Proposal to issue smart cards to children orphaned by Covid in Telangana:

A Cabinet sub-committee constituted to identify the conditions of children orphaned due to Covid-19 and come up with a plan to address their issues to bring in a comprehensive policy has proposed to issue special smart cards to orphans after recognising them as children of the State.

If anyone is having this smart card then exemption would be given to them from possessing income, caste and other certificates. This proposal was discussed by the committee headed by Women and Child Welfare Minister Satyavathi Rathod during a meeting held here on Saturday.

The committee has also discussed the proposal of setting up a separate integrated campus to impart quality education from KG to PG on par with gurukul educational institutions and help them in settling in their lives.

The committee, comprising 10 Ministers, met on Saturday and discussed various issues pertaining to orphans. The committee members including Industries Minister KT Rama Rao, Education Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy, Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao and other Ministers took part in the meeting.

Since several orphanages were established



for the benefit of orphans from Muslim community, the committee has decided to bring them under the purview of the government to provide proper amenities to them.

The committee has decided to conduct a special drive to identify those forcing children to seek alms at traffic intersections and indulging in trafficking to invoke Preventive Detention (PD) Act against them.

A decision was taken to introduce stringent rules to ensure that such offenders would not commit the same crime in future. The rescued children should be admitted to the State Home for their well-being.

Awareness should be conducted to encourage those who are interested in extending financial assistance to orphans and this will also enable donors to get income tax exemption. Officials must give recognition to those, who come forward to help orphans as part of corporate social responsibility activity.

Speaking on the occasion, Satyavathi Rathod said many people gave valuable suggestions to bring in a better policy for orphans and added that a report would be submitted to the State government soon to take a decision during the Assembly Budget session.