Bhopal: Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan has recently decided to provide financial, food and education assistance to children whose parents have died untimely from Covid-19. For all such children, the state government has issued the order of Chief Minister Covid-19 Child Welfare Scheme and implemented the scheme in the state with immediate effect.
In the order issued by the Women and Child Development Department, the purpose and implementation process of the Chief Minister Covid-19 Child Welfare Scheme has been clarified. In the scheme, family means, husband-wife and children dependent on them. Child Beneficiary means such children, whose age is 21 years or less, but in case of undergraduate studies, whichever is less for the prescribed duration of 24 years or undergraduate course and whose parents had died due to Covid – 19 or the parents has died earlier and their legitimate guardian has died from Covid-19 or one of the parents has passed away earlier and now the other has died from Covid-19. ‘Death from Covid-19’ means any death that occurred in the period from March 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021. In case of child beneficiaries under the age of 18, the guardian will be identified by the committee constituted under the chairmanship of the collector under the scheme.
Eligible to avail the scheme
The affected family should be a local resident of Madhya Pradesh. The family should not be eligible to get the benefit of Chief Minister Covid-19 Yoddha Kalyan Yojana. The deceased parents of the child beneficiary should not be government servants or servants of government undertaking who are eligible for pension under the old pension scheme. Each child beneficiary, whose parents have been orphaned by the death of guardian from Covid-19, will be given a financial assistance of Rs.5000 per month. If the child beneficiary’s age is below 18 years, then the assistance amount will be deposited in the joint account of the identified guardian and the child. After completing the age of 18, the amount will be credited to his personal account.
Food security
Every child beneficiary and their guardian appointed will be provided free monthly ration under the National Food Security Act. The list of such families will be made available by the District Program Officer, Women and Child Development Department to the District Food Officer for issuing the eligibility slips.
Education aid
Free education will be provided to child beneficiaries in government schools from classes 1 to 8. Fees for children who are studying or will be pursued under the RTE (Right to Education) provision in child-friendly private schools will be paid to the school concerned. Child beneficiaries who are or will be studying in private schools other than the RTE quota will be given an amount up to the RTE reimbursement limit.
Free education will be provided to child beneficiaries in government schools from classes 9 to 12. The assistance of Rs. 10 thousand per year will be given to the child beneficiary studying in a private school. This financial assistance will be in addition to the scholarship and other benefits to the child beneficiary as per eligibility in the general government scheme.
Higher education
Assistance will also be given to child beneficiaries studying undergraduate-level courses in Central Universities and all the Universities and MahaVidyalayas located in the state. The benefit of all annual fees (including mess fees) will be payable to the beneficiaries in government or central, state government-funded universities, colleges, and admission fees. Also, there will be an exemption from the deposition of the cushion. Admission of child beneficiaries will be free. All fees will be reimbursed to the concerned institution by the government. Reimbursement of all the annual actual fees or Rs. 15 thousand, whichever is less, in such private universities and non-government colleges, where the fee is fixed by the Madhya Pradesh Private University Regulatory Commission, will be provided to the child beneficiary’s Aadhaar linked bank account.
Technical Education
Assistance will also be provided to the beneficiaries of the scheme for undergraduate, polytechnic diploma, ITI, and paramedical courses under technical education. If the child beneficiary receives admission in the government-funded engineering college, then the fee payable by him will be borne by the government. The child beneficiary, who enters private engineering college on the basis of JEE Mains examination or separate entrance examination, will be borne by the state government for a maximum of Rs. 1.5 lakhs per annum or the actual fee payable whichever is less. Child beneficiaries, in those private engineering colleges of Madhya Pradesh, where admission in graduation is on the basis of 12th standard examination, their actual fee or 75 thousand rupees per annum whichever is less will be borne by the state government.
Medical Education and Ayush
Child beneficiaries who have completed the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) on the basis of Central or State Government and Private Medical College, ABBS of Dental College, BDS Ayurveda, Homeopathy and Unani (B.A.M.S./B.U.M. S / BHMS) course and private medical located in Madhya Pradesh, MBBS of AYUSH college, BAMS, BUMS, BHMS courses If done, the fee payable by them will be borne by the state government. Such institutions of the Government of India, which give admission on the basis of examination conducted by themselves, will also be included in the scheme. Educated doctors in government medical colleges will contract to work in the rural areas ensured by the state government for 2 years and will execute a bond of Rs 10 lakh for this purpose. In a private college, this period will be 5 years and the bond amount will be Rs 25 lakh.
Law education
The fee payable by the child beneficiary of the course for admission after 12th standard in National Law Universities (NLU) and the University of Delhi through Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) or self-organized examination will be borne by the State Government. The fees payable by the child beneficiaries of the Graduation Program and Integrated Post Graduation Program and Dual Degree Course (which includes Master’s degree as well as Bachelor’s degree) in all the universities and institutes of the Government of India will be borne by the State Government.
All the government and aided colleges of the state government, all the bachelors in universities, and all diploma courses conducted in polytechnic colleges under the state’s higher education department and ITI (assuming global skill park included) will be included in the scheme.
The fees payable by the child beneficiary seeking admission in government medical college or diploma, degree, and certificate courses of paramedical science run under it will be borne by the state government. As a fee payable to various institutions for higher education under the scheme, the entrance fee and the actual fee (including mess fee) which has been set by the Regulatory Committee of Madhya Pradesh Private University Regulatory Commission or Government of India or State Government, will be paid and will also be exempted from deposition of cash. Eligible students under the scheme who are already studying in any course will also be given benefits from the year of implementation of the scheme. The child beneficiary will be entitled to get education-related benefits for the years prescribed for that course only after getting admission in a course for higher education.
Institutional assistance by the Department of Women and Child Development
Protection, maintenance of child beneficiaries under 18 years of age who have no home or fixed place of residence and who have no visible means of subsistence – or no guardian is willing to look after them. The child welfare committee for nutrition, education, medical assistance, and rehabilitation will be declared as a needy child for care, and protection and admission will be ensured in the child care organization operating in the state. Such child beneficiaries will not be eligible for monthly financial and monthly rations provided under the scheme, but all the assistance will be given to the children who are released after completing the age of 18 years in child care institutions, as provided in the scheme.
Application procedure
All application documents in the Chief Minister Covid-19 Child Welfare Scheme will be obtained on the portal covidbalkalyan.mp.gov.in created for the scheme only. The application process will be free of charge. It will be the responsibility of the District Program Officer, Women, and Child Development to identify such families, who can be given the benefit of the scheme. Contact such families and get the application filled on the portal. All benefits will be given through the portal. The application received on the portal will be processed by the District Collector login. Approval of cases will be done at the district level by a committee headed by the Collector. In this committee, the Chief Executive Officer, District Panchayat, Chief Medical and Health Officer, Deputy Director Social Justice, and District Education Officer will be members. The District Program Officer, Women, and Child Development will be the member secretary of the committee. After the approval of the committee, orders for providing assistance will be issued by the member secretary of the committee.
WCDD will be the nodal department
The benefit of Chief Minister Covid-19 Child Welfare Scheme will be in addition to the benefits payable to the child beneficiaries under other schemes of the government, but the child beneficiary will not get double payment of education fee, etc. from any other scheme. The Nodal Department will be the Women and Child Development Department for the implementation of the scheme. The provision of the necessary amount for the implementation of the scheme will be made in the budget of the Department of Women and Child Development. Monitoring and evaluation will be done by the Department of Women and Child Development.
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