NCPCR devises online portal ‘Bal Swaraj’ for children affected by Covid-19

The initiative aims at tracking affected children right from presenting them before the Child Welfare Committee to the restoration of the children to their parent, guardian, or relative.

Children in masks at a centre distributing masks and hand sanitizer in New Delhi | Representational image | ANI Photo

New Delhi: In view of the growing problem related to children affected by COVID-19, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has devised an online tracking portal “Bal Swaraj (COVID-Care link)” for children in need of care and protection, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development informed on Saturday.

The portal has been created with the purpose of tracking and monitoring children who need care and protection in real-time, digitally. The portal will also be used to track children who have lost both their parents during COVID-19. The “COVID-Care” link on the portal has been provided for the concerned officer or department to upload the data of such children.
“The children who have lost family support or are without any ostensible means of subsistence are children in need of care and protection under Section 2(14) of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and all procedures given under the Act for such children must be followed to ensure the well-being and best interest of children”, the ministry informed.

The “Bal Swaraj-COVID-Care” aims at tracking the children affected by COVID-19 right from their production before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), to the restoration of the children to their parent, guardian, or relative, and its subsequent follow-up.
The Commission will be able to get information about whether the child is getting his/her entitlements, benefits, and entitled monetary gains, through the data filled in the portal by the District officers and State officers for each child.

“This will also allow the Commission to know whether the child has been produced before the CWC and if the orders are being passed for him/her. This will also allow them to identify if the State needs any financial assistance in getting more funds for giving benefit under implemented schemes to the children,” the ministry said.

It also informed that the Supreme Court has directed all district officers across States and Union Territories to fill in data related to children who have become orphans, on the Commission’s portal under the COVID-Care link, before Saturday, May 29 evening.