According to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, over 55 per cent of applications under the PM Care for Children scheme – a comprehensive support for Covid orphans – were duplicated.
Civil society representatives have also protested the closure of entries in February without giving enough publicity to the plan.
Last May, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Announced plans to support children who have lost their surviving parents or legal guardians or adoptive parents to COVID. Under this scheme, such children were to get a monthly stipend from the age of 18 years and a lump sum amount of Rs 10 lakh on attaining the age of 23 years.
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However, the Center has received only 9,700 applications from across the country, out of which 4,350 have been accepted. Of these, 791 are from Maharashtra. This was disclosed on Tuesday in the meeting of the Central Women and Child Development (WCD) of the states of the western region.
“Most of the applications were repeated with more than one application for the same child. Indevar Pandey, Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development said that we had to reject those applications which are reflected in the number of applications accepted.
Highlighting the low number of applications, Pandey said, “When the Center launched the scheme last May, we expected a large number of applications. But we have received only 4,350 applications which shows that the number of Kovid orphans is less than estimated.
State WCDs have created their own bank accounts to provide financial assistance to the beneficiaries under the scheme. Under this scheme sponsorship of Rs 2,000 per month per child for non-institutional care and maintenance grant of Rs 2,160 per month per child in childcare institutions is available. “We plan to increase it from Rs 2,000 to Rs 4,000,” Pandey said.
Even though the pandemic is not over, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development closed the entries for the scheme on February 28. Preeti Patkar, founder and executive secretary of NGO Prerna – which works for the betterment of children – said at the event, “Many citizens, especially in rural Maharashtra, were not even aware of the scheme. In response, Pandey blamed the State Department. “We informed the states, so it was their responsibility to ensure that the eligible apply,” he said.
When Indian Express When asked about the reason for closing the entries and the possibility of reopening it, he said, “We had to start the scrutiny and disbursement of amount for the eligible applications, hence closing the entries to avoid further delay. gave.” went away.”