Bihar govt announces ₹1,500 per month for children orphaned due to COVID-19

Patna: The Bihar government announced financial aid of ₹1,500 per month to children who lost either of their parents due to Covid-19 under 'Bal Sahayata Yojana' on Sunday.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar added that that orpahned kids, who don't ave any guardian/caretakers, will be looked after in children's home.

He said orphaned girls will be nominated in Kasturba Gandhi Girls Residential School on priority.

Yesterday, Bihar showed a substantial drop in the number of people getting infected by the coronavirus cases.

According to the health department, 1,491 people have tested positive for coronavirus, with this, the caseload has surged to 7.04 lakhs.

In the 24 hours, 48 deaths were recorded. Bihar's fatalities due to coronavirus stand at 5,052.

The number of recovered Cvid-19 patients has jumpe to 6.78 lakhs and the recovery rate has reached 96.29%, the health bulletin added.

Apart from Bihar, several state governments, as well as the Centre, have announced financial aid for Covid-orphaned children.

For instance, the Haryana government said it would give a monthly amount of ₹2,500 per child as financial aid to the families taking care of these orphaned children.

The Delhi Government announced ₹2,500 every month to orphaned kids till they attain the age of 25 years.

Further, an amount of ₹12,000 annually would also be deposited in the bank accounts of such children as other expenses till they reach 18 years of age.

The Gujarat government, under the `Mukhyamantri Bal Seva Yojana', said orphaned children will get ₹4,000 per month till they turn 18. And, if they continue their studies, they will get the assistance of ₹6,000 per month till they turn 21.

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa also announced the Bala Seva Scheme for the welfare of children orphaned due to Covid-19. Karnataka government would provide monthly financial assistance of ₹3,500 for guardians of such children.

Assam government said it will provide ₹3,500 per month to the caretaker or guardian of every child orphaned due to coronavirus.

Tamil Nadu also announced that children orphaned or those who lost either of their parents to coronavirus will be provided an assistance of ₹5 lakh. Further, the state government will bear all expenses towards their education till graduation.

Andhra Pradesh government declared ₹10 lakh ex-gratia in the form of a fixed deposit to the children who lost their parents due to coronavirus.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said PM-CARES will contribute through a specially designed scheme to create a corpus of ₹10 lakh for each child when he or she reaches 18 years of age.