As the second wave of Covid-19 swept across India, Minister for Women and Child Welfare Smriti Irani said on May 25 in a tweet that at lea...
As the second wave of Covid-19 swept across India, Minister for Women and Child Welfare Smriti Irani said on May 25 in a tweet that at least 577 children had lost both their parents between April 1 and May 25.
As news of Covid-19 orphans began to cause concern, several states have announced monetary help and other forms of assistance to them. Congress President Sonia Gandhi urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide free education in Navoday Vidyalayas to them.
Ultimately, on May 29, Modi announced a slew of measures to protect Covid-19 orphans, ranging from support in education to a corpus under the PM Cares fund formed by donations from the public.
While this is commendable, there are several complications. As has been reported, in many cases, even though people have died with coronavirus symptoms, their death certificates do not mention Covid-19 as the cause. Some families, especially in rural areas, may not even obtain death certificates. As a result, it may be difficult for some Covid-19 orphans to prove themselves as such and to benefit from the programmes ostensibly aimed at them.
‘Social orphanhood’
But even as these complications are being discussed, another vital question comes to mind: why are we even differentiating among orphans based on how their parents died? All the issues being raised regarding Covid...
