Concerned about those who lost their parent[s] due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Maharashtra Women and Child Development minister Yashomati Thakur said the ministry has proposed schemes to ensure each child is covered and given aid for wellbeing.
She was talking about long term solutions to help destitute children. Until now more than 400 children lost both parents. While several are there who have lost one parent. The WCD has proposed Bal Sangopan Yojana for such children. Once getting the nod from the state government the scheme will benefit children, who lost one parent, by distributing Rs. 1,125 to Rs. 2,500 per month.
The financial aid of Rs. 5 lakh is only for orphan children and not everyone can be covered under this. She shared about the hardships faced by her while raising a child on her own. “I know how difficult it is to be a single parent. There were times when I had no money. I understand the hardships. We, therefore, will try to provide every possible support to ensure no child is left behind,” she explained.
She also raised concerns about calls for adoption over social media platforms. There were few such cases in the first wave, but with the second wave numbers has increased and we observed many calls on social media urging people to come forward for adoption. We then realised that it is necessary to take action to put a curb on those messages. Ms Thakur said, people aren’t that aware of the adoption process and they get trapped in such illegal activities. Hence, creating awareness among common people is also among our priorities.
It is to be noted that Adoption is a legal process in India. One has to go through the laid out procedure for adoption monitored and maintained by CARA (Central Adoption Resource Authority). Any adoption in the backyard of CARA is considered illegal and stringent actions are provisioned for the violators.
