Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday announced that children who have lost their parents to COVID-19 will be provided Rs 1,500 per month under the Bal Sahayata Yojna till they attain the age of 18, adding that such children will be housed in a child care centre.
In a series of tweets, the Chief Minister said: "Those children who have lost both parents to COVID, or at least have lost one parent to the virus, will be given Rs 1,500 per month by the state till they attain the age of 18.""Such children will be taken care of in a child care centre. The orphaned girls will be admitted to Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya," he said in another tweet.
Several states have announced relief measures such as free schooling and financial assistance for such children.The announcement comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that all children who have lost both parents or guardians due to COVID-19 will be supported under the 'PM-CARES for Children' scheme.The PM CARES will contribute through a specially designed scheme to create a corpus of Rs 10 lakh for each child when he or she reaches 18 years of age.As many as 577 children lost their parents due to the pandemic, the government sources had told ANI. The central government is constantly monitoring all these orphaned children in coordination with the state governments, they added.The Centre said it will ensure free education for children who lost their parents to COVID-19. The children will be assisted to get a loan for higher education and PM CARES will pay interest on the loan.
( With inputs from ANI )
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