BHUBANESWAR: In Mainabad, a small village under Simulia block of Balasore, 10-year-old Soumya Ranjan and his 18-month-old sister Abhilipsa lost their father Ramesh Pradhan on May 15.
“He worked in a garment factory at Maharashtra and had returned in March. In the second week of May, he complained of fever and underwent Covid test on May 13. He was found positive and the local health staff asked him to stay in isolation in a small room by the side of our house. He died two days later”, said Ramesh’s wife Basanti.
Till date, neither the block nor district officials have reached out to them, the family says. The only help Basanti received so far are food grains and pulses from her relatives. The children have not been produced before Child Welfare Committee (CWC) as Ramesh’s Covid death hasn’t been reported by the local village worker yet.
According to National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), the number of children orphaned by Covid in the country between April 1 and May 31 stands at 9,346 of which 1,000 children lost both parents.
In the records of Women and Child Development (WCD) department of Odisha Government, 13 such children - who have lost both their parents - have been identified from April 1 till May 31.
Earlier this week, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik directed early identification of widows and orphans due to Covid casualties and instructed officials to sanction pension under Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY) within the next 15 days.
Three months advance sanction of pension for all social security beneficiaries will be paid to the beneficiaries in cash in their villages, as per the CM’s orders.
The first incident of Covid orphans was reported in Rayagada where two sisters lost both their parents - migrant labourers - to Covid in a span of 10 days in May.
The State government asked all District Child Protection Officers (DCPOs) to track such children and produce them before CWC immediately so that they are either provided institutional support or allowed to remain in foster care of their relatives.
Joint secretary of WCD department Geetarani Pattanayak, nodal officer to identify Covid orphans, said apart from publicising helplines - 1098, 1800-345-4494 and 104 - village level workers like anganwadi workers, ASHAs, Sarpanchs have been directed to identify such children and submit their social investigation reports to the department every Thursday.
Child rights activists feel the current number is too low to be true considering the Covid deaths, many of which go unreported.
In fact, identification of Covid orphans began only in May after NCPCR sought a report from the Odisha government.
Although the government asked its field staff on May 27 to also identify children who lost either parent (including an earning parent) to Covid, work on this began last week and 10 children have been identified so far.
There are many loopholes in the tracking system, the biggest roadblock being that not all deaths are identified as Covid deaths.
Jyoti Prakash Brahma, a child rights activist, said the number of Covid deaths are largely being suppressed at district level which is why the real picture of orphaned children is not coming to fore.
Another key issue is a number of deaths are attributed to comorbidities and not assigned Covid tag. What happens to the children in such cases?
“Besides, there is very little awareness about Covid testing in rural areas even today. We have come across several incidents where a parent has died of fever and children later tested positive for Covid. In such cases, government aid can no longer be given to the children as Covid deaths weren’t confirmed”, he said, adding that unless DCPOs directly engage with village communities and not depend on village-level workers, many Covid orphans will remain off the government radar.
Ghasiram Panda of ActionAid India seconds the view. Identifying Covid deaths is a difficult task today as testing in rural areas is still low as per the government statistics, he said.
“Making things worse, tracking children who have lost one parent is yet to start in all districts”, he said.
In the first wave, no Covid orphans were identified. There were two problems that were seen last year after the outbreak.
The number of child marriages (over 700 cases between March and August, 2019) and child labour spiked.
This year too, considering the economic condition of people, similar problems may arise if the orphans are not recognised at the earliest.
“Though the government is leaving most of the children in foster care, there has been no counselling or capacity building of their relatives or administrative follow-up on how a child is being treated in his/her extended family. This is where the problems begin”, said Ratnakar Sahoo of NGO Ashayen who was among the activists who petitioned the NCPCR seeking its intervention into Covid orphans issue after the second wave hit.
According to the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (OSCPCR), 33,000 orphans were identified in the State in a drive that was conducted before March last year.
Of them, around 8,700 are housed in 238 child care institutions (CCIs) and the government is spending Rs 2,160 on each of these children every month.
The rest are in foster care and some adopted.
Based on the social status, if a child remains in foster care of relatives, he/she is offered Rs 2,000 a month for a period of three years as per provisions of Sponsorship scheme under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
Currently, only 1,500 orphans are being extended this relief.
According to the State government, the Covid orphans would also get Rs 2,000 every month under Sponsorship scheme, financial aid of Rs 500 a month under MBPY and free education.
The children and their extended relatives (if they choose to stay with them) will be linked to social security schemes. The Centre also announced PM-Cares for Children’s Scheme for them.
“The PM-Cares has made some good provisions but how much of that will reach the children is doubtful unless all the orphans are identified. Compared to states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and even Chhattisgarh, Odisha’s help of Rs 500 MBPY pension and selective Sponsorship benefit is less”, said Panda.
WCD nodal officer Pattanayak said all steps are being taken to ensure that not a single child is left out.
“We will also identify those who lost their parents to the first wave and extend the special Covid benefits to them”, she said.
As per UNICEF guidelines, Pattanayak said, focus is on allowing such children to grow in a family environment rather than under institutional care.
Based on the preference of the child, they are handed over either to the kinship care of a guardian, or moved to CCIs and for legal adoption as per Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) guidelines.
Of the 8,700 orphans under institutional care in Odisha, 222 children - 104 male and 118 female - were adopted within the country in 2019-20.
The number was 31 - 13 male and 18 female - in case of inter-country adoption, as per CARA reports.