Mukhyamantri Covid-19 Bal Seva Yojana, Madhya Pradesh

What was Mukhyamantri Covid-19 Bal Seva Yojana?

Mukhyamantri Covid-19 Bal Seva Yojana was announced by the Government of Madhya Pradesh in May 2021, at the height of the second wave of the pandemic, and is administered by the Women and Child Development Department. The scheme was created for a very specific group of children. Those who lost their parents, or the guardian who was raising them, to Covid-19.

The Madhya Pradesh announcement set out three benefits: a monthly payment of Rs 5,000 for each eligible child, free ration, and free education. The combination was deliberate. The monthly payment was intended to keep the child financially independent of whichever relative took them in; the ration ensured the household absorbing the child was not pushed into food insecurity; and the free education provision was meant to stop the most common consequence of losing a parent in India, which is a child quietly dropping out of school.

Madhya Pradesh was one of several states that launched a Covid orphan support scheme in May and June 2021, alongside the central PM CARES for Children scheme. Because these ran in parallel, many children in the state were assessed for both, and district administrations were instructed to identify affected children rather than wait for families to come forward.

Key features as announced

• Rs 5,000 per month to each eligible child.
• Free ration for the household caring for the child.
• Free education, including higher education support.
• Identification driven by the district administration, through the Collector, the District Child Protection Unit and the District Women and Child Development Officer.
• No fee, and no requirement for the child to be from a below-poverty-line family.

What is the current status of the scheme?

Mukhyamantri Covid-19 Bal Seva Yojana was framed around deaths caused by Covid-19 during the pandemic period, and no fresh application window has been announced for it. That is the honest position, and families should plan around it.

Children orphaned in Madhya Pradesh today are supported instead through Mukhyamantri Bal Ashirwad Yojana, which the Women and Child Development Department runs through the Madhya Pradesh State Child Protection Society at scps.mp.gov.in. According to that portal, Bal Ashirwad Yojana has two components:

• Sponsorship assistance: financial support for orphaned children under 18 years who are living with relatives or guardians rather than in an institution.
• Aftercare assistance, financial and educational support for young people over 18 years leaving child care institutions, so that they can re-establish themselves in society.

The state portal records beneficiaries of the aftercare component who have gone on to complete MBA degrees, qualify in dental surgery, and be selected in civil service recruitment, which gives a sense of what the aftercare stream is designed to make possible.

Who was eligible for Mukhyamantri Covid-19 Bal Seva Yojana?

A child qualified if:

• The child's parents, or the guardian raising the child, died of Covid-19.
• The child was a resident of Madhya Pradesh.
• The child was a minor at the time the case was taken up.
• The death could be established from a death certificate together with a Covid-19 positive report or hospital record.

A child was not eligible if:

• The parent or guardian did not die of Covid-19. A death from another cause, however tragic, fell outside this particular scheme and was routed to the department's general child welfare schemes instead.
• The cause of death could not be established as Covid-19 from any medical or testing record. This was the single hardest condition for rural families whose relative died at home without a test.
• The child was not resident in Madhya Pradesh.
• The child had already been covered under an equivalent scheme for the same loss, since duplicate benefits for the same death are not allowed.

Children who cannot use this scheme are not left without a route. Mukhyamantri Bal Ashirwad Yojana covers orphaned children regardless of the cause of the parents' death, and the Social Justice Department's Rashtriya Parivar Sahayata Yojana pays a one-time Rs 20,000 to a below-poverty-line family that loses its main earning member aged 18 to 60.

What documents are required?

How to apply for support for an orphaned child in Madhya Pradesh

1. Call 1098, the Childline number, or inform the anganwadi worker, ASHA or ward office about the child. Madhya Pradesh's child protection system is designed to work on information rather than on a completed form.
2. Contact the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) at your district collectorate, or the District Women and Child Development Officer. These are the offices that assess an orphaned child's case and decide which stream applies.
3. Assemble the document set. The death certificate of the parent or guardian, the Covid-19 report or hospital record where that is the basis of the claim, the child's birth certificate and Aadhaar, the family's Samagra ID, and the bank passbook.
4. Submit the application to the District Women and Child Development Officer through the District Child Protection Unit. The Collector's office verifies the case at the district level.
5. Ask which scheme the case has been placed under — the Covid-19 Bal Seva stream where the loss falls in the pandemic period and the records support it, or Mukhyamantri Bal Ashirwad Yojana sponsorship for orphaned children under 18.
6. Collect the acknowledgement, and register the child's application status on the tracking option available at scps.mp.gov.in.
7. Follow up on the school and ration components separately with the school principal and the fair price shop, quoting the sanction order, since these are delivered by different departments.

How do I check the status of an application?

1. Use the application status option on scps.mp.gov.in, the Madhya Pradesh State Child Protection Society portal.
2. Contact the District Child Protection Unit at the collectorate, which holds the case file.
3. Ask the District Women and Child Development Officer whether the sanction order has been issued.
4. Write to scpshelpline@gmail.com, the State Child Protection Society helpline email listed on the portal.
5. Register a complaint on the CM Helpline 181 if the case has not moved.

Why did applications get rejected?

• Cause of death not recorded as Covid-19. Where the parent died at home without a test, the medical link could not be established and the case fell outside the scheme.
• No death certificate, so the death was not on record at all.
• Guardianship not documented, leaving it unclear who was caring for the child and who should operate the account.
• Bank account problems; no account in the child's name, or an account not seeded with Aadhaar, so the monthly credit failed.
• Duplicate coverage, where the child was already receiving support under the central PM CARES for Children scheme for the same loss.
• Age or residence not established, particularly for children who moved districts or states after losing a parent.

Most of these were correctable. A case rejected for missing papers could be resubmitted through the District Child Protection Unit once the documents were assembled.

Where do I get help?

• 1098 to Childline, the round-the-clock helpline for any child in distress.
• District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) at your district collectorate.
• District Women and Child Development Officer, who processes the application.
• Madhya Pradesh State Child Protection Society: scps.mp.gov.in, email scpshelpline@gmail.com.
• Madhya Pradesh CM Helpline: 181, for delays and complaints.

No fee is payable to anyone for adding an orphaned child's name to a Madhya Pradesh welfare scheme. If a middleman asks for money, report it to the District Child Protection Unit or the CM Helpline immediately.