MUMBAI: The Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday decided to give 1 per cent reservation in education and government jobs to children whose parents lost their lives in the Covid-19 pandemic. State Women and Child Development Minister Yashomati Thakur termed it a “landmark” decision. “The women and child welfare departments will pay the fees of these children for their primary, secondary and higher education,” Thakur said. As per the state government’s record, there are 401 orphans whose parents died in the pandemic caused by virus.
The state government has categorised such children into various groups. For instance, the ‘A’ category has children who do not know their relatives, siblings or their residence. The ‘B’ category has children whose parents died due to Covid but they do not have the papers to prove their categories such as SC, ST and OBC. These children’s caste verifications will be done by the government. Various social organisations will also take care of these children. In the ‘C’ category will be children who have relatives around from the father’s side.
“The ‘A’ and ‘B’ category children will have reservations in educations as well as in government jobs from remaining vacant seats. The ‘C’ category kids will have reservations in education, but not in government job. We will issue them certificates so that they do not face problems while seeking admission in schools and looking for government jobs,” said the minister.