The children will also be eligible for loans for professional courses and higher education. They will also receive health coverage of R 5 lakh with an Ayushman card, the Prime Minister said during his address on a day when the government completes 8 years.

“PM CARES for Children is a small effort to reduce the difficulties of such corona affected children who lost both their mother and father. PM CARES for children is also a reflection of the fact that every countryman is with you with the utmost sensitivity,” Modi said via video conferencing. Not just education, the prime minister also urged the children to take lead in Khelo India and Fit India movements and participate in the upcoming yoga day.

The scheme will be open to children who have lost both their parents, only surviving parent, legal guardian, or adoptive parents to Covid-19 between March 11, 2020 and February 28, 2022. The portal (pmcaresforchildren.in) can be used to register the children and will act as single-window system for approvals.

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As per the portal, 9,042 applications have already been received under the programme with 4,345 having been approved.

He emphasised that the same PM CARES helped in preparing hospitals, buying ventilators, and setting up oxygen plants during Covid-19. We trusted our scientists, our doctors, and our youth. And, we came out as a ray of hope, not a worry for the world. We did not become the problem but we came out as the solution giver. We sent medicines, and vaccines to countries around the world. Even in such a big country, we took the vaccine to every citizen”, he said.