which is one of the grieving stories of the state in the post-Covid world. With the view of providing financial aid to the children, the Tamil Nadu government has announced Rs 5 lakh relief for each child who has been orphaned due to COVID-19. 

Chief Minister MK Stalin has announced that the government will be taking care of the educational cost and hostel fees for the children, who lost both their parents, until they complete their graduation. The government will be sanctioning Rs 3 lakh for the children who have lost one of their parents to the pandemic. An assistance of Rs 3,000 per month was also announced for children who live with a caretaker/guardian until they turn 18.

The government said, "For the children who have lost both their parents owing to the pandemic, Rs 5 lakh will be deposited and the amount will be given to them along with the interest after they complete 18 years of age. These children will get priority to stay in the government-run homes and the state will be taking care of the cost of education and hostel fees until the children complete their graduation."

The government has further said that for the children who have lost one of their parents to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rs 3 lakh will be sanctioned as immediate relief. The government has however said that if a person is recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic and later succumbs to the Covid complications, there is no compensation to the children who lose their parents. The government has been surfaced with the demand to provide financial aid to the children who had lost their parents due to post-Covid complications. 

 

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