New Delhi: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has said the Supreme Court that more than 100,000 children lost one or both their parents during the first and second wave of Covid-19 pandemic across the country.
The commission, which has been running a dedicated website called Bal Swaraj for collecting data on orphans and children who lost either of their parents submitted an affidavit in the top court.
Around 101,032 children were abandoned, became orphans or lost one of their parents due to Covid-19 or other reasons between April 1, 2020 and August 23, 2021, mentioned the commission in the affidavit.
Of this, there were 8,161 orphans, 396 children were abandoned and 92,475 lost one of their parents, it added.
It further stated that, “The data of children uploaded on the Bal Swaraj portal by the states/ UTs comprises 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.”
The affidavit came in a suo motu petition being heard by the Supreme Court which is monitoring steps to ensure providing food, shelter and education to children abandoned or orphaned due to the pandemic.
This is the third affidavit filed by NCPCR in the matter.
In its earlier affidavit providing information received from states up to July 23, the commission presented a figure of 6,855 orphans, 68,218 children who lost one parent, and 247 abandoned children.
