Child rights body asks states/UTs to upload data of children who lost parents to COVID-19

New Delhi: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has asked all states and union territories (UTs) to upload data of children who have lost either one or both parents to COVID-19 on its portal. Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani had on Tuesday said as many as 577 children across the country were orphaned after their parents succumbed to COVID-19 , citing reports of states and union territories from 1 April till 25 March. The announcement by the apex child rights body comes a day after the Supreme Court directed all district officers across the states/UTs to fill data related to children who have lost either one of both parents to Covid within 24 hours on the Bal Swaraj portal under the Covid Care’ link. Bal Swaraj is an online tracking portal of the NCPCR for children in need of care and protection. Keeping in view the current situation of COVID- 19, the Commission has extended the use of this portal for tracking children who have lost both parents or either of them and provided a link under the name of ‘COVID-19 Care’ on this portal for filling of data of such children by the concerned officer/department, the NCPCR said in a letter to all principal secretaries of the states and UTs’s Women and Child Development Department. The NCPCR said the login ids of district child protection officers for uploading the data and filling up the forms of social investigation report and individual child care plan as provided by the commission have been issued. The login ids for all principal secretaries for uploading of data on the portal concerned with the state government have also been issued. Childline, coronavirus, coronavirus orphans, covid orphans, children of covid-19 victims, COVID-19, NewsTracker, Smriti Irani