Covid-19 devastated many lives, heart-wrenching to see survival of children at stake: SC

Covid19 has devastated many lives and it is ldquoheart wrenchingrdquo that the survival of children who lost either or both parents during the pandemic is at stake the Supreme Court said but expressed satisfaction over schemes announced by the Centre and states to provide succour to themThe apex court said that ldquosatisfactory progressrdquo has been made by the Executive in identifying children who have either become orphans or have lost one of their parents during the Covid19 pandemicWe are glad that the UoI Union of India and the state governmentsUnion Territories have announced schemes to provide succour to the children in need We have no doubt that the authorities concerned would leave no stone unturned to attend to the immediate basic needs of the crestfallen childrenrdquo said a bench of justices L Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha BoseThe top court which was hearing a suo motu matter on Contagion of Covid19 on children protection homes noted in its order that over one lakh children have lost either or both parents during the pandemicldquoThe catastrophe caused by the cataclysmic Covid19 has devastated many lives especially children at a tender age who have lost their parentsrdquo the bench said adding that ldquoit is heart wrenching to note that the survival of so many children is at stakerdquoIt said inquiries by Child Welfare Committee CWCs in accordance with provisions of the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Act 2015 have to be expedited to identify those children who are in need of care and protectionImmediate steps also have to be taken to ensure that benefits of schemes reach the needy minors the bench saidThe apex court said all children have a constitutional right to free and compulsory elementary education and the State has a duty and obligation to facilitate education for childrenldquoWe have no doubt that the State realizes the importance of continuance of education of the forlorn childrenrdquo the bench said in its August 26 orderThe bench noted the submissions of Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati appearing for the Centre that education of eligible children up to 18 years is sought to be provided for under the lsquoPM CARES for Childrenrsquo scheme launched for support and empowerment of Covid19 affected childrenBhati told the bench that 2600 children eligible for benefits under the scheme have been registered by states and out of these 418 applications have been approved by district magistratesThe bench directed district magistrates to complete the process of approval of applications of the remaining children whose names have been registered for the PM CARES schemeldquoIn case of necessity fee and other expenditure of the 2600 children whose names have been registered for the PM CARES for Children scheme shall be taken care of by the government of Indiardquo it saidThe bench said for children who have lost either or both parents after March last year state governments shall confer with private schools to waive the fee of distressed children for the current academic yearldquoIn case the private institutions are unwilling to effectuate such waiver the state government shall shoulder the burden of the feerdquo the court said adding ldquoIn respect of those children amongst the 2600 registered under the PM CARES for Children scheme it is open to state governments to request the government of India to bear the fee and other expenses pertaining to their education for the current academic yearrdquoWhile perusing statewise details placed before it the bench said after completion of inquiries CWCs may identify those children who do not need care and protection and financial assistance from the statesldquoSuch of those children need not be given the benefits that are announced by the state governments It is only those children who are in need of care and protection in terms of the Juvenile Justice Act who have to be provided with assistance by the state governmentsrdquo it saidThe bench has posted the matter for further hearing on October 7In an additional affidavit filed last week the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights NCPCR had told the apex court that over one lakh children are in need of care and protection as they are either orphan have lost one of their parents or were abandoned during the pandemic since April last yearAccording to information uploaded on the lsquoBal Swarajrsquo portal by states and Union Territories there are 8161 children who have become orphans 92475 have lost either of their parents and 396 have been abandoned between April 1 2020 to August 23 this yearThe apex court had earlier passed a slew of directions for care and protection of children who have become orphans or have lost one parent or were abandoned during the pandemicThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever