Ministry of Women and Child Development has issued the detailed guidelines for PM CARES for Children Scheme.

Prime Minister  Narendra Modi on 29th May 2021 had announced comprehensive support for children who have lost both their parents due to COVID 19 pandemic.

The eligible children shall be enrolled from 29.05.2021 which is the date of announcement by the Prime Minister to 31.12.2021 to avail benefits of PM CARES for Children Scheme. The Scheme is expected to continue till the year when every identified beneficiary shall turn 23 years of age.

The eligibility criterion for the scheme will cover all children who have lost

i) Both parents or

ii) Surviving parent or

iii) legal guardian/adoptive parents/single adoptive parent due to COVID 19 pandemic, starting from 11.03.2020 the date on which WHO has declared and characterized COVID-19 as pandemic till 31.12.2021, shall be entitled to benefits under this scheme.

iv) Child should not have completed 18 years of age on the date of death of parents.

The objective of the scheme is to ensure comprehensive care and protection of children who have lost their parent(s) to COVID pandemic, in a sustained manner, enable their wellbeing through health insurance, empower them through education and equip them for self-sufficient existence with financial support on reaching 23 years of age.

The PM CARES for children scheme inter alia provides support to these children through a convergent approach, gap funding for ensuring education, health, monthly stipend from the age of 18 years, and lump sum amount of Rs. 10 lakh on attaining 23 years of age.

The lump-sum amount for financial support will be transferred directly to the post office account of beneficiaries. A pro-rata amount will be credited upfront in the account of each identified beneficiary such that the corpus for each beneficiary becomes ₹10 lakhs at the time of attaining 18 years of age.