Centre announces measures to help kin, kids hit by Covid
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced a slew of welfare measures for children who lost their parents to Covid-19, including free education and a corpus of Rs 10 lakh when they turn 18. To assist those families who lost their earning members to the pandemic, the government announced pension for dependents and enhanced insurance benefits under the Employees’ DepositLinked Insurance (EDLI) scheme. Mr Modi said these steps will help mitigate financial difficulties faced by these families.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement that fixed deposits will be opened in the name of children who lost their parents to Covid and the PM-Cares fund will contribute to it through a specially designed scheme — PM Cares-For Children — to create a corpus of `10 lakh for each of them when he or she reaches 18 years of age. The corpus will be used to give a monthly stipend to the children from 18-23 years of age to take care of their personal requirements during the period of higher education. On reaching the age of 23, they will get the corpus amount as a lump sum. The government will also ensure free education for these children.
Highlighting measures for their education, the PMO said children under 10 years will be given admission to the nearest Kendriya Vidyalaya or in a private school as a day scholar. Those between 1118 years of age will be given admission to any Central government residential
school such as Sainik School and Navodaya Vidyalaya. In case the child remains under the care of a guardian or extended family, then he or she will be given admission to the nearest Kendriya Vidyalaya or in a private school as a day scholar. If the child is admitted to a private school, fees as prescribed under the Right to Education Act norms will be given from the PMCcares fund, along with the expenditure on uniform, textbooks and notebooks, the PMO added.
“Children represent the future of the country and we will do everything to support and protect the children. It is our duty, as a society, to care for our children and instill hope for a bright future,” PM Modi said while announcing the relief measures which marks the eve of his government’s second anniversary in its second term.
For children who are not eligible under the existing scholarship schemes, PM Cares fund will provide an equivalent scholarship. All children will also be enrolled as a beneficiary under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, or Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), with a health insurance cover of `5 lakh. The premium amount for these children till the age of 18 years will be paid by PM-Cares, the statement said.