Ministry prepares list of kids orphaned during Covid-19

Ravi S Singh

New Delhi, March 2

The Union government has prepared a list of more 4,200 children who were orphaned during the Covid pandemic to provide help and succor from PM Cares Fund.

According to official sources, the list is not exhaustive as the number of such children, in all probability, will increase.

The Centre has prioritised to ensure that these tragedy-struck hapless children do not slip from slip from the mainstream. Union Women and Child Development (WCD) Minister Smriti Irani has had several rounds of review in the matter.

A senior official on Wednesday said on the sidelines of launch of the second phase of project christened, “Stree Manoraksha”, by Irani that the issue is being monitored at the highest echelons of the Ministry.

The project, run under the aegis of the WCD Ministry in coordination with NIMHANS has several components.

They include imparting self-defence techniques to women, counselling to women afflicted with anxiety disorder, depression, somatisation disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to restore confidence, and sense of self sufficiency among them.

The Ministry has roped in Delhi Police for the training of self-defence techniques.

The project was conceived during heydays of the turbulence of Covid pandemic in the backdrop of women making distress calls for help and guidance. The need was felt, with collaboration extended by NIMHANS, to institutionalise mechanism to bail out the women, full-on with hands-on approach.

Sources said that the Centre is all set to roll out insurance cover of rupees five lakh for workers in “One Stop Centre” (OSC) scheme of WCD Ministry.

Under the scheme, OSCs are aimed to facilitate access to an integrated range of services including medical, legal and psychological support to women who are victims of violence.