Schemes for Covid orphans hit roadblocks on ground

FINDING THE ANSWERS IN ART

- Mohua.Das

The ferocity of the pandemic has killed parents of young children around the country. And out of nearly 10, 386 children who lost their parents — according to data from the Ministry of Women and Child Development in February 2022 — as many as 718 are from Maharashtra, which has the second highest number of vulnerable children in India after Odisha and among the top five states with the highest number of children orphaned during Covid-19.

Now, a survey titled ‘Vulnerable Children of Maharashtra’ by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, an independent think tank — that examined governance responses to children orphaned in the state and interviewed authorities and institutions under the JJ Act to understand the implementation of support measures — has found that although the government was quick to track and offer financial assistance to orphans, just a blanket set of schemes were not enough. There were several bottlenecks, especially in the process of locating orphaned children and in the on-ground implementation of support measures.