Nishka Srinivas Veluvali
Published On: January 18, 2022 at 15:57 IST
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has informed the Supreme Court that approximately 1.5 Lakh children are in requirement of protection and care upon losing at least one of their parents. The data states that 10,000 children in 1.5 lakh have lost both of their parents, the NCPCR added.
The Affidavit submitted by the NCPCR through Advocate Swarupama Chaturvedi stated that, “Around 488 children were abandoned in the almost last 2 years and the majority of the affected children belonged to the age group of 0-13 years. Most of children are from Odisha (24,405), Maharashtra (19,623), Gujarat (14,770) and Tamil Nadu (11,014).
The Affidavit prolonged as, “It is most humbly reiterated that the data of children uploaded on the ‘Baal Swaraj Portal-Covid Care’ by the states/UTs comprises of both categories of children, wherein the child has lost both or either of the parent to Covid-19 disease or otherwise from April 2020 onwards. It is further respectfully submitted that the data available on the ‘Baal Swaraj Portal-Covid Care’ includes the children where their one of the parent/ both the parents have died to Covid-19 disease and the children where their one of the parent both the parents have died due to any other reason other than Covid-19 disease from April 2020 upto January 11, 2022”.
The NCPCR also submitted that the majority of the children affected were in between the age group of 8 to 13 years (59,010) and 22,763 belong to the age group of 14 to 15 years.