Govt opens up PM Cares fund to support children who lost parents to Covid
The children will receive a monthly stipend once they turn 18 and a fund of Rs 10 lakh once they turn 23 from the PM-CARES fund for personal and professional use.
FollowChildren who have lost both parents or guardians due to coronavirus will be supported under the 'PM-CARES for Children' scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Saturday.
The children will receive a monthly stipend once they turn 18 and a fund of Rs 10 lakh once they turn 23 from the PM-CARES fund for personal and professional use.
In a statement, the PMO said, "Children who have lost both parents or surviving parent due to Coronavirus will be supported under 'PM-CARES for Children' scheme."
The Prime Minister's Office said that the PM Cares fund will contribute through a special scheme to set up a corpus of Rs 10 lakh for each child when the child reaches 18 years of age.
The statement said that children under ten years would be given admission to the nearest Kendriya Vidyalaya or a private school as a day scholar. Children between 11-18 years will be given access to any central government residential school like Sainik School.
If the children get admission to a private school, the fees will be given from the PM Cares fund as per the Right to Education norms. The fund will also pay for uniform, textbooks and notebooks.
Besides, PM Cares Fund will also pay the premium for the free health insurance of Rs 5 lakh under the Ayushman Bharat scheme for 18 years.
Announcing the scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated that children represent the country's future.Â
Everything possible will be done to support and protect the children so that they evolve as strong citizens, he said.Â
Stating that the measures being announced were made possible only due to the generous contributions to the PM CARES Fund, the Prime Minister said that in such trying times it is society's duty to care for children and instil hope for a bright future."
More measures announced
The government also announced further measures to help families who lost earning member to the pandemic.
The family pension will be given to dependents of those who lost their lives due to Covid under Employees State Insurance Corporation.
To help family members live a life of dignity and maintain a good standard of living, the benefit of the ESIC pension scheme for employment-related death cases is being extended to even those who have died due to Covid-19.Â
Dependent family members of such persons will be entitled to the benefit of pension equivalent to 90% of the average daily wage drawn by the worker as per the existing norms. This benefit will be available retrospectively with effect from March 24, 2020, and for all such cases till March 24, 2022.
The insurance benefits under the EDLI scheme have been enhanced and liberalised. Apart from all other beneficiaries, this will, in particular, help the families of employees who have lost their lives due to COVID.
The amount of maximum insurance benefit has been increased from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 7 lakh. The provision of a minimum insurance benefit of Rs 2.5 lakh has been restored and will apply retrospectively from February 15, 2020, for the next three years.
To benefit families of contractual/casual workers, the condition of continuous employment in only one establishment has been liberalised, with the benefit being made available to families of even those employees who may have changed jobs in the last 12 months preceding his death.
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