PM CARES Scheme for Children | 23 Feb 2022

Why in News?

Recently, the Centre has extended the PM Cares for Children Scheme till 28^th February 2022, which was earlier valid till 31^st December 2021.

What is the ‘PM-CARES for Children’ Scheme?

• About:
  • The scheme was launched on 29^th May, 2021 with the aim to support children who lost both or surviving parent(s), legal guardian/adoptive parents or single adoptive parent to Covid-19.
    • The status of children in need of care and protection included orphans (10,094), lost either parent (1,36,910) and abandoned (488) taking the total to 1,47,492.
    • In the gender-wise break-up, out of the 1,47,492 children, there are 76,508 boys, 70,980 girls and four transgender.
  • The objective is to ensure comprehensive care and protection of children in a sustained manner, enable their wellbeing through health insurance, empower them through education and equip them for self-sufficient existence with financial support on reaching 23 years of age.
• Features of the Scheme:
  • Corpus of Rs. 10 Lakh:
    • The scheme offers a corpus of Rs. 10 lakh to each of these children from the PM CARES fund.
    • This corpus will be used to give a monthly stipend from 18 years of their age, for the next five years and on reaching the age of 23 years, he or she will get the corpus amount as one lump-sum for personal and professional use.
  • Education to the Children:
    • The education expenses of younger children are supported by way of admission to Kendriya Vidyalayas and private schools up to higher secondary level.
    • These children are also supported during their higher education through either a scholarship equivalent to the tuition fees or educational loans where the interest on the loan will be paid by the PM-CARES fund.
  • Health Insurance:
    • All children will be enrolled as a beneficiary under Ayushman Bharat Scheme with a health insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakh.
    • The premium amount will be paid by PM-CARES till a child turns 18.

What is the PM-CARES Fund?

• The government has set up the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM-CARES Fund) to deal with any kind of emergency or distress situation like posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The Fund is a public charitable trust with the Prime Minister as its Chairman. Other Members include Defence Minister, Home Minister and Finance Minister.
• The Fund enables micro-donations as a result of which a large number of people will be able to contribute with the smallest of denominations.
• It will strengthen disaster management capacities and encourage research on protecting citizens.
• Contribution to PM - CARES Fund Qualifies as CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Expenditure.

What are the other Children Related Initiatives Taken by the Government During Covid?

• Bal Swaraj Covid-Care:
  • The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has devised an online tracking portal “Bal Swaraj (Covid-Care)” for children in need of care and protection.
  • This has been created with a purpose for online tracking and digital real time monitoring mechanism of children who are in need of care and protection.
• PM e-VIDYA:
  • On 17^th May, 2020, a comprehensive initiative called PM e-VIDYA was initiated as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education.
  • It was launched under the One Nation One Digital Platform with the objective of protecting the education of children during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Manodarpan:
  • It is aimed to provide psychosocial support to students, family members and teachers for their mental health and well-being during the times of Covid-19.

Source: PIB